RE: Console Server Recommendation

[George Bonser <gbonser () seven com>]

> It's a product you can download, compile, configure and it works out of
> the box.
>
> It is pretty well supported by the authors and they have been very
> responsive to each and every question/feature/other request I have made
> to them, no matter how stupid. In fact, it has been better supported in
> my experience than most boxed software.
>
> conserver doesn't replace the opengear products, it's a software
> package that sits next to them and provides increased functionality of
> the type you suggested would be desirable.
>
> It's no more difficult to configure conserver than to set up the DNS to
> do what you were suggesting with SSH.

On Ubuntu Linux:  

apt-get install conserver-server
apt-get install conserver-client

You need one conserver server and can have as many clients as you want.  

Getting the software installed is pretty much dead simple. Configuring it is pretty darned intuitive, too.

> I think you are misunderstanding and thinking I propose conserver as a
> replacement for MRV/Cyclades/etc. I do not. I propose it as a way to
> get most of the features you wanted that aren't present in those boxes
> by adding it to them.

Exactly.  It is extremely handy for providing a standard interface / set of features if you have a mix of different 
console server hardware.  It is simply a layer of abstraction that lives above the console server hardware and allows 
you to buffer content, share sessions, etc.

 
> It has the additional advantage that it can provide the same
> functionality transparently across a wide variety of tserv hardware so
> that you can use multiple manufacturers over time and keep that
> transparent for the most part.

+1  sure makes things simple if you have different gear at different sites or have changed vendors over the years and 
have legacy stuff still in service.