Coronavirus Remote Management Checklist

Jessica Ciesla
March 18, 2020

In these uncertain times, when business operations are threatened, remote management tools can help to keep vital IT infrastructure running and to respond to emergencies. Remote management, by enabling employees to work from home, can be of enormous benefit.  Raritan recommends that our customers immediately review the state of their remote management tools to prepare for their use in this emergency. We have created this checklist to use in your planning.

1. Ensure and test that remote management tools are operating properly in terms of employee PCs, laptops, browsers, Java versions, and networking.  If Java is no longer allowed in your environment, Raritan has Java-free solutions available.
2. Ensure that all required staff has access to the tools.   Given the possibility of key staff being affected, consider giving a wider group of people access.
3. Update remote management tools to the latest firmware levels.  Older firmware may not work with today’s OS, browser, and Java versions or have security issues.
4. Ensure that you have remote management capability to all relevant IT infrastructure including data centers, server rooms, remote offices, facilities, and colocation centers.
5. As networking equipment is as important as your computer infrastructure, ensure you have out-of-band, serial console server access to your critical network infrastructure.
6. Ensure that the remote management tools are configured to be accessed from home over the Internet and/or VPNs.  Today’s KVM-over-IP switches have many options and can be configured for good performance over the Internet.
7. Contact product documentation and support organizations for assistance.

Raritan is ready, willing, and able to assist you in these unprecedented times. We have a variety of support services available:

• The Support Page of raritan.com has firmware, documentation, and release notes for all Raritan products. Contact Raritan Technical Support for technical questions and issues.
• Click here for a handy link to the on-line help for Raritan’s products. 
• If you require additional equipment to support your current operations, contact an Authorized Reseller and/or Raritan Sales.  

In addition to its widely reported health risks, the Coronavirus threatens the operations of many businesses. Remote Management is an important tool to keep vital IT infrastructure running in extraordinary times. The above checklist can be helpful to make sure your remote management tools are ready for use.