Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

OOB: A little-known technology with big potential

Out-of-Band Management: Niche market or industry building block?
Network/Systems Management Alert By Dennis Drogseth , Network World , 10/24/2005
Sign up for this newsletter now!

Most people associate Out-of-Band Management (OOB) - if they have a clear association for it at all - with remote KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) used to fix problems and reboot troubled systems consoles in remote locations. KVM enables administrators to work with the processor or system as though they were virtually inside the machine. It also enables IT to control multiprocessor machines or machines with multiple blades. Moreover, KVM can be used to stop and start processes, or restart processors and reboot remote devices.

Many network administrators may also recognize that OOB can deliver serial console access, primarily for internetworking devices such as switches, firewalls, load balancers and routers. Virtually every network device has a RS232 serial port for management purposes that largely complements any existing in-band management instrumentation. 

Other IT professionals may also be aware of OOB support for service processors, which are embedded agents that provide native support for monitoring device hardware - primarily server platforms and blade computing - and are well adapted for remote management. These include support for standards such as IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface), as supported by Intel, Dell, HP and NEC.

Finally, many in IT may know that OOB remote management can provide remote power control, which is critical for recycling to fix devices by turning power on and off. A good example might be a crash in which the system is frozen and the keyboard doesn't respond.

All these things, combined with powerful ROI in terms of minimizing mean-time-to-repair delays and eliminating costs associated with truck rolls - or time and travel to fix devices at remote locations - have made OOB a relatively fast-growing market. OOB includes a number of vendors, some quite sizeable, which as a group are growing well and building up substantial customer loyalty. Some names, in alphabetical order, include Avocent, Cyclades, Raritan and UpLogix (this last focused on network edge devices).

However OOB, or remote management, hasn't yet gotten the industry respect and attention it deserves, being viewed primarily as a niche market with clear but limited functionality. This is a shame because OOB holds promise beyond the obvious, as in-band management systems become increasingly vulnerable, and the huge amounts of detail needed for thorough analysis of the infrastructure can threaten infrastructure performance.

Partner Content

NetScout is one of the world's premier providers of integrated network and application performance solutions.

www.netscout.com

Know First

Get Proactive — Move from Troubleshooting to Monitoring to Management with nGenius K2's Service Dashboard & Intelligent Early Warning Alarms

Watch the Video

Know Where

Get Rapid Performance Problem Isolation with nGenius Performance Manager and Diagnose Problems up to 70% Faster!

Learn More

Know Why

Get the Details to Validate and Solve your Toughest Performance Issues with nGenius InfiniStream and Sniffer Intelligence Modules

Read the Whitepaper

Comments (1)
Login
Forgot your account info?

Out of Band authentication and remote network accessBy Anonymous on June 4, 2008, 7:53 pmHave you guys heard about a little company called Alacrity Technologies out of Canberra--they have a patented technology called CLEW'Closed Loop Environment for...

Reply | Read entire comment

View all comments

Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to moderator approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed
Save The Date!
What They Are Saying

what are the benefits of project management - Anonymous

Join the Discussion