KVM refers to "keyboard, video, and mouse". These three items are collectively
known as a KVM console.
The main purpose of a KVM switch is to enable a single KVM console to access
and control multiple devices. A matrix KVM switch allows multiple users,
each using a KVM console, to connect to multiple devices.
The need
for KVM switches has closely followed the growth of networked servers.
As file, email, Web and application servers began to proliferate on corporate
LANs, their management became more complex. While servers (unlike PCs)
typically don’t have their own KVM consoles, they still need to
be configured, maintained, updated and occasionally rebooted. Therein
lies the value of shared consoles – reduced hardware, physical space,
and increased personnel efficiency.
Benefits of KVM Switches
By allowing one or more users to access and control multiple servers or
other target devices, KVM switches enable businesses of all sizes to realize
the following benefits:
Reduced costs -- KVM switches provide immediate paybacks
in hardware savings, by eliminating the need for separate keyboards, video
monitors and mice. They also free up valuable physical space, and reduce
demands on electric power and cooling systems.
Improved business continuity -- KVM switches allow "out-of-band"
access to a company's servers and other IT devices. As such, they allow
IT personnel to access, control and manage the company's servers even
if the corporate network itself is down. A KVM switch with integrated
power management can also enable a complete system reboot from a remote
location.
Improved security via “lights-out” operations --
Advances in KVM technology allow users to be further and further away
from connected devices:
- Raritan’s Paragon II Cat5 matrix switches allow users to
be up to 1000 feet away from the data center
- Raritan’s Dominion® Series switches (or Paragon II
combined with IP-Reach™) use KVM-over-IP technology (digital KVM)
to allow browser-based access. Users can be across the street, across
the country, or at any IP address in the world. Authentication, authorization
and encryption technologies make this practical from a security standpoint.
The result: reduced need for sysadmins to be physically present in the
data center.
Improved staff productivity -- The virtual reach provided
by KVM-over-IP has an additional benefit: All of a company’s IT experts
can now manage servers or respond to incidents from wherever they are, across
the hall, at home, or across a multi-site network. These “virtually”
centralized human resources can eliminate costly travel time. For managed
service providers, (MSPs) the cost of services is reduced, while service
levels rise since technicians don’t have to be dispatched on-site.
Accelerated incident response - An enterprise-wide,
web-accessible KVM solution can dramatically shorten incident response
times since administrators can take action from anywhere. This can generate
huge benefits even in small organizations, where a one-user IP gateway
can let a critical staff person reach into the BIOS of a critical server
many miles away.
Hardware platform and OS independence – Raritan
KVM switches work in heterogeneous server environments. They are not dependent
on the hardware, database, or operating system, from a specific manufacturer.
As such, they can function in environments with servers from different
manufacturers (e.g., HP, IBM®, and Sun®) or that run on different
operating systems (e.g., Solaris™, UNIX® or Windows®).
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