It's 2004: What Are The Best Remote KVM Options?

Tocano33 writes "Saw a story regarding this quietly residing in the /. Story Retirement Home (tm), but it was from over 2 years ago and wanted to see if anyone had some new insight. We have about a dozen servers in our one rack - not a terribly large setup. However, our admins are not located in the server room and while we can use RDP/SSH/VNC/etc for everyday maintenance, we need to be able to perform offline work and may need to evaluate POST information on bootup, etc. So we're currently looking at KVM options - IP based specifically (ie Raritan Dominion) but we're wondering if there are cheaper options and wanted to know what slashdot readers would recommend."

Comments

Don't use PCs

[beegle]

This is a problem that has been solved by every hardware platform out there -except- the PC.

Buy decent hardware. Use a serial console (perhaps hooked up to something like a Cyclades box). Move on.

If you absolutely MUST use a PC, there are workarounds like watchdog cards or those dell boxes that basically have a second monitoring computer in them. Fundamentally, though, they are workarounds for an inadequate design.

(In fairness, the PC design's adequate for its intended use: desktops. Using a PC in the server room is a bit like trying to attach a giant U-Haul trailer to a family car: It doesn't work as well as a truck, but you can't blame the car for that.)

Re:Raritan!

[I_Love_Pocky!]

You run your servers at 1600x1200? Let me guess: Windows Server 2003? The high res allows you to better manage all of your GUI interfaces?

As for your original question, I imagine that 1600x1200 would probably be possible on any display even if you had to use scroll bars.

One word

[The Iconoclast]

IBM e-server bladecenter.

Ok, so that wasn't one word, but it should be, "OMFGIBMe-serverbladecenter!!!~1~." They are sweet seriously.