Out-of-band management
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Out-of-band management is the use of a dedicated management channel for device maintenance. By contrast, in-band management is the use of regular data channels to manage devices.
Servers and other network equipment can be managed through the same channels used to carry data (usually through Ethernet). This is considered in-band management. A significant limitation of in-band management is its vulnerability to problems from the very devices that are being managed. Network problems are precisely when it would be most useful for IT administrators to remotely manage network servers and routers. However, the same problems that cause the network to go down also result in the loss of management access to those devices.
Out-of-band management addresses this limitation by employing a management channel that is physically isolated from the data channel. The most common out-of-band management solution involves connecting to each device's serial console port. This implementation allows the monitoring of hardware self-test and BIOS information that is not available using typical in-band management. When combined with a terminal server, administrators may access all serial console ports in a network or server farm from a single station. If the terminal server is also configured with network, Internet, and dial-up access, administrators will be able to manage network problems from any remote location, even if the network connection has been lost.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Comer, Douglas, "Computer Networks and Internets", Q&A, Prentice Hall 2004
- Article on Console Management
- Article on Terminal Server
