The hidden costs of embedded service processors

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach.

Enterprising saloon keepers in the late 19th century offered free lunches to attract customers, then served up beverages at artificially raised prices, giving rise to the popular adage, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."

Today our industry is serving up "free lunches" in the form of embedded service processors (ESPs). While ESPs are "free" in servers from major suppliers, in reality they have hidden costs. In fact, when you look at total cost per server, ESPs with limited functionality may be comparable in price to KVM-over-IP switches while ESP operational costs can be higher.

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This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach.

Enterprising saloon keepers in the late 19th century offered free lunches to attract customers, then served up beverages at artificially raised prices, giving rise to the popular adage, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."

Today our industry is serving up "free lunches" in the form of embedded service processors (ESPs). While ESPs are "free" in servers from major suppliers, in reality they have hidden costs. In fact, when you look at total cost per server, ESPs with limited functionality may be comparable in price to KVM-over-IP switches while ESP operational costs can be higher.

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Some of the ESP hidden costs include the IP address, switch port and cable run needed for each ESP -- versus only one IP address needed for a KVM switch that can manage multiple servers.

Then there are the ESP add-on costs for important management features such as virtual media, terminal services, power management and two-factor authentication. Licenses for these can cost as much as $500 per port. Some KVM-over-IP solutions, on the other hand, come with these advanced features, with a complete solution costing about $200 per server.

When it comes to remote access -- which enable lights-out data center operations and the management of remote branch offices -- ESPs perform several important jobs: They monitor a server's on-board instrumentation (temperature sensors, CPU status, fan speed, voltages), provide remote reset or power-cycle capabilities, and enable access to basic input/output system (BIOS) configuration information. But ESPs fall short in performing three key remote management functions: be able to access all target servers and devices, provide secure access and be easy to use.

A major shortcoming in ESPs is their inability to manage heterogeneous environments. By their very nature, ESPs are vendor-specific server solutions and provide access and management features specific to their supplier (the top ESPs processors include IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter, HP Integrated Lights Out, and Dell Remote Access Controller). That is very limiting considering data centers usually consist of equipment from multiple vendors.

The most effective way for IT to maintain all data center devices -- including servers, network, power and storage devices -- is through a single management interface. ESPs require multiple log-ons and a range of user interfaces to manage heterogeneous gear. KVM solutions are vendor and technology agnostic. From a centralized management interface, they provide unified management for the entire infrastructure -- including all vendor equipment and across different hardware generations. (Another ESP shortcoming is that legacy equipment must be replaced or upgraded in order to use new ESP versions.)

Gartner's John Morency, a research vice president who covers the management of disaster recovery and IT resiliency, recently examined the two remote access technologies. He wrote: "Currently, the principle enablers for lights-out operations are the use of keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) switches and hardware service processors that support the level of equipment console access required to support basic equipment configuration, event monitoring and change management. Service processors are hardware-vendor-specific and typically do not support all the models of any one server product vendor's product line. Given this limitation, recovery managers may be better-served by the use of remote KVM switches similar to those used to support server and storage equipment."