Supermicro RKVM AOC-SIMSO+

LeaUK · 19th January 2008

Just thought I'd mention my pleasure in using the RKVM from SM, very fast and 'does exactly what it says on the tin' all for around 80 quid

.

Well worth the investment in my view - however one thing to watch out for; the target OS must use HID keyboard and mouse. That took a while to figure out as it's not in the manual!

Lea

Karl · 19th January 2008

Still prefer "normal" KVMoIP myself, costs <£100/port, and can be used on any type of server, although that's not to say we haven't considered the various IPMI/LoM solutions available to us, we just usually decide to stick with what we have - saves forking out again when the server is replaced.

LeaUK · 22nd January 2008

Yeah, I understand and if you have the luxury of space, power sockets etc that's the best approach. But as you understand extra power sockets/extra rack space == extra monthly charge!

So for me to keep costs down I've gone integrated all round.

Although I notice that ILO2 seems to becoming as standard on many of the HPs nowadays - opposed to Dell who still insist on £160/DRAC!

Cheers
Lea

andyb28 · 22nd January 2008

THIS USER HAS BEEN GAGGED BY THE FORUM HOSTS FOR SPAM OR BREAKING THE RULES...
User will be ungaged in around 78 hours from this post.

Karl · 22nd January 2008

Extra power sockets? Eh? By using APC MasterSwitches we use less sockets from the main PDU (which we supply anyway) than we would otherwise, think we have 5 or 6 sockets on the main PDU.

JamesSykes · 22nd January 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by andyb28

I have never really tried our servers with ILO to see how it works except on 1 of them, which had windows on it. It all looked fine intil windows loaded, then it kept saying something about needing a graphical licence. I thought well thats crap and never bothered with it again.

Was I missing something obvious?

Basically it's a separate network interface which runs it's own little operating system. You can use it to reboot and also to gain direct console access. They do charge extra for graphical console access but it's worth while if only for the reboot access. (With any other text console, including bios, you can get access and make changes without any extra license)

Titan_Keith · 24th January 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeaUK2

Just thought I'd mention my pleasure in using the RKVM from SM, very fast and 'does exactly what it says on the tin' all for around 80 quid

.

Well worth the investment in my view - however one thing to watch out for; the target OS must use HID keyboard and mouse. That took a while to figure out as it's not in the manual!

Lea

Good innit. Dirt cheap and faster/more responsive in my experience than full-blown KVM devices (we've tried and got Avocent and Raritan ones). Odd given that SM use a Raritan chip on them, but oh well.

I also like the fact it doesn't need an extra network cable.

PeteK · 25th January 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeaUK2

to Dell who still insist on £160/DRAC!

You've mis-typed that, it should be Dell CRAP.... they are terrible over priced cards...

LeaUK · 7th March 2008

Pete

I have to say I disagree. My DRACs are fine and have never let me down, although I don't use them on a daily bases - only emmegency when RDC lets me down... or something serious occurs!

LeaUK · 7th March 2008

One thing I didn't realise is that although the ILO2 hardware is included you still need to purchase an HP license if you want Console use ...

Not sure of costs but I expect it to be around the £150-£200 mark...

Lea

PeteK · 7th March 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeaUK2

One thing I didn't realise is that although the ILO2 hardware is included you still need to purchase an HP license if you want Console use ...

Not sure of costs but I expect it to be around the £150-£200 mark...

Lea

£100 quid but you get free virtual reboot bar and other stuff without paying for the remote desktop license

LeaUK · 9th March 2008

You get that with IPMI2 on NIC 1 as standard too ;-)

samb · 10th March 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeaUK2

One thing I didn't realise is that although the ILO2 hardware is included you still need to purchase an HP license if you want Console use ...

Not true - serial console is provided in the standard ILO2, it's only if you want graphical access you need to pay.
As there are no decent server OS without serial console support I don't see why that'd be a problem anyway

The graphical license is ~£70 IIRC, and it's streets ahead of the awful Dell DRAC that costs twice as much.

LeaUK · 11th March 2008

Quote:

As there are no decent server OS without serial console support I don't see why that'd be a problem anyway

You Linux boys don't stop do you!

Unfortunately one of the most popular OSs is GUI based, so it's an easy choice in terms of ILO..you *probably* need a GUI console..

I also don't understand your comments about the DRAC GUI. It's good and performs flawlessly, it's based on Java applets so it's a little slow, but hey - can't have everything.

I'm also familiar with SuperMicro's offering and I have to say Dell are ahead...

Karl · 12th March 2008

Err... doesn't Windows Server have a serial interface?