[rescue] KVM-over-ip

[Lionel Peterson]

Argh - it's not that big a deal, but I do see where you are coming from, and
where I was wrong.

There are servers that include KVM functions on the motherboard/via add-in
cards that allow access over an IP network to the system console, including
what many would call the BIOS screen for configuring hardware, controlling the
system and watching power-on messages. I think of this as a KVM-over-IP.

There are small single-port KVM-over-IP boxes that allow access to the console
(USB, PS/2, video ports) of a single server remotely, over a TCP/IP network
connection. I also think of this as a KVM-over-ip, just as I do the previous
example - it is simply a third-party add-on, not integrated into the server
manufacturer.

There are KVM switches with very simple dongles, they simply prepare the usual
USB, PS/2, and video signal to be carried over a piece of Cat5. This is not a
KVM-over-IP, it is simply a convenient form of cabling for an otherwise
conventional KVM with a local, direct connected console.

Then there are KVM switches that are connected to the servers either over
proprietary or Cat5/dongle connections (it makes no difference), but where the
console is connected to the KVM switch over a TCP/IP network. That is what
many refer to as a KVM-over-IP.

The key element is that at some point the KVM 'signal' is capable of being
carried over a routable TCP/IP network. As you said, between the KVM and
desktop.

I hope I got it right this time ;^)

(I don't know what I was thinking of with IP connections between dongles and a
KVM switch, sorry)

Lionel

On Jun 16, 2011, at 4:20 PM, Andrew Jones <andrew at jones.ec> wrote:

> Avocent'