[LUAU] IP KVM stuff

[Brian Chee]

Hi folks:
Just FYI that out of band management is moving forward and that dependency
upon active-x for clients is finally going away. The raritan seems to
support a pretty wide variety of unix flavors including RHEL, Mac OSx and
Solaris.

Raritan, Avocent and Cyclades all have IP KVM's that allow you to get full
console access (Keyboard, mouse and video) over an SSL link. Previously all
three were ie on windows32 only, but Raritan and Cyclades have both started
shipping full java clients with Avocent a little behind.

I just had a chance to play with the Cyclade AlterPath system for Interop
New York HotStage. Basically from a single management portal I could launch
java terminal applets for serial console access (over SSH) to any terminal
server in the network, even across subnets and through firewalls. I could
also launch a KVM client to get access to any of our servers in the NOC
racks. They also have intelligent power strips so that with the same
authentication used for console access I can also power down outlets.

Lastly, the OnBoard system aggregates all those new service processor ports
onto a single IP address and front ends them with a common interface. So if
your running Dell's DRAC, or Sun's ALOM or HP's iLo or Intel's IPMI...they
all get a common front end through this product and everything is managed
from a single portal.

The pricing is also dropping like a rock too....a 32 port KVM is now in the
$2200 range with dongles (ps/2, usb, etc) in the $125 range.

Oh yeah...all these units run the connections over CAT5 up to 50 meters.
Some configs go as high as 40 ports in 1RU. Cyclades has a nice unit that is
four serial console ports and 4 KVM ports in a single unit.

/brian chee

University of Hawai'i at Manoa
School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology
Advanced Network Computing Lab
1680 East West Road, POST rm 311
Honolulu, HI  96822
808-956-5797 voice, 877-284-1934 fax