OOB: A little-known technology with big potential

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DENNIS DROGSETH ON NETWORK/SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
10/24/05
Today's focus: OOB: A little-known technology with big
potential

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Out-of-Band Management: Niche market or industry building
block?

* Links related to Network/Systems Management
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: OOB: A little-known technology with big
potential

By Dennis Drogseth

Most people associate Out-of-Band Management (OOB) - if they
have a clear association for it at all - with remote KVM
(Keyboard Video Mouse) used to fix problems and reboot troubled
systems consoles in remote locations. KVM enables administrators
to work with the processor or system as though they were
virtually inside the machine. It also enables IT to control
multiprocessor machines or machines with multiple blades.
Moreover, KVM can be used to stop and start processes, or
restart processors and reboot remote devices.

Many network administrators may also recognize that OOB can
deliver serial console access, primarily for internetworking
devices such as switches, firewalls, load balancers and routers.
Virtually every network device has a RS232 serial port for
management purposes that largely complements any existing
in-band management instrumentation.

Other IT professionals may also be aware of OOB support for
service processors, which are embedded agents that provide
native support for monitoring device hardware - primarily server
platforms and blade computing - and are well adapted for remote
management. These include support for standards such as IPMI
(Intelligent Platform Management Interface), as supported by
Intel, Dell, HP and NEC.

Finally, many in IT may know that OOB remote management can
provide remote power control, which is critical for recycling to
fix devices by turning power on and off. A good example might be
a crash in which the system is frozen and the keyboard doesn't
respond.

All these things, combined with powerful ROI in terms of
minimizing mean-time-to-repair delays and eliminating costs
associated with truck rolls - or time and travel to fix devices
at remote locations - have made OOB a relatively fast-growing
market. OOB includes a number of vendors, some quite sizeable,
which as a group are growing well and building up substantial
customer loyalty. Some names, in alphabetical order, include
Avocent, Cyclades, Raritan and UpLogix (this last focused on
network edge devices).

However OOB, or remote management, hasn't yet gotten the
industry respect and attention it deserves, being viewed
primarily as a niche market with clear but limited
functionality. This is a shame because OOB holds promise beyond
the obvious, as in-band management systems become increasingly
vulnerable, and the huge amounts of detail needed for thorough
analysis of the infrastructure can threaten infrastructure
performance.

OOB could and should be viewed as another building block to
enable a more versatile approach to management more generally.
Most of the vendors named above, for instance, already provide
systems for monitoring consolidation and scale well across high
volumes of devices. Most, as well, provide some combination of
in-band and out-of-band awareness. And all provide solid designs
for controlling access to devices and ensuring that security and
compliance requirements are enforced.

How OOB will come into play more broadly is an open-ended
question, however, and one that the industry has, in general,
done little to address. Viewing OOB as a true building block
enabler for infrastructure management in general will, however,
bear worthwhile fruit for those vendors willing to think
creatively and break through yet another industry stereotype.

I'm interested in your comments and experiences here. Have you
tried products from any of the above companies, and if so, how
are you using them? What would you like to get out of the
opportunity to utilize a more fluid approach to mixing in-band
monitoring and out-of-band control if the marketplace stepped up
to this bigger challenge?

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

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_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Dennis Drogseth

Dennis Drogseth is a vice president with Enterprise Management
Associates <http://www.enterprisemanagement.com/>, a leading
analyst, market research and IT consulting firm based in
Boulder, Colorado, focusing exclusively on all aspects of
enterprise management. Dennis has extensive experience in
service level management and network management platforms and
products. He is actively researching trends in management
software and changing IT roles internationally. His 22-plus
years of experience in high-tech includes positions at IBM and
Cabletron. He is widely quoted in the press and is a speaker at
many industry events. E-mail him
<mailto:drogseth@enterprisemanagement.com>.
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