Console Servers Product Survey
Steve Michnick
Table 1: Console Server Product Information, Part
1, Part 2.
The quintessential and critical requirement for managing any high-powered and
multiform data center is solid and secure console management. Highly skilled
sys admins require around the clock, secure remote access to system consoles
from any location to effectively and efficiently manage the crucial assets in
a distributed environment. System managers require the features of data encryption,
session monitoring, and audit logging to meet increasingly strict security expectations
from customers and government regulators. Console servers are designed to address
these requirements and provide many other features that simplify the task of
operating a fleet of data processing equipment. This survey will help you get
to know many of the features available when evaluating console server products
and shows how vendors in the marketplace are positioning themselves to meet
the important console server requirements.
Console Access Methods
The first and foremost features to consider when evaluating a console server
are the methods it will provide for accessing your computer systems and network
devices. There are two fundamental methods -- terminal server and browser-based
approaches. All surveyed vendor products, except one, support both methods with
moderately varying degrees of features.
Terminal Servers
Terminal servers provide a command-line interface (CLI) that can use secure
shell (SSH) protocol for encrypting the console network connection. The CLI
approach to accessing consoles has been the standard method for access for years
and vendors provide a broad range of terminal emulations to support a wide range
of systems.
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