console switch

[Joshua Scott]

I am looking for an inexpensive way to connect my old 700/96 hp terminal to several servers at once.
My first idea was to get a serial switch. For some reason, I can't find any that support more than 4 ports. I would think that I could find an 8-port manual serial switch, but there don't seem to be any. All the 8+ port switches i've found are electronic and cost from $700-several thousand $$.

I was trying to avoid buying a ethernet switch to connect to all the LAN console switches. also, I have some older K & D class servers which don't have LAN console. I usually manage these servers via other means, but I want a physical console just in case of network problems, etc.

Has anyone tried to do anything like this? I have around 20 hpux servers on site, and would like to be able to declutter my computer room from all the consoles we currently have.

-Josh

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Bear in mind that you could simply serially connect multiple ABCD switches to expand as needed but I would give Black Box a call (www.blackbox.com).

I have to admit that I am old school and I prefer the 1 console / server paradigm --- especially when you are bringing up clusters.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Bear in mind that you could simply serially connect multiple ABCD switches to expand as needed but I would give Black Box a call (www.blackbox.com).

I have to admit that I am old school and I prefer the 1 console / server paradigm --- especially when you are bringing up clusters.

I am also fortunate (or more accurately, insistant) enough to have a separate room dedicated to this function alone.

[George_Dodds]

Why dont you get some HP web consoles, you can source them really cheap (15-25$) and at least it's a seperate console for each server.

I would be lost without my collection of web consoles, they save me so much hassle.

Cheers

George.

[Joshua Scott]

Clay,

I looked at black box, but they only have 6 port. I called them and they recommended the 8 port electronic switch (@ $729). They also suggested chaining switches. I wanted to get down to 3 terminals, but I guess that wont happen.

we added some new servers and are trying to reduce the clutter in the computer room by moving some of the old consoles, some of which are not really working that well anymore, out of the server room. of course, I have them in case they are needed.

George,
The problem is that the security policies wouldn't allow the use of the "secure" web console. We would have to add another physically separate network (including switches) the cost would just be too much at this point.

-Josh

[Angus Crome]

Try Avocent, Black-box, Rose Electronics, they all have single-16 port capable Ethernet to Serial. You would only need one network access point, and no physical consoles at all. We got ours for around $700 a piece.

[Scot Bean]

We use Lantronix remote console servers. 32 consoles on the LAN, one lan address.

[Angus Crome]

That last post got me thinking. If cost is a heavy consideration, try looking on E-bay. There are hits out there right now (new and used) from every vendor imaginable. A lot of them are on buy-it-now for under $400. They generally don't break, but I would still ask about warranty and support issues before submitting any bids.

[Ashwani Kashyap]

we use cyclades terminal server , linux based .

www.cyclades.com

[Bill Hassell]

You can daisy-chain three 4-port switches into a single console. It means that the sysadmin can select up to 10 systems by changing 3 switches. The first 2 switches would use the last port to connect to another switch.