Hi all,
What is everybody's favourite combination rack-mount VGA/USB KVM-over-IP and serial console concentrator in 2009?
I'm looking for something that will accommodate 8 or so 9600bps serial devices and about 12 VGA/USB devices, all reachable over IP via sane means (ssh, https, etc). Being able to trunk everything through cat5E/RJ45 plant is not necessary; in this application everything is in the same cabinet.
Avocent seem to make a likely-looking box, but (a) it's a bit insanely expensive, and (b) the adapters that you connect using RJ45 to the avocent and via RS232 to the serial devices *each seem to require a power supply* which frankly makes me recoil in horror. Perhaps I mis-read the glossy web page.
Advice would be appreciated; direct mail is fine; I can summarise back to the list if there is interest in me doing so.
Joe
I haven't really found a combo unit I like as yet.
For KVM, I like the Raritan products.
For Serial, I prefer the Avocent line.
Owen
I have had good luck with Digi console managers for serial... I think they have some KVM functionality, but I don't know how well that works as I have only used the serial management.
http://www.digi.com/products/consoleservers/
Regards,
James Pleger
e: jpleger@gmail.com
g: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x9D7141C9
We have just implemented Avocent console and power concentrators.
Console servers are reachable via a highly customizable web interface.
The Avocent software can also be virtualized on VMWare. Console
connectivity can be provisioned to first try SSH via the IP network, and
automatically failover to a dial-up modem connection if the network is
down. For power both AC and DC power supplies are supported. With DC the
battery plant main fuse panel connects to the device that is used to
power cycle the electronic equipment using low amperage "grasshopper"
fuses for each device. I believe that Avocent is the only vendor with DC
power-cycle support.
The serial cables for the device consoles do not require power supplies
as indicated below.
Have you considered VM's for remote OS access to win devices and
eliminating vga/kb requirements?
If you are looking for console uptime and ease of use, avoid anything
with moving parts (disk) and go with cisco. Consider the secondary
market for the concentrator and cards to keep costs very low.
Alternatively, I like MRV.
Console will work fine over cat5, but if your cabinet is going to be
'busy' you should consider going shielded. Cisco asynch octo cables
are shielded iirc, but I prefer in cabinet xcon for ease of use so if
that's your technique too shield the xcon. You won't regret it.
Best,
Martin
Joe Abley <jabley@hopcount.ca> writes:
What is everybody's favourite combination rack-mount VGA/USB KVM-over-
IP and serial console concentrator in 2009?
I'm looking for something that will accommodate 8 or so 9600bps serial
devices and about 12 VGA/USB devices, all reachable over IP via sane
means (ssh, https, etc). Being able to trunk everything through cat5E/
RJ45 plant is not necessary; in this application everything is in the
same cabinet.
I can't speak to the KVM over IP (for *NIX, they are obviously
inferior to serial) but I do have some suggestions for the serial end.
Personally, I use an opengear cm4148; it seems to work fairly well.
If I only needed 8 ports, I'd still be using my solution from 2005, which
was an 8 port rocketport serial card in a FreeBSD box. I only moved to
the opengear because I need many more ports
I like both the opengear and the freebsd box because I can use ssh auth,
I can log, and I can lock down each user so that a given private key can
only view a certain port.
The OpenGear (based on their online demo) has much better configuration GUI
than the WTI, hands down.
Every time I make a change on the WTI, it has to reboot itself. =(
Frank
We just switched from using Avocent/Cyclades to using Raritan for our
terminal servers, and I am happier with the Raritan. I have used Raritan IP
KVM's in the past and been happy, and the IT folks seem to like their new
one.
I found the Raritan terminal server docs much more complete, it's support
for direct access to serial ports via ssh much more complete, its support
for remote authentication (TACACS+) better, it's console sharing features
better, etc. etc. I was surprised how much better we liked it than the
other products we've used.
--D
My favorite front end for serial console management is conserver.
It's really great software and the price is right.
http://www.conserver.com
Owen
Owen DeLong <owen@delong.com> writes:
My favorite front end for serial console management is conserver.
It's really great software and the price is right.
http://www.conserver.com
see also /usr/ports/sysutils/rtty on freebsd, which pulls from
MASTER_SITES= ftp://ftp.isc.org/isc/rtty/ \
ftp://gatekeeper.research.compaq.com/pub/misc/vixie/
since the ftp server mentioned here in 1996
is dead.