Only Raritan allows you to integrate your company’s analog and digital KVM solutions (and serial devices) for truly seamless IT infrastructure management.

Raritan’s CommandCenter allows analog and digital KVM to peacefully coexist, while providing centralized management through a single sign-on to a single interface, with secure, anytime, anywhere access via Web browser.

When evaluating analog or digital KVM solutions, consider the following factors:

• User distance from target servers
• Non-blocked access requirements
• Cabling limitations
• Performance (mouse synchronization) requirements
• Video quality
• Network independence
• Security
  

User Distance From Target Servers
If primary users are in the data center or within 300 meters of connected devices, an analog KVM solution may be appropriate. Remote access can be provided to occasional or after-hours users through an IP-Reach gateway or IP-enabled user station, the UST-IP. Remote access is also available via integration with CommandCenter and Paragon II System Controller.

If the primary users are outside the data center — for example, in a network operations center (NOC) that supports multiple data centers — then a KVM-over-IP solution is more appropriate. The same is true for a lights-out data center, where physical access is not assumed for regular IT management tasks.

Non-Blocked Access Requirements
Analog KVM switches can provide non-blocked access for up to 64 users. KVM-over-IP switches currently support up to 4 remote users and 1 local one. If more than 5 users need simultaneous access, only the first 5 will be able to access devices; additional users will be blocked. It is possible to overcome the blocking limitation of KVM-over-IP by spreading servers requiring frequent management across different KVM switches.

Cabling Limitations
KVM-over-IP solutions require less Cat5 cabling per rack. If an existing data center is being retrofitted for KVM and multiple Cat5 cable runs are not feasible, KVM-over-IP is probably the best way to go. If multiple cable runs can be easily added, this is not a deciding factor.

Performance (Mouse Synchronization) Requirements
Analog KVM, running locally “out of band,” (over its own network), provides the best mouse synchronization. Depending on network traffic and user-to-switch distance, mouse response on KVM-over-IP may experience a small lag; this limitation is inherent to IP and not specific to any product. While perfectly acceptable for most applications, in some cases, even minimal latency may be a deciding factor to choose an analog Cat5 KVM solution.

Video Quality
KVM/Cat5, running locally “out-of-band,” (over its own network) provides the best video quality. Depending on network traffic and user-to-switch distance, video quality on KVM-over-IP may experience some degradation; this limitation is inherent to IP and not specific to any product. While perfectly acceptable in most applications, even minimal video degradation may be a deciding factor in favor of Cat5 for other applications. Raritan KVM gives users the flexibility to conserve bandwidth by adjusting the color depth of video transmission over IP.

Network Independence
KVM/Cat5 solutions are completely “out of band,” meaning they are not part of the data center LAN or WAN. They provide an alternate path to servers’ keyboard, video and mouse ports, thus allowing control of servers even if the network fails.

KVM-over-IP solutions, on the other hand, rely on a LAN connection between the user and the switch, and are therefore dependent on the health of the LAN. It is possible to achieve reliability close to that of a KVM/Cat5 solution by using a separate network to insulate KVM traffic from network congestion and failures.

Security
Analog KVM switching, by definition, is performed over a dedicated, on-site network. As long as it is fully out-of-band, it is as secure as its physical location; servers cannot be reached by any off-site users. Therefore, Analog KVM is the preferred choice for extremely security-conscious users such as financial and governmental organizations. KVM-over-IP switching, while not as secure because it rides the IP network, can be made equally secure with proper application of encryption, authentication and authorization technologies.

* Can be run over a separate maintenance network
** Security enhanced through out-of-band, isolated access path
*** Supports modem access in case of network failure
§ Enhanced security via 128-bit or higher SSL encryption of keyboard, video and mouse signals.