Out-of-Band Management

Out-of-Band Management Featured Article

Opengear's Out of Band Management Delivers Necessary Flexibility, Scalability

By Susan J. Campbell TMCnet Contributing Editor

Companies that embark on out of band management projects that include the use of multiple proprietary tools from a variety of vendors aren't doing themselves any favors. Out of band management solutions need to be flexible and scalable with fast and easy deployments. They also need to integrate with the IT management systems already in place.

Opengear (News - Alert), as highlighted on this page, a company focused on data center infrastructure management and remote infrastructure management appliances, offers products that can support optimal out of band management deployments. Specifically, the IM4200-X2 and ACM5000 families are products that offer support to external and internal cellular modems.

Out of band management solutions that can achieve out of band connections that are remotely initiated are in need, and Opengear's products are filling that need. Out of band management complexities and public IP addressing complexities need to be addressed, and Opengear's products offer a solution with dynamic DNS services.

IT staff can initiate out of band management connections remotely over a cellular link. The cellular devices used by Opengear can access carrier networks using static and dynamic IP addresses. While many carriers don't offer static IPs or charge for the ones they do provide, Opengear's static IP addresses are available over a Web interface where all connected devices can be accessed.

Out of band management should include dynamically assigned IP addresses, which Opengear offers with dynamic DNS. Opengear devices with firmware updated to 3.0.2 will support the dynamic DNS. Once an Opengear cellar device is connected, users can establish an out of band management connection to carrier networks whenever the main link is having issues. This failover mode connection arrangement occurs when a response isn't received through the primary or secondary link. A cellular radio device will be enabled once the failover mode is activated.

The call home feature in devices with firmware versions 3.2 and later help bring the secure SSH tunnel from the server to a CMS6100 or VCMS server that is centrally located. Once the console server is registered as the call home device, it will be recognized as the managed console server. After this is established, administrators can have total access to the managed console server through the CMS.

One of the benefits of selecting Opengear for out of band management needs is that high speed wireless connectivity is also on the table; a connection that must be protected and optimized. The ACM5004-G is a perfect fit for use as the primary wireless network connectivity device. It is also capable of automatically switching the wired connections to wireless mobile broadband.




Edited by Stefanie Mosca

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