Need suggestion for an IP KVM

[Cooky]

Surprisingly we have budget left for a KVM.

Not sure if this is the right forum, but could someone please recommend a KVM (8 or 16 port) and a rack-mount monitor / keyboard & mouse that are accessible over the network?

We prefer HP, but are open to other brands if it fits the budget.

 

[netsysadmin]

What servers are you using? I might have another suggestion for you.

John

 

[drebo]

If your servers are HP, get the iLO2 Advanced license upgrade. Full terminal access remotely, including virtual disk drives and various other features. Good product, imo.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: drebo
If your servers are HP, get the iLO2 Advanced license upgrade. Full terminal access remotely, including virtual disk drives and various other features. Good product, imo.

Agreed. Been a lifesaver morer than once when I needed to get into a server remotely and couldn't get to the server any other way.

 

[netsysadmin]

We have all Dell servers with the RAC cards in them. If you have the Remote Access Cards there is no need for an IP KVM. The Dell RAC actually offer more funtionality than the IP KVM's.

John

 

[Cooky]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

We're already using iLO for the servers that are capable for it.
We're specifically looking for a KVM solution w/ an actual rack-mount keyboard and monitor and a KVM switch.

 

[InlineFive]

Well if you already have Dell RAC or HP iLO then just put a small desktop computer in there and connect it to your management network.

 

[WarhammerUC]

they're for different purposes..

ever seen an ilo stuck ?

when ilo is stuck, you still need to go to the physical box.. and pull the plugs

anyway, raritan is pretty expensive but the color is amazing and mouse tracking is 99% perfect..

i have avocent right now, its gets the job done but the color sucks and mouse tracking sucks..

 

[mvrx]

This might not be especially helpful to you ATM, but TeradiciTeradici based products are shipping at the end of this month.. probably widely available just after the first of the year. I think eVGA will be the first OEM to market..

Teradici's PC-overIP technology is pretty cool. It's basically what I have felt RDP/TS should have been 5 years ago. Complete hardware offloading of the audio and video (+usb, etc) from a PC host into an IP network. From BIOS boot to full PC session your remote session looks exactly like you are local to the PC. Can even do games on it believe it or not. Their chip pulls the video card's data directly from the bus, acts as a USB controller, high def audio device, and sends it all over it's own dedicated 1GbE port. Zero host processing.

I think IBM and Dell are now (or about to) ship blades with their host chip. But via eVGA I think you'll be able to get PCIe host cards that will turn any PC/server into a remotely controllable system.

From what I read, Teradici only has a 1:1 product right now.. meaning the host card only provides KVM like functionality to a single host session. But they are working with VMWare to implement support for lots of sessions.

Rumor on some virtualization forums suggest Teradici is planning a 8,16, and even 32-way host card.. meaning, one big bad server can serve 8-32 remote clients with dual monitors, usb, high def audio, etc.

Anyway.. maybe not what you're looking for, but in a year or so maybe it would be a fit for your infrastructure.