Managing access to your server – rebooting, power off – is possible by a number of lights out adapters and software vendors such as HP, Dell, Sun, IBM and Rackable supply.
HP has its Integrated Lights Out adapter for its ProLiant Servers; IBM has the Remote Supervisor Adapter, Sun the Integrated Light out Manager, Dell has the Dell Remote Access Card and Rackable has the Roamer Remote Management Card.
HP’s iLO provides remote power control, a text-based remote console, server and iLO log and status displays and alert forwarding. ILO is available in two models: iLO Standard, which provides basic system management functions, diagnostics, and iLO Advanced, which provides remote administration as a licensed option.
IBM’s Remote Supervisor Adapter is an out-of-band management card installed in most x86-based IBM xSeries servers. The Remote Supervisor Adapter lets IT manage servers whether they are operational or not. It works in concert with IBM Director software to provide console redirection and receive system alerts. Via a Web-based interface, IT can view the status of as many as 24 servers.
Sun’s Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) is available for all SunFire and SunBlade systems and works across Sun x64 and Cool Threads SPARC servers, blades and blade chassis. It allows the remote and local management and monitoring of system status and alerting. It also provides remote keyboard, video and mouse capability.
Dell’s Remote Access Card like the other remote management adapters, lets IT access servers after failure, view a server’s internal event logs and manage multiple remote servers. It can allow orderly shutdowns for maintenance and server restarts when maintenance is completed.
Finally, Rackable’s Roamer Remote Management adapter offers in-band and out-of-band connectivity either via a serial or Ethernet interface. It lets network administrators control BIOS settings, enable power-on delay, turn systems on and off and change the LCCD display to show IP address, CPU load or another customized message. It also lets administrators monitor temperature and provides alerts.
