Home » Raritan Blog » Use Multiple Interfaces for Convenient Backup Access
June 27, 2012
In previous blog entries, we’ve seen that a truly 100% homogeneous data center environment is far from the norm. Rare is the data center that relies on a single server vendor or server type. As a result, multiple management tools are often used, which can be a nightmare in its own right. Managing a bunch of management tools seems a little redundant.
But maybe you are a one-stop-shop. Perhaps you’ve configured all your Dell blade servers for easy management access via DRAC. You’re on easy street, right? Or you’ve virtualized. You’re the resident VMware hero and you’re saving more money on hardware and power than you originally thought possible. But you have all those DRAC connections on a secondary LAN. What if you lose access? Or you find yourself unable to restart a virtual machine through vCenter? What then?
At that point, you might wish that you had a single tool that provides multiple interface options for accessing virtual machines, standalone servers, blades, PDU’s and serial devices. And not only a single access point to any piece of infrastructure, but one that allows you to proactively configure multiple interfaces, essentially removing any possibility that total loss of access occurs. In other words, minimal - if any - downtime.
By deploying Raritan’s CommandCenter Secure Gateway (CC-SG), which can be installed as a rack-mounted physical appliance or as a VMware virtual appliance, you have a large array of convenient interface options available:
For example, a Windows Server may have an out-of-band KVM interface for the keyboard, mouse, and monitor ports, and a power interface to manage the outlet to which the server is connected. If you have a complete lock-up of a server and your last resort is to cycle the power to the outlet, a single point of access is the utmost in convenience.
Or perhaps you’re unable to restart a virtual machine through vCenter. A quick click in CC-SG to access the host’s command line interface is a convenient backup plan that’s easy to configure.
Configuring multiple interfaces to access the same server and other types of data center infrastructure is a worthwhile precautionary tactic to help minimize downtime. It shouldn’t require multiple management tools. Fortunately it doesn’t have to.