# Anyone using KVM over IP?



## MMacD (Mar 13, 2019)

What hardware are you using, and how well (fast, reliable) does it work?


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## SirDice (Mar 13, 2019)

IPMI for the win!

We used to have a couple of Altusen KVMs but they've been largely obsoleted due to the prevalence of IPMI on server hardware.


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## MMacD (Mar 13, 2019)

How do you get around IPMI's poor security?  It scares me!


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## SirDice (Mar 13, 2019)

It's not "open" to the world. Servers are hosted at a datacenter. Maintenance access is through SSH and/or a VPN.


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## phoenix (Mar 13, 2019)

Separate management vlan for IPMI connections.  No direct access to the management vlan from outside of the data centre.  Only a single host with access to management vlan.  And only SSH access using keys is allowed to that management host.

Supermicro has a nice IPMI setup for their server motherboards.  The older ones use a Java applet via the web browser (AMD Opteron boards) while the newer ones use HTML5 (AMD EPYC boards).  Or you can do it from the CLI using ipmitool(8) and serial console (SoL).

There's nothing like being able to reconfigure a BIOS on a problematic server remotely.    Saved us a few car rides out-of-town already.


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## Sergei_Shablovsky (Dec 22, 2022)

Let’s insert my 5th cents...


phoenix said:


> There's nothing like being able to reconfigure a BIOS on a problematic server remotely.    Saved us a few car rides out-of-town already.


I’m more than sure IBM servers (and some Fujistu/Siemens) have very powerful IMM card with ability to change ALL BIOS settings.

So one of solutions are creating physically separate Management LAN with access thru separate uplink (cellular module from Lantronix , for example G520 Rugged LTE & 5G IoT Cellular Gateways, or oldest one PremierWave XC – HSPA+ Overview
And of course Your server must be connected to power.


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