[Gllug] KVM-over-internet

[John Hearns]

In fact, what you want is a terminal concentrator.
Enable a serial console on your machine, and get an ethernet enabled
terminal server.
We used to ship these on all machines at Streamline - they are a 1U
box at the top of the
rack, which looks like an Ethernet switch. but all the RJ45s are serial lines,
and you use a Cat 5 to the rear of the machine, and a Cat5 to DB9 adapter.
Cyclades are the trade name you're looking for.

http://www.avocent.com/Legacy_Firmware_Updates/Cyclades/Cyclades-TS_Terminal_Servers.aspx

Also used them at the Framestore.

but as I say these days you use BMCs with IPMI - stills erial
consoles, but they run over the IPMI interface.


On 30/01/2012, John Hearns <hearnsj at googlemail.com> wrote:
> I guess what you mean is 'my systems don't happen to have BMCs John'
> All we have are standard tower type cases.
>
> Yes, there used to be remote PCI cards which had serial interfaces on
> them - I forget what they were called. Probably died the death a long
> time ago.
>
>
> Also you should look at PCOIP   www.teradici.com
> This is KVM over IP - however you don;t in general get BIOS level access.
>
> On 30/01/2012, John Hearns <hearnsj at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> Rich,
>>   you mean like using IPMI?
>>
>> Other names for this are BMCs (baseboard management controllers) or in
>> Dell speak ILOMs
>> they are embedded processors on the motherboard (or a small duaghter
>> card)
>> you can power up/power down systems, get system health variables, and
>> remote consoles right down to the BIOS level if need be.
>>
>> I use BMCs all the time - I can VPN in from home and bring systems up,
>> or power them down.
>>
>> On 30/01/2012, Rich Walker <rw at shadowrobot.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Possibly a slightly odd request, but has anyone seen something that does
>>> the equivalent of "attach a 3G dongle to a KVM switch"? We occasionally
>>> want to get access to a remote computer in a random foreign country
>>> before it has network connectivity, and this seems like the only
>>> sensible solution...
>>>
>>> cheers, Rich.
>>>
>>> --
>>> rich walker         |  Shadow Robot Company | rw at shadowrobot.com
>>> managing director      251 Liverpool Road   | skype: rich_at_shadow
>>> need a Hand?           London  N1 1LX       | +44 20 7700 2487
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>>>
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>>
>
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