An anonymous reader asks:
"I've been looking for a cost effective (ie, cheap) way to remotely administer several servers running a variety of OS's, and would like to have a solution that would allow for monitoring of the bios on startup, etc (ie, not VNC). The most appealing solution is KVM over IP, which really just means a souped up KVM switch with something like VNC running on it, unfortunately all of the solutions I've been able to find are more expensive than I can justify spending. I've played around a bit with making my own Poor man's KVM over IP; I did this by purchasing a cheap (sub $50) VGA-to-NTSC convertor, then feeding it into a video card with NTSC input (the ATI All-In-Wonder Radion), and then by logging into a machine running Windows Terminal Services I'm able to watch the reboot process. Of course, this doesn't address the mouse/keyboard issue, and the quality isn't all that great. What I'm hoping is that someone else might have a suggestion on how to do this, preferably using Linux and the least hardware necessary. Does anyone have any suggestions or insights on ways to do this?" There are pre-existing solutions, but it seems they are all kind of pricey. Can any of you suggest cheap solutions (at or below $500USD) that could handle a farm of 5-10 machines?
"Here are the three approaches I found:
ViewProxy:
They make the most economical for administration of multiple machines (by one person). Their ProxyView device plugs into your KVM just like it was a monitor/mouse/keyboard, and then does all the packetizing magic. Price is about $6k from what I can tell.
eRIC:
These are the same guys who make the Rolf (Reboot on Lan), which is pretty cool. They make a card called Eric which replaces your normal video card with their card, which has a built in ethernet connection and allows remote control. The cheapest solution at about $700 but only would allow control of the machine it's installed in.
Avocent: I think the first to introduce the whole KVM over IP solution, they have KVM's with this sort of functionality integrated. Some of their products allow multiple users to multiple machine, which is a neat feature but not needed for my applications. Their units run from $4k on up."
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.realweasel.com/intro.html
Many newer motherboards support BIOS redirection over the serial port. All of my systems (intel 440gx) supports this. It allows full remote BIOS configuration, etc. Used in conjuction with linux's serial console and sysrq over serial I find the solution works quite well.
- U
this link (which slashdot will probably munge: http://cyberguys.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe?UID=2002 080514403159&GEN6=00&GEN9=5CG01&FNM=00&T1=104+1150 &UREQA=1&UREQB=2&UREQC=3&UREQD=4
or else try product # 104 1150 on http://www.cyberguys.com
it's a KVM "extender" that works over cat 5 for 500 feet. i don't know who makes it, but the cyberguys catalog had it. this plus a KVM switch on each end of your setup might be enable you to do what you want...
- Entertaining Bits from the Ancient Kernel Tree
Raritan has some nice CAT5 based KVM solutions, that work terribly well in scaling between small and large environments. However I think the price may be a bit higher then you were hoping.
This probably isn't exactly what you were looking for, but I would consider and maybe request an eval of VMware GSX Server or maybe even ESX Server. Both let you monitor the virtual machine over IP -- in fact, there's even a web-based administration interface. And, of course, you can watch BSODs as they happen, hit the reset button using your toolbar, and go into the BIOS setup utility remotely.
Neither is cheap (GSX is the cheaper of the two and runs $3500, $1600 academic) but if you can consolidate your boxes into one big box it might be worth it. After all, it's always good to centralize your points of failure, right?
Big thumbs up for VMware.
But given that non-PC hardware is probably not an option for you, then consider something like the RealWeasel, although I've heard mixed reports about it from those that have tried it. The online demo looks like it should at least be usable, though.
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
This looks like a cool product but would work IF and ONLY IF you only need a console. no mouse, no GUI, no XMMS :`( From the post I am guessing that he needs a mouse and a GUI (XMMS or Winamp optional).
One comprimise might be to use the small slender rodent adapter to capture your post and then use a VNC server for daily operation but that sound almost as kludgey as what he is using now.
Hopefully someone will come up with a smaller/cheaper process for IP KVM's and/or economies of scale will kick in and the price on these units will come down.
One final thought that could be very dangerous, what is the possibility of hacking the BIOS on the motherboard to dump the post out the serial or ethernet ports, heck if there is enough free code space you might even be able to configure through the serial. (note IANAEE and IANACS)
Good luck!
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Another poster pointed me in this direction....
1. Get a weasle card for each server you have.
2. Get a Clysdale terminal server, or plug the serial into a Linux box and ssh to that system and use minicom....
This may or may not work for windows. Windows won't let you use the weasle as primary video, but if you can add an AGP card to the system for windows and the weasle card for BIOS.... Make sure winblows gets the primary display setup for the AGP card....
This is pure conjecture and you are responsible for any purchases and headaches caused by the preceeding!
We use VNC here at work over 10/100 at those specs with no issue whatsoever. Hell, I use IBM's Desktop on Call over a 56k Connection without any fuss. Your issue is a non-issue.
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
Disclaimer: I work for AMI on the MegaRAC-G2
:)
That said, the MegaRAC-G2 sounds similar to what you want. It's not really a KVM switch (although you might see one from us in the future), but it is a great remote access card. It does very fast video redirection (10-15 fps) of the server's native display - which means it works on the console, in bios, in X, Windows, whatever. It redirects the client's keyboard/mouse activity, and even cdrom and floppy drives if you want.
It does a lot of other cool stuff too, check out the website: http://www.ami.com/megarac/
Oh yeah, and the card runs linux, and requires no drivers on the server.
Andrew
I just picked up a few Compaq Remote Insight boards on ebay for about nine dollars each. Seems to be a good system as it allows remote power on and access even after a power outage thanks ot a battary backup.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Did this: Bought a Cyclades 8-port serial board and stuffed it into a P133. Load $FreeOS and $Term_Program and go at it. Keep in mind that consoled-devices that don't deal well with a serial BREAK may not like it if/when you reboot the console server box. There are usually hardware or software ways around this.
Why would you need anything more than a console? After the machine is booted up beyond the BIOS/etc, you can use the features of X or VNC to do whatever you want with a GUI. There is no need for it.
Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
If you only have 2 PCs, I like my Linksys KVM - less than $60 at buy.com including cables, and I can have it buried behind my desk (double-tapping CTRL switches inputs). Only bummer is that it only has PS2 inputs, but I have no problem running my Logitech cordless kb and Intellimouse optical through USB>PS2 adapters. Linksys KVM Kit
Dell sells these cards with some of their servers. They will allow you to do pretty much what you have said. I don't know if they require any special connections but you could look into it.
"The Dell Remote Assistant Card is part of Dell's Open Manage program. DRAC offers "dead" server manageability via network or modem/remote access. This card allows you to access, diagnose and remotely manage your server regardless of its state."
I know it's not exactly what the poster asked for, but I was in the same boat about 6 months ago and you can at least step through my thought processes.
Article linked here.
See also http://www.kvmswitchoverip.com/ and http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/remote-access-s ervers.html for other solutions. I think these guys both have Raritans which haven't been mentioned yet.
Nothing low-end, though, you'll have to roll your own with a PC Weasel ($250-$250/server) and a remote machine you can SSL to and then use as a serial terminal for the PC Weasels. You'd need a multi-port COM card for the SSL box as well, and you'll have to disable any onboard video to let the weasel control the servers.
"A gun is a tool, Marian. No better, no worse than any other tool. An axe, a shovel, or anything." Shane (1953)