Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP
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A very simple and fully functional Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP that you can make with your own hands without any soldering!
This device helps to manage servers or workstations remotely, regardless of the health of the operating system or whether one is installed. You can fix any problem, configure the BIOS, and even reinstall the OS using the virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive.
It only costs between $30 and $100 depending on the features desired. Even the most expensive configuration will be cheaper than a $500 commercial IP-KVM
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@StuartJordan said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
A very simple and fully functional Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP that you can make with your own hands without any soldering!
This device helps to manage servers or workstations remotely, regardless of the health of the operating system or whether one is installed. You can fix any problem, configure the BIOS, and even reinstall the OS using the virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive.
It only costs between $30 and $100 depending on the features desired. Even the most expensive configuration will be cheaper than a $500 commercial IP-KVM
We've had this on here before. The idea is nice but the problem is that the alternative isn't a IP based KVM switch - it's out of band managament, like iLO, iDrac, IPMI etc. It's available on almost every server sold today and it's way more flexible. With it you can do everything that you can on a KVM switch and also do bios upgrades, get info from the system like ECC failures, monitor power draw but most importantly you can power on/off servers.
On Supermicro for instance full featured IPMI is free.
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@Pete-S said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@StuartJordan said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
A very simple and fully functional Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP that you can make with your own hands without any soldering!
This device helps to manage servers or workstations remotely, regardless of the health of the operating system or whether one is installed. You can fix any problem, configure the BIOS, and even reinstall the OS using the virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive.
It only costs between $30 and $100 depending on the features desired. Even the most expensive configuration will be cheaper than a $500 commercial IP-KVM
We've had this on here before. The idea is nice but the problem is that the alternative isn't a IP based KVM switch - it's out of band managament, like iLO, iDrac, IPMI etc. It's available on almost every server sold today and it's way more flexible. With it you can do everything that you can on a KVM switch and also do bios upgrades, get info from the system like ECC failures, monitor power draw but most importantly you can power on/off servers.
On Supermicro for instance full featured IPMI is free.
I saw that article and thought the same thing... KVM isn't something you want at all, it's a fallback for when using non-business class gear. Sometimes you need something like a KVM but.... eww.
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Saw this too. Using it for a server never crossed my mind, but having a couple at remote sites or that could be express-shipped to WFH staff for desktop / laptop troubleshooting seems like an interesting possibility.
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@notverypunny said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
Saw this too. Using it for a server never crossed my mind, but having a couple at remote sites or that could be express-shipped to WFH staff for desktop / laptop troubleshooting seems like an interesting possibility.
99% av all problems will be solved with teamviewer, screenconnect or whatever you are using.
It seems very complicated to use a KVM over IP switch in a mobile environment. You still need network connectivity to the KVM. How are you going to enter wifi password etc? And you need to be able to reach the KVM switch from outside the network.
There are already crash cart adapters that turns any laptop into a crash cart. That is probably a better option.
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@Pete-S Yeah... problem is that for WFH folks you can rarely expect them to have a 2nd machine beyond a phone or tablet. For network connectivity, nothing's better than a cable, and even then we've had problems "configuring" that with some folks.
That CV211 would have been nice to have a few weeks back when the iDRAC at one of our remote sites decided to puke instead of reboot but that's another issue. -
@notverypunny said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@Pete-S Yeah... problem is that for WFH folks you can rarely expect them to have a 2nd machine beyond a phone or tablet. For network connectivity, nothing's better than a cable, and even then we've had problems "configuring" that with some folks.
That CV211 would have been nice to have a few weeks back when the iDRAC at one of our remote sites decided to puke instead of reboot but that's another issue.Yeah, I was thinking more about remote technician.
One hurdle with a RPI as a KVM is going to be that you need to actually get the laptop to output hdmi (if it even has a hdmi output or you need adapters). And they are going to need big USB ports or you need more adapters. And then you need power to the RPI and they need to be able to connect the right ports to the right thing as well.
I just see as lot of troubleshooting before you're even able to connect to the remote system.
Better to have them use their phone so you can see the screen on their computer. If it looks like a hardware problem, then just ship it.
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@Pete-S said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@notverypunny said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@Pete-S Yeah... problem is that for WFH folks you can rarely expect them to have a 2nd machine beyond a phone or tablet. For network connectivity, nothing's better than a cable, and even then we've had problems "configuring" that with some folks.
That CV211 would have been nice to have a few weeks back when the iDRAC at one of our remote sites decided to puke instead of reboot but that's another issue.Yeah, I was thinking more about remote technician.
One hurdle with a RPI as a KVM is going to be that you need to actually get the laptop to output hdmi (if it even has a hdmi output or you need adapters). And they are going to need big USB ports or you need more adapters. And then you need power to the RPI and they need to be able to connect the right ports to the right thing as well.
I just see as lot of troubleshooting before you're even able to connect to the remote system.
Better to have them use their phone so you can see the screen on their computer. If it looks like a hardware problem, then just ship it.
We actually have real KVM over IP units, Avocent I believe. But we only use them in a few unusual situations and then we are hooking them up on-site ourselves. And usually it's for a couple of weeks and then they are removed.
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@notverypunny said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
Saw this too. Using it for a server never crossed my mind, but having a couple at remote sites or that could be express-shipped to WFH staff for desktop / laptop troubleshooting seems like an interesting possibility.
Interesting, but once you are shipping a computer just ship them a working machine and have the other shipped back. Cheaper, faster, better user experience.
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I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
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@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
If available, you can run a pi with a PoE to 5v usb adapter. I had a rPI3 B+ that I used that way for a long time. That's assuming you have a network port to provide the power.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
10gb network switches should all work at 1gb as well. Now the not enough network ports is at least understandable.
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@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
OK, that's not a problem I had anticipated.
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@travisdh1 said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
If available, you can run a pi with a PoE to 5v usb adapter. I had a rPI3 B+ that I used that way for a long time. That's assuming you have a network port to provide the power.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
10gb network switches should all work at 1gb as well. Now the not enough network ports is at least understandable.
Is it though? Presumably critical infrastructure.. and you can't buy an additional switch to get iLo online?
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@Dashrender said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@travisdh1 said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
If available, you can run a pi with a PoE to 5v usb adapter. I had a rPI3 B+ that I used that way for a long time. That's assuming you have a network port to provide the power.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
10gb network switches should all work at 1gb as well. Now the not enough network ports is at least understandable.
Is it though? Presumably critical infrastructure.. and you can't buy an additional switch to get iLo online?
One single 48 port 1 gigabit L2 switch will cover a full rack. Not only for server OOB management but also for other devices that might have a management port, such as switches and firewalls. Minuscule cost compared to the servers and the rest of the rack.
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@Pete-S said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@Dashrender said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@travisdh1 said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
If available, you can run a pi with a PoE to 5v usb adapter. I had a rPI3 B+ that I used that way for a long time. That's assuming you have a network port to provide the power.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
10gb network switches should all work at 1gb as well. Now the not enough network ports is at least understandable.
Is it though? Presumably critical infrastructure.. and you can't buy an additional switch to get iLo online?
One single 48 port 1 gigabit L2 switch will cover a full rack. Not only for server OOB management but also for other devices that might have a management port, such as switches and firewalls. Minuscule cost compared to the servers and the rest of the rack.
This was my point.
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Playing at being in business....
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@Pete-S said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@Dashrender said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@travisdh1 said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
If available, you can run a pi with a PoE to 5v usb adapter. I had a rPI3 B+ that I used that way for a long time. That's assuming you have a network port to provide the power.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
10gb network switches should all work at 1gb as well. Now the not enough network ports is at least understandable.
Is it though? Presumably critical infrastructure.. and you can't buy an additional switch to get iLo online?
One single 48 port 1 gigabit L2 switch will cover a full rack. Not only for server OOB management but also for other devices that might have a management port, such as switches and firewalls. Minuscule cost compared to the servers and the rest of the rack.
But it won't support that full rack and the floorplan as well.
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@Dashrender said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@travisdh1 said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
If available, you can run a pi with a PoE to 5v usb adapter. I had a rPI3 B+ that I used that way for a long time. That's assuming you have a network port to provide the power.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
10gb network switches should all work at 1gb as well. Now the not enough network ports is at least understandable.
Is it though? Presumably critical infrastructure.. and you can't buy an additional switch to get iLo online?
For the amount of time we spend over there physically sitting in front of the machines, along with the cost of the brand switches (Cisco, if you couldn't guess), cost of the the licensing to get the full iDRAC for "virtual cdrom", cabling it all and all that, it just doesn't make sense -- at least not to me, and not in the face of something like a $200 PiKVM that we could use wirelessly -- or an IP-KVM that needs one network cable per rack or two.
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@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@Dashrender said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@travisdh1 said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
If available, you can run a pi with a PoE to 5v usb adapter. I had a rPI3 B+ that I used that way for a long time. That's assuming you have a network port to provide the power.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
10gb network switches should all work at 1gb as well. Now the not enough network ports is at least understandable.
Is it though? Presumably critical infrastructure.. and you can't buy an additional switch to get iLo online?
For the amount of time we spend over there physically sitting in front of the machines, along with the cost of the brand switches (Cisco, if you couldn't guess), cost of the the licensing to get the full iDRAC for "virtual cdrom", cabling it all and all that, it just doesn't make sense -- at least not to me, and not in the face of something like a $200 PiKVM that we could use wirelessly -- or an IP-KVM that needs one network cable per rack or two.
Yeah, this is a double edged sword for sure! If you live relatively close and work on site with the equipment, then savings might be worth it.
I had a conversation with my new boss yesterday about an outage we recently had. He asked the expected question - what could we do to prevent this from happening in the future? (the server crashed - I believe a software issue, but haven't parsed the logs yet, then the system wouldn't boot any more from the USB stick (corrupt boot sector)) He pressed on said - well maybe there wasn't anything that could have been done? I said - well, we could have a fully redundant server with replicated data, etc - but at the cost of $20-30K I didn't feel it was worth the expense, since a 4 hour outage likely doesn't come close to closing us that in revenue (any lost appointments/surgeries are rescheduled in short order.
Additionally - I plugged my plans to move us to a zero trust model, hopefully with zero or near zero local servers will make this a non issue as well. -
@Dashrender said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@Dashrender said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@travisdh1 said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
@dafyre said in Raspberry Pi-based KVM over IP:
I like the idea of something like this. I admit that some of the points (such as powering the device) are good ones.
I think something like this could be huge for the team I work on. We do have to go physically visit the servers every now and again to fix a botched VMware upgrade (rare, but it happens) or what-have you. Having something like this would be great. Connect the PiKVM to wireless so we don't have to dig out a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and power cable and find something to sit it on.
We then could go back to the admin machines (or back to our office!) and connect to the PiKVM over wireless. No muss, no fuss.
Couldn't you power the PiKVM with battery, or via the USB connection that it uses to connect up for the keyboard & mouse as well. OR a second USB connection for power instead.
If available, you can run a pi with a PoE to 5v usb adapter. I had a rPI3 B+ that I used that way for a long time. That's assuming you have a network port to provide the power.
The disadvantage to useing iDRAC / iLO, etc al, in our case is that we just don't have enough network ports to do that. Plus iLO & iDRAC are all 1gig connections and all of our switches are 10gig.
10gb network switches should all work at 1gb as well. Now the not enough network ports is at least understandable.
Is it though? Presumably critical infrastructure.. and you can't buy an additional switch to get iLo online?
For the amount of time we spend over there physically sitting in front of the machines, along with the cost of the brand switches (Cisco, if you couldn't guess), cost of the the licensing to get the full iDRAC for "virtual cdrom", cabling it all and all that, it just doesn't make sense -- at least not to me, and not in the face of something like a $200 PiKVM that we could use wirelessly -- or an IP-KVM that needs one network cable per rack or two.
Yeah, this is a double edged sword for sure! If you live relatively close and work on site with the equipment, then savings might be worth it.
I had a conversation with my new boss yesterday about an outage we recently had. He asked the expected question - what could we do to prevent this from happening in the future? (the server crashed - I believe a software issue, but haven't parsed the logs yet, then the system wouldn't boot any more from the USB stick (corrupt boot sector)) He pressed on said - well maybe there wasn't anything that could have been done? I said - well, we could have a fully redundant server with replicated data, etc - but at the cost of $20-30K I didn't feel it was worth the expense, since a 4 hour outage likely doesn't come close to closing us that in revenue (any lost appointments/surgeries are rescheduled in short order.
Additionally - I plugged my plans to move us to a zero trust model, hopefully with zero or near zero local servers will make this a non issue as well.For me spending $300 on iDrac Enterprise is like spending $100 on rails. It's just part of what you need to run servers.
The only reason Dell doesn't include iDrac Enterprise or rails in the price is to make the server look cheaper than actually is. And to have something that inflates the price so they can give a significant discount to their enterprise customers and still make a profit.
