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Laptops, Headless Servers and KVMs?
Administration of headless machines can be a pain, and working on multiple machines can also be a bit of a bother. KVM boxes solve some of the problem, but sometimes finding a keyboard and a monitor to lug around to these machines is most of the problem. Is there a portable solution that might solve both of these problems? Wouldn't it be nice to carry around a specialized laptop that could act as both a portable display and input device? Does something like this currently exist?
KJH1138 asks: "I am looking for a hardware/software combination that would allow me to use my laptop as the KVM for a headless server before, during, and after OS configuration. What I have in mind would be a server KVM/USB to laptop serial/USB connection, with software on the laptop to provide KVM control of the headless device, with or without an OS. A PC Anywhere or Linux equivalent wouldn't work since they would require the headless system to already have an installed OS. I would prefer a Linux-based solution on the laptop, but would settle for a Windows option. I simply don't want the clutter of a keyboard and monitor."
PGillingwater has a similar desire: "Like many regular readers, sometimes I need to visit a customer site to diagnose equipment, like firewalls or routers. More systems these days use VGA output and keyboard input, which means having to scrounge a display and keyboard, then looking for a spare power socket in the machine room, which is not always easy! I am wondering if anyone has seen a laptop which also allows VGA input and keyboard output. This would be a cool idea. Use it as a normal laptop most of the time, then hijack the video and keyboard to connect to other systems when you need it."
PGillingwater has a similar desire: "Like many regular readers, sometimes I need to visit a customer site to diagnose equipment, like firewalls or routers. More systems these days use VGA output and keyboard input, which means having to scrounge a display and keyboard, then looking for a spare power socket in the machine room, which is not always easy! I am wondering if anyone has seen a laptop which also allows VGA input and keyboard output. This would be a cool idea. Use it as a normal laptop most of the time, then hijack the video and keyboard to connect to other systems when you need it."
there are null-modem, lom ports, web-enabled bios configuration, web-enabled SCSI configuration, Ssh, remote desktop (free for admin usage) and you still wonder what the best solution is?
Try talking up with a _good_ admin who shows you in _real_live_ the 1 & 2's.
KVM switches are handy for non-server hardware misplaced in the network architecture, but any serious stuff has some or all of the above list.
"Real" servers are not that expensive by the way, especially compared to the price of IP-KVM.
Recently when trying to figure out why my PC in the livingroom (plugged into the TV) wasn't displaying any video, I longed for a easy device I could plug into my laptop to display video... rather than have to lug a monitor out to the livingroom.
.
Sure enough, a company makes just such a device, the
It does nothing for your mouse and keyboard needs, but this (I think) solves the biggest issue of your question.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
The LCD screen was so small and light it was a pleasure to carry around (1024x768 native resolution). The long wires allowed me to sit comfortably wherever I was most comfortable.
I'd suggest just getting a mini-flatpanel LCD monitor, connecting it to a standard KVM, then get a non-extended PS/2 keyboard and mini-laptop mouse.
e ID =167c hant.m vc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LcdMini2&Category_Code =
0 00 05NJ8R/102-5108035-1791351?v=glance
;]
There! Instant KVM thats smaller than a laptop!
http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?Articl
http://www.spysupplystore.com/Merchant2/mer
For your micro-sized-flatpanel ^^^
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B
^^ Your mini mouse
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000813025740/
^^ For your small keyboard.
See, doesn't take a genius
I've built something like this for the same reason, not using the same brands as above but getting the small peripherials/monitor. It works great!
Leave it to this crowd to come up with nothing but workarounds. I'm sure this person is aware of the multitudes of ways to console a box.
I believe what he is asking - which I'm interested in as well - is a laptop where the key/mouse/mon can be independently connected to an external device - there are laptops out now that can play dvd movies without booting an OS - this would be a similar thing. This would be even more useful if you could use a keyb shortcut (kvm-stylee) to switch back and forth between your freshly rooted server and the laptops OS. I want one.
-- kortex "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts"
Thanks very much for your malformed links to
- A generic laptop mouse on Amazon
- A bogus keyboard that no one in their right mind would use
- A 2" display that would never work for this project (so small yet it still requires a power adapter)
- A 4" display made by a company that's out of business
+5 Insightful, indeed. Hrrrmph.Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
He isn't looking for a new way to do KVM, he wants to be able to give Keyboard/Mouse/Video INPUT to the laptop so it can be the console to a KVM. Yes, software solutions exist, but that makes assumptions about compatibility between the console application and the OS on the laptop. The perfect solution is something (probably a PCMCIA card) that has input dongles to attach into the console KVM ports on the KVM unit AND a switch that toggles the laptop between KVM mode and laptop mode.
Having said that, the poster that indicated earlier that anything only 20 geeks want will cost $10,000 is right, so I'm not holding my breath for the PCMCIA card.
I would say, though, that it would be really nice if someone could come up with some cheap hardware with keyboard/mouse/VGA connectors that protocol converted to VNC APIs over IP over ethernet. There's a lot of people that could use a cheap KVM over IP solution like this...
Isn't it great the problems needing a GUI just to do simple admin tasks creates?
What the poster (and myself, very much so) wants is a laptop that accepts PC video/keyboard/mouse in. Most desktop LCDs take video and convert for the LCD (which of course is very much digital, unlike CRTs which are fairly analogue). I imagine most laptop LCD/video hardware might be digital straight through, but the hardware for digitising video input must be very standard now.
Personally annoyed that my latest laptop lacks a serial port (it's on the port expander - ugh) and has one of those annoying touchpads, I remain,
Cameron Simpson, DoD#743 cs@cskk.id.au http://www.cskk.ezoshosting.com/cs/
The point is that you have a nice, compact device (stuff it in your laptop bag if you need to) that goes with you to a site. Plug the KVM ports into a host and the Ethernet port into your laptop, and bingo, you've got console access to the host through your laptop.
$900 is chump change for a tool that gets work done efficiently. If you're looking for a way to get something done with the least expenditure of dollars, I suggest staying out of corporate data centers all together. They'll make you cry.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
Typical Slashdot.... 99% of posts are unresponsive and off topic.
No, typical Slashdot is a bunch of kids answering a serious question before ever setting foot in an enterprise environment.
Two choices: first, an IP KVM installed in each rack. But you still have to address the power switch and media. Another poster mentioned PXE booting. It works, but takes effort to build all the different images you want to have handy, and what do you do for a hung box 1,000 miles away? Or once you address the power question, the NIC is bad?
Second: IBM (and others) offer remote systems management cards that not only give you full remote KVM on the server the card is installed in, but they also give you access to the system power and screen captures of blue screens that may have occured before the server rebooted itself to recover. They can also present virtual floppy and CD-ROM drives to their host servers. Finally, if you don't want to run 10/100 and do IP allocations for each management card, you can daisy chain up to 24 servers together over RS-485 and use any one of them as a gateway to the IP network.
One IP address. Full remote KVM access to up to 24 servers at a time. Access to the system power. Access to screenshots of blue screens that may have tripped a reboot. Full hardware and software alert forwarding directly handled by the gateway card or passed on to enterprise systems management environments via numerous methods. Virtual floppy and CD-ROM drives. If you still absolutely insist on going onsite to the box, you can sit at a desk in the corner and get an IP.
For christ's sake be a professional, dammit! I love all these answers about using distros configured to put the console on a serial tty when the submitter clearly described needing to be in the box before the POST splash is up. Another year of not having to worry about my job if this is the competition.
Intelligent Life on Earth