[SunHELP] Terminal Server / SC Management recommendations?

[velociraptor]

On 1/9/06, Micah DesJardins <micahdj at gmail.com> wrote:
> information about how other people with a small installation (say less
> than 8 servers?) are dealing with console management?
>
> What's the consensus if any on unifying devices? I know there are
> serial expanders, but my understanding is that there can be problems
> if the expander loses power (sends a halt to all servers) I know there
> are some console servers endorsed by Sun (Avocent, Cyclades,
> Lantronix) the cheapest I can find is around 800ish.
>
> How are you dealing with console management for small installations?

We are pretty small as far as production operations go (less than 75
servers for dev, qa, and prod).  We have 3 Lantronix--1 32 port and
2 16 port.

I think they are worth the extra--but make sure you get good cables
for them.  You *can* get the "break" problem with cheap cables.
You also still have to be careful with unplugging the RJ45's--it can
send a break as well.  (Turn off keyboard input beforehand if you
need to unplug while server is live--you can do this from the OS.)
I am removing the last heads (don't ask, one of the doofus sys
admins before me) off of our Sun servers with a move in a couple
of weeks.

I believe that Cisco serial concentrators will do SSH now, as well.
Last time I checked it was SSH1, but that was several years ago.

This kind of remote access is a *must* if you want to be able to
do your prod support from off-site.  At my last job, I never even
saw my servers--we were co-located (my company's facility)--
so if I absolutely needed "hands on" I used the NOC techs.

=Nadine=