Re: OOB core router connectivity wish list

[Mikael Abrahamsson <swmike () swm pp se>]

On Wed, 9 Jan 2013, Randy Carpenter wrote:

> My main requirements would be:
>
> 1. Something that is *not* network (ethernet or otherwise) (isn't that the point of OOB?)

I don't understand this at all. Why can't an OOB network be ethernet 
based towards the equipment needing management?

> 2. Something that is standard across everything, and can be aggregated 
> easily onto a "console server" or the like

Yes, ethernet is the proposed management standard interface.

> I don't really see what is wrong with with keeping the serial port as the standard.

Because it's slow and can't be multiplexed, and it's expensive, only does 
short distance (20 meters or so), uses different cabling, requires 
separate planning etc. There are lot of reasons to drop serial port 
support.

> Things like servers and RAID cards and such are coming with "BIOS"es 
> that are graphical and even require a mouse to use. What use is that 
> when I need to get into the BIOS from a remote site that is completely 
> down?

My email stated https was way down on the priorities, and ssh and telnet 
was the prime way of managing the OOB part.

> It might be nice to have a "management-only" port of some sort to do 
> more advanced things that serial cannot do, but the serial port is 
> ubiquitous already, and I don't see any reason to remove it as the very 
> low-level access method.

An ethernet port is generally a lot cheaper compared to a serial port. 
Your OOB network would consist of a switch or router with ethernet towards 
the equipment needing management.

--
Mikael Abrahamsson    email: swmike () swm pp se