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Out-of-band management

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In systems management, out-of-band management ( OOB ; also lights-out management or LOM ) is a process for accessing and managing devices and infrastructure at remote locations through a separate management plane from the production network. OOB allows a system administrator to monitor and manage servers and other network-attached equipment by remote control regardless of whether the machine is powered on or whether an OS is installed or functional. It is contrasted to in-band management which requires the managed systems to be powered on and available over their operating system's networking facilities.

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72-439: OOB can use dedicated management interfaces, serial ports, or cellular 4G and 5G networks for connectivity. Out-of-band management is now considered an essential network component to ensure business continuity and many manufacturers have it as a product offering. By contrast, in-band management through VNC or SSH is based on in-band connectivity (the usual network channel). It typically requires software that must be installed on

144-405: A KVM Splitter or reverse KVM switch. While not as common, this configuration is useful when the operator wants to access a single computer from two or more (usually close) locations - for example, a public kiosk machine that also has a staff maintenance interface behind the counter, or a home office computer that doubles as a home theater PC . VLAN A virtual local area network ( VLAN )

216-441: A wiring closet . It is necessary for a technician to either have administrative access to the device to view its configuration, or for VLAN port assignment charts or diagrams to be kept next to the switches in each wiring closet. The protocol most commonly used today to support VLANs is IEEE 802.1Q . The IEEE 802.1 working group defined this method of multiplexing VLANs in an effort to provide multivendor VLAN support. Prior to

288-486: A DVD drive, or disk images , from the remote machine. If necessary, this allows one to perform remote installation of the operating system. Remote management can be used to adjust BIOS settings that may not be accessible after the operating system has already booted. Settings for hardware RAID or RAM timings can also be adjusted as the management card needs no hard drives or main memory to operate. As management via serial port has traditionally been important on servers,

360-530: A KVM switch. The classes of KVM switches discussed below are based on different types of core technologies, which vary in how the KVM switch handles USB I/O devices—including keyboards, mice, touchscreen displays, etc. (USB-HID = USB Human Interface Device) A KVM Switch is a hardware device used in data centers that allows the control of multiple computers from a single keyboard, monitor and mouse (KVM). The switch allows data center personnel to connect to any server in

432-424: A VLAN can be used to separate traffic within a business based on individual users or groups of users or their roles (e.g. network administrators), or based on traffic characteristics (e.g. low-priority traffic prevented from impinging on the rest of the network's functioning). Many Internet hosting services use VLANs to separate customers' private zones from one other, allowing each customer's servers to be grouped in

504-429: A VLAN to map directly to an IP network, or subnet, which gives the appearance of involving the network layer . Generally, VLANs within the same organization will be assigned different non-overlapping network address ranges. This is not a requirement of VLANs. There is no issue with separate VLANs using identical overlapping address ranges (e.g. two VLANs each use the private network 192.168.0.0 / 16 ). However, it

576-406: A common Ethernet connection becomes shared between the computer's operating system and the integrated baseboard management controller (BMC), usually by configuring the network interface controller (NIC) to perform Remote Management Control Protocol (RMCP) ports filtering, use a separate MAC address, or to use a virtual LAN ( VLAN ). Thus, out-of-band nature of the management traffic is ensured in

648-402: A common system backbone. One limitation of mechanical KVM switches is that any computer not currently selected by the KVM switch does not 'see' a keyboard or mouse connected to it. In normal operation this is not a problem, but while the machine is booting up it will attempt to detect its keyboard and mouse and either fail to boot or boot with an unwanted (e.g. mouseless) configuration. Likewise,

720-433: A complete remote management system also allows interfacing with the server through a serial over LAN cable. As sending monitor output through the network is bandwidth intensive, cards like AMI's MegaRAC use built-in video compression (versions of VNC are often used in implementing this). Devices like Dell DRAC also have a slot for a memory card where an administrator may keep server-related information independently from

792-410: A dedicated micro-controller and potentially specialized video capture hardware to capture the video, keyboard, and mouse signals, compress and convert them into packets, and send them over an Ethernet link to a remote console application that unpacks and reconstitutes the dynamic graphical image. KVM over IP subsystem is typically connected to a system's standby power plane so that it's available during

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864-469: A device enters the network, the switch queries a database for the VLAN membership of the port that device is connected to. Protocol methods include Multiple VLAN Registration Protocol (MVRP) and the somewhat obsolete GARP VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP). In a switch that supports protocol-based VLANs, traffic may be handled on the basis of its protocol. Essentially, this segregates or forwards traffic from

936-458: A failure to detect the monitor may result in the computer falling back to a low resolution such as (typically) 640x480. Thus, mechanical KVM switches may be unsuitable for controlling machines which can reboot automatically (e.g. after a power failure). Another problem encountered with mechanical devices is the failure of one or more switch contacts to make firm, low resistance electrical connections, often necessitating some wiggling or adjustment of

1008-406: A method to dynamically share VLAN information and configure the needed VLANs. VLAN membership can be established either statically or dynamically. Static VLANs are also referred to as port-based VLANs. Static VLAN assignments are created by assigning ports to a VLAN. As a device enters the network, the device automatically assumes the VLAN of the port. If the user changes ports and needs access to

1080-512: A mix of different frame colors, the aggregate bandwidth could be improved. Sincoskie referred to this as a multitree bridge . He and Chase Cotton created and refined the algorithms necessary to make the system feasible. This color is what is now known in the Ethernet frame as the IEEE 802.1Q header, or the VLAN tag. While VLANs are commonly used in modern Ethernet networks, they are not used in

1152-517: A network utilizing broadcasts for service discovery , address assignment and resolution and other services, as the number of peers on a network grows, the frequency of broadcasts also increases. VLANs can help manage broadcast traffic by forming multiple broadcast domains . Breaking up a large network into smaller independent segments reduces the amount of broadcast traffic each network device and network segment has to bear. Switches may not bridge network traffic between VLANs, as doing so would violate

1224-488: A non-issue (because each switch port is a collision domain), attention turned to reducing the size of the data link layer broadcast domain. VLANs were first employed to separate several broadcast domains across one physical medium. A VLAN can also serve to restrict access to network resources without regard to physical topology of the network. VLANs operate at the data link layer of the OSI model . Administrators often configure

1296-430: A partially independent power supply and can switch the main machine on and off through the network. Because a special device is required for each machine, out-of-band management can be much more expensive. Serial consoles are an in-between case: they are technically OOB as they do not require the primary network to be functioning for remote administration. However, without special hardware, a serial console cannot configure

1368-457: A port depending on the particular protocol of that traffic; traffic of any other protocol is not forwarded on the port. This allows, for example, IP and IPX traffic to be automatically segregated by the network. VLAN cross connect (CC or VLAN-XC) is a mechanism used to create Switched VLANs, VLAN CC uses IEEE 802.1ad frames where the S Tag is used as a Label as in MPLS . IEEE approves the use of such

1440-459: A reboot to recover. An older version of out-of-band management is a layout involving the availability of a separate network that allows network administrators to get command-line interface access over the console ports of network equipment , even when those devices are not forwarding any payload traffic. If a location has several network devices, a terminal server can provide access to different console ports for direct CLI access. In case there

1512-410: A remote management card (while some cards only support a limited list of motherboards). Newer server motherboards often have built-in remote management and need no separate management card. Internally, Ethernet -based out-of-band management can either use a dedicated separate Ethernet connection, or some kind of traffic multiplexing can be performed on the system's regular Ethernet connection. That way,

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1584-619: A security solution should be implemented with great care as they can be defeated unless implemented carefully. In cloud computing VLANs, IP addresses, and MAC addresses in the cloud are resources that end users can manage. To help mitigate security issues, placing cloud-based virtual machines on VLANs may be preferable to placing them directly on the Internet. Network technologies with VLAN capabilities include: After successful experiments with voice over Ethernet from 1981 to 1984, W. David Sincoskie joined Bellcore and began addressing

1656-559: A shared-connection scenario, as the system configures the NIC to extract the management traffic from the incoming traffic flow on the hardware level, and to route it to the BMC before reaching the host and its operating system. Both in-band and out-of-band management are usually done through a network connection, but an out-of-band management card can use a physically separated network connector if preferred. A remote management card usually has at least

1728-445: A single DB25 or similar connector that aggregated connections at the switch with three independent keyboard, monitor and mouse cables to the computers. Subsequently, these were replaced by a special KVM cable which combined the keyboard, video and mouse cables in a single wrapped extension cable. The advantage of the last approach is in the reduction of the number of cables between the KVM switch and connected computers. The disadvantage

1800-523: A single interconnect ( trunk ) may be used to transport data for multiple VLANs. Since VLANs share bandwidth, a VLAN trunk can use link aggregation , quality-of-service prioritization, or both to route data efficiently. VLANs address issues such as scalability , security, and network management. Network architects set up VLANs to provide network segmentation . Routers between VLANs filter broadcast traffic , enhance network security , perform address summarization , and mitigate network congestion . In

1872-497: A single network segment no matter where the individual servers are located in the data center . Some precautions are needed to prevent traffic "escaping" from a given VLAN, an exploit known as VLAN hopping . To subdivide a network into VLANs, one configures network equipment . Simpler equipment might partition only each physical port (if even that), in which case each VLAN runs over a dedicated network cable . More sophisticated devices can mark frames through VLAN tagging , so that

1944-440: A total of 512 computers equally accessed by any given user console. While HDMI , DisplayPort , and DVI switches have been manufactured, VGA is still the most common video connector found with KVM switches for industrial applications and manufacturing applications, although many switches are now compatible with HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. Analogue switches can be built with varying capacities for video bandwidth, affecting

2016-405: Is a Cisco proprietary protocol used to interconnect switches and maintain VLAN information as traffic travels between switches on trunk links. ISL is provided as an alternative to IEEE 802.1Q. ISL is available only on some Cisco equipment and has been deprecated. VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) is a Cisco proprietary protocol that propagates the definition of VLANs on the whole local area network. VTP

2088-539: Is any broadcast domain that is partitioned and isolated in a computer network at the data link layer ( OSI layer 2 ). In this context, virtual refers to a physical object recreated and altered by additional logic, within the local area network . Basically, a VLAN behaves like a virtual switch or network link that can share the same physical structure with other VLANs while staying logically separate from them. VLANs work by applying tags to network frames and handling these tags in networking systems, in effect creating

2160-494: Is available on most of the Cisco Catalyst Family products. The comparable IEEE standard in use by other manufacturers is GARP VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP) or the more recent Multiple VLAN Registration Protocol (MVRP). Multiple VLAN Registration Protocol is an application of Multiple Registration Protocol that allows automatic configuration of VLAN information on network switches. Specifically, it provides

2232-489: Is dependent on the analogue nature and state of the hardware. The same piece of equipment may require more bandwidth as it ages due to increased degradation of the source signal. Most conversion formulas attempt to approximate the amount of bandwidth needed, including a margin of safety. As a rule of thumb, switch circuitry should provide up to three times the bandwidth required by the original signal specification, as this allows most instances of signal loss to be contained outside

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2304-412: Is not possible to route data between two networks with overlapping addresses without delicate IP remapping , so if the goal of VLANs is segmentation of a larger overall organizational network, non-overlapping addresses must be used in each separate VLAN. A basic switch that is not configured for VLANs has VLAN functionality disabled or permanently enabled with a default VLAN that contains all ports on

2376-469: Is only one or just a few network devices, some of them provide AUX ports making it possible to connect a dial-in modem for direct CLI access. The mentioned terminal server can often be accessed via a separate network that does not use managed switches and routers for a connection to the central site, or it has a modem connected via dial-in access through POTS or ISDN . Remote management can be enabled on many computers (not necessarily only servers) by adding

2448-404: Is possible to have multiple subnets on one VLAN. Without VLAN capability, users are assigned to networks based on geography and are limited by physical topologies and distances. VLANs can logically group networks to decouple the users' network location from their physical location. By using VLANs, one can control traffic patterns and react quickly to employee or equipment relocations. VLANs provide

2520-603: Is the cost of these cables. The method of switching from one computer to another depends on the switch. The original peripheral switches (Rose, circa 1988) used a rotary switch while active electronic switches (Cybex, circa 1990) used push buttons on the KVM device. In both cases, the KVM aligns operation between different computers and the users' keyboard, monitor and mouse (user console). In 1992–1993, Cybex Corporation engineered keyboard hot-key commands. Today, most KVMs are controlled through non-invasive hot-key commands (e.g. Ctrl + Ctrl , Scroll Lock + Scroll Lock and

2592-455: Is typically used for the video protocol in IPMI and Intel AMT implementations. KVM switches are called KVM sharing devices because two or more computers can share a single set of KVM peripherals. Computer sharing devices function in reverse compared to KVM switches; that is, a single PC can be shared by multiple monitors, keyboards, and mice. A computer sharing device is sometimes referred to as

2664-475: The Print Screen keys). Hot-key switching is often complemented with an on-screen display system that displays a list of connected computers. KVM switches differ in the number of computers that can be connected. Traditional switching configurations range from 2 to 64 possible computers attached to a single device. Enterprise-grade devices interconnected via daisy-chained and/or cascaded methods can support

2736-513: The backbone for network traffic going across different VLANs. It is only when the VLAN port group is to extend to another device that tagging is used. Since communications between ports on two different switches travel via the uplink ports of each switch involved, every VLAN containing such ports must also contain the uplink port of each switch involved, and traffic through these ports must be tagged. Switches typically have no built-in method to indicate VLAN to port associations to someone working in

2808-674: The "whitelisting" or authority to connect to be implicitly enabled. Without the whitelist addition, the device will not work. This is by design and required to connect non-standard USB devices to KVMs. This is completed by noting the device's ID (usually copied from the Device manager in Windows), or documentation from the manufacturer of the USB device. Generally all HID or consumer grade USB peripherals are exempt, but more exotic devices like tablets, or digitisers or USB toggles require manual addition to

2880-424: The Ethernet frame, while 802.1Q uses a frame-internal field for tagging, and therefore does modify the basic Ethernet frame structure. This internal tagging allows IEEE 802.1Q to work on both access and trunk links using standard Ethernet hardware. Under IEEE 802.1Q, the maximum number of VLANs on a given Ethernet network is 4,094 (4,096 values provided by the 12-bit VID field minus reserved values at each end of

2952-536: The UEFI (or BIOS) settings, reinstall the operating system remotely, or fix problems that prevent the system from booting. KVM over IP A KVM switch (with KVM being an abbreviation for "keyboard, video, and mouse") is a hardware device that allows a user to control multiple computers from one or more sets of keyboards , video monitors , and mouse . Switches to connect multiple computers to one or more peripherals have had multiple names. The earliest name

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3024-419: The appearance and functionality of network traffic that, while on a single physical network, behaves as if it were split between separate networks. In this way, VLANs can keep network applications separate despite being connected to the same physical network, and without requiring multiple sets of cabling and networking devices to be deployed. VLANs allow network administrators to group hosts together even if

3096-431: The cheapest devices on the market still use this technology. Mechanical switches usually have a rotary knob to select between computers. KVMs typically allow sharing of two or four computers, with a practical limit of about twelve machines imposed by limitations on available switch configurations. Modern hardware designs use active electronics rather than physical switch contacts with the potential to control many computers on

3168-499: The configured VLANs. In the context of VLANs, the term trunk denotes a network link carrying multiple VLANs, which are identified by labels (or tags ) inserted into their packets. Such trunks must run between tagged ports of VLAN-aware devices, so they are often switch-to-switch or switch-to- router links rather than links to hosts. (Note that the term 'trunk' is also used for what Cisco calls "channels" : Link Aggregation or Port Trunking ). A router (Layer 3 device) serves as

3240-625: The controlled computers. There are software alternatives to some of the functionality of a hardware KVM switch, such as Multiplicity , Synergy , and Barrier, which does the switching in software and forwards input over standard network connections. This has the advantage of reducing the number of wires needed. Screen-edge switching allows the mouse to function over both monitors of two computers. There are two types of remote KVM devices that are best described as local remote and KVM over IP. Local remote KVM device design allows users to control computer equipment up to 1,000 feet (300 m) away from

3312-400: The device as members. The default VLAN typically uses VLAN identifier 1. Every device connected to one of its ports can send packets to any of the others. Separating ports by VLAN groups separates their traffic very much like connecting each group using a distinct switch for each group. Remote management of the switch requires that the administrative functions be associated with one or more of

3384-558: The entire BIOS boot process. These devices allow multiple computers to be controlled locally or globally with the use of an IP connection. There are performance issues related with LAN/WAN hardware, standard protocols and network latency so user management is commonly referred to as "near real time". Access to most remote or "KVM" over IP devices today use a web browser , although many of the stand-alone viewer software applications provided by many manufacturers are also reliant on ActiveX or Java . Some KVM chipsets or manufacturers require

3456-472: The existing telephone network's speed for individual connections was limited to 56 kbit/s (less than one hundredth of Ethernet's speed), the total bandwidth of that network was estimated at 1 Tbit/s (100,000 times greater than Ethernet). Although it was possible to use IP routing to connect multiple Ethernet networks together, it was expensive and relatively slow. Sincoskie started looking for alternatives that required less processing per packet. In

3528-490: The flexibility to adapt to changes in network requirements and allow for simplified administration. VLANs can be used to partition a local network into several distinctive segments, for instance: A common infrastructure shared across VLAN trunks can provide a measure of security with great flexibility for a comparatively low cost. Quality of service schemes can optimize traffic on trunk links for real-time (e.g. VoIP ) or low-latency requirements (e.g. SAN ). However, VLANs as

3600-555: The graphics memory buffer, and as a result it must know which graphics chip it is working with, and what graphics mode this chip is currently in so that the contents of the buffer can be interpreted correctly as picture data. Newer techniques in OPMA management subsystem cards and other implementations get the video data directly using the DVI bus. Implementations can emulate either PS/2 or USB based keyboards and mice. An embedded VNC server

3672-434: The hardware also provides continuous support where computers require constant communication with the peripherals. Some types of active KVM switches do not emit signals that exactly match the physical keyboard, monitor, and mouse, which can result in unwanted behavior of the controlled machines. For example, the user of a multimedia keyboard connected to a KVM switch may find that the keyboard's multimedia keys have no effect on

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3744-571: The hosts are not directly connected to the same network switch . Because VLAN membership can be configured through software, this can greatly simplify network design and deployment. Without VLANs, grouping hosts according to their resource needs the labor of relocating nodes or rewiring data links . VLANs allow devices that must be kept separate to share the cabling of a physical network and yet be prevented from directly interacting with one another. This managed sharing yields gains in simplicity, security , traffic management , and economy. For example,

3816-408: The integrity of the VLAN broadcast domain. VLANs can also help create multiple layer 3 networks on a single physical infrastructure. VLANs are data link layer (OSI layer 2) constructs, analogous to Internet Protocol (IP) subnets , which are network layer (OSI layer 3) constructs. In an environment employing VLANs, a one-to-one relationship often exists between VLANs and IP subnets, although it

3888-532: The introduction of the 802.1Q standard, several proprietary protocols existed, such as Cisco Inter-Switch Link (ISL) and 3Com 's Virtual LAN Trunk (VLT). Cisco also implemented VLANs over FDDI by carrying VLAN information in an IEEE 802.10 frame header, contrary to the purpose of the IEEE 802.10 standard. Both ISL and IEEE 802.1Q perform explicit tagging – the frame itself is tagged with VLAN identifiers. ISL uses an external tagging process that does not modify

3960-505: The knob to correct patchy colors on screen or unreliable peripheral response. Gold-plated contacts improve that aspect of switch performance, but add cost to the device. Most active (electronic rather than mechanical) KVM devices provide peripheral emulation, sending signals to the computers that are not currently selected to simulate a keyboard, mouse and monitor being connected. These are used to control machines which may reboot in unattended operation. Peripheral emulation services embedded in

4032-432: The main hard drive. The remote system can be accessed either through an SSH command-line interface, specialized client software, or through various web-browser-based solutions. Client software is usually optimized to manage multiple systems easily. There are also various scaled-down versions, up to devices that only allow remote reboot by power cycling the server. This helps if the operating system hangs, but only needs

4104-476: The manner first envisioned here. In 1998, Ethernet VLANs were described in the first edition of the IEEE 802.1Q -1998 standard. This was extended with IEEE 802.1ad to allow nested VLAN tags in service of provider bridging. This mechanism was improved with IEEE 802.1ah-2008 . Early network designers often segmented physical LANs with the aim of reducing the size of the Ethernet collision domain —thus improving performance. When Ethernet switches made this

4176-501: The network. This causes centrally located switches to become bottlenecks, limiting scalability as more networks are interconnected. To help alleviate this problem, Sincoskie invented VLANs by adding a tag to each Ethernet frame. These tags could be thought of as colors, say red, green, or blue. In this scheme, each switch could be assigned to handle frames of a single color, and ignore the rest. The networks could be interconnected with three spanning trees, one for each color. By sending

4248-463: The operating system loads. Modern KVM over IP appliances or switches typically use at least 128-bit data encryption securing the KVM configuration over a WAN or LAN (using SSL ). KVM over IP devices can be implemented in different ways. With regards to video, PCI KVM over IP cards use a form of screen scraping where the PCI bus master KVM over IP card would access and copy out the screen directly from

4320-400: The problem of scaling up Ethernet networks. At 10 Mbit/s, Ethernet was faster than most alternatives at the time. However, Ethernet was a broadcast network and there was no good way of connecting multiple Ethernet networks together. This limited the total bandwidth of an Ethernet network to 10 Mbit/s and the maximum distance between nodes to a few hundred feet. By contrast, although

4392-480: The problem without physically going to the machine. Despite these limitations, in-band solutions are still common because they are simpler and much lower-cost. A complete remote management system allows remote reboot, shutdown, powering on; hardware sensor monitoring (fan speed, power voltages, chassis intrusion, etc.); broadcasting of video output to remote terminals and receiving of input from remote keyboard and mouse ( KVM over IP ). It also can access local media like

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4464-402: The process, he independently reinvented transparent bridging , the technique used in modern Ethernet switches . However, using switches to connect multiple Ethernet networks in a fault-tolerant fashion requires redundant paths through that network, which in turn requires a spanning tree configuration. This ensures that there is only one active path from any source node to any destination on

4536-471: The rack. A common example of home use is to enable the use of the full-size keyboard, mouse and monitor of the home PC with a portable device such as a laptop, tablet PC or PDA , or a computer using a different operating system. KVM switches offer different methods of connecting the computers. Depending on the product, the switch may present native connectors on the device where standard keyboard, monitor and mouse cables can be attached. Another method to have

4608-443: The range of the signal that is pertinent to picture quality. As CRT -based displays are dependent on refresh rate to prevent flickering, they generally require more bandwidth than comparable flat panel displays. High-resolution and High-refresh-rate monitors become standard setups for advanced high-end KVM switches (specially with Gaming PC). A monitor uses DDC and EDID , transmitted through specific pins, to identify itself to

4680-439: The range, 0 and 4,095). This does not impose the same limit on the number of IP subnets in such a network since a single VLAN can contain multiple IP subnets. IEEE 802.1ad extends the number of VLANs supported by adding support for multiple, nested VLAN tags. IEEE 802.1aq (Shortest Path Bridging) expands the VLAN limit to 16 million. Both improvements have been incorporated into the IEEE 802.1Q standard. Inter-Switch Link (ISL)

4752-407: The remote system being managed and only works after the operating system has been booted and networking is brought up. It does not allow management of remote network components independently of the current status of other network components. A classic example of this limitation is when a sysadmin attempts to reconfigure the network on a remote machine only to find themselves locked out and unable to fix

4824-416: The same VLAN, the network administrator must manually make a port-to-VLAN assignment for the new connection. Dynamic VLANs are created using software or by protocol. With a VLAN Management Policy Server (VMPS), an administrator can assign switch ports to VLANs dynamically based on information such as the source MAC address of the device connected to the port or the username used to log onto that device. As

4896-487: The system. KVM switches may have different ways of handling these data transmissions: Microsoft guidelines recommend that KVM switches pass unaltered any I C traffic between the monitor and the PC hosts, and do not generate HPD events upon switching to a different port while maintaining stable non-noise signal on inactive ports. KVM switches were originally passive, mechanical devices based on multi-pole switches and some of

4968-410: The unit's overall cost and quality. A typical consumer-grade switch provides up to 200 MHz bandwidth, allowing for high-definition resolutions at 60 Hz. For analog video, resolution and refresh rate are the primary factors in determining the amount of bandwidth needed for the signal. The method of converting these factors into bandwidth requirements is a point of ambiguity, in part because it

5040-467: The user consoles (keyboard, monitor and mouse). They always need direct cable connection from the computer to the KVM switch to the console and include support for standard category 5 cabling between computers and users interconnected by the switch device. In contrast, USB powered KVM devices are able to control computer equipment using a combination of USB, keyboard, mouse and monitor cables of up to 5 metres (16 ft). KVM switch over IP devices use

5112-419: The white list table of the KVM. In comparison to conventional methods of remote administration (for example in-band Virtual Network Computing or Terminal Services ), a KVM switch has the advantage that it doesn't depend on a software component running on the remote computer, thus allowing remote interaction with base level BIOS settings and monitoring of the entire booting process before, during, and after

5184-464: Was Keyboard Video Switch (KVS). With the advent of the mouse, the Keyboard, Video and Mouse (KVM) switch became popular. The name was introduced by Remigius Shatas, the founder of Cybex (now Vertiv ), a peripheral switch manufacturer, in 1995. Some companies call their switches Keyboard, Video, Mouse and Peripheral (KVMP). USB keyboards, mice, and I/O devices are the most common devices connected to

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