Monitoring a Rack Server with Laptop

Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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Assuming I have a rack-mounter server that I need to do some maintenance on. Ideally I'd be able to plug my laptop in and use the laptop's keyboard/mouse/display to control the server. Obviously I could just plug a monitor, keyboard and mouse in but surely there's some sort of way of using a laptop and some extra bit of hardware to accomplish the same?
 
Associate
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I know Dell do the DRAC 4 card that enables remote management of the server over the web - same look and feel as the open manage software.

Alternatively Remote Desktop or SSH are also good tools of the trade
 
Soldato
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I was just thinking of that terrible scenario. You dropping off a server to be colocated and you've forgotten to set the IPs of the NICs. No problem if it's your own data centre but if you have to pay each time you visit your server, and you have no monitor or keyboard with you, it's a bit annoying. Many servers have KVM outputs on the front panel these days, I just thought it'd be nice to walk along with a laptop and a suitable interface and just plug it in. As "Space Cowboy" says, there must be a market for something like that. Oh and about the DRAC4 cards or similar (HP do one for theirs as well I think), yes I'd always recommend one - they work a treat and save on expensive, accompanied visits to your host's data centre.
 
Soldato
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phykell said:
Oh and about the DRAC4 cards or similar (HP do one for theirs as well I think), yes I'd always recommend one - they work a treat and save on expensive, accompanied visits to your host's data centre.

Yep, it's called ILO (Integrated Lights Out) and does a similar job.
 
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