Need hardware to remotely reset hosted computers

Question

We host computers and servers for clients. When their machines crash we need to reboot these machines. However this is not possible when we are out of the office. I know on servers such as HP you get Lights Out which allows you to login across the internet and power cycle a crashed server that is stuck on a blue screen. Is there any hardware like a PCI card or something that we can get to do this for other computers and servers that we host which dont have lights out capability?

Thanks

Answer 1

You're looking for a managed / remote power switch, I would guess.

There are a variety of controller power switches out there that will take RS-232 / serial management interfaces. (I'll include links to a couple products below. They are not inexpensive, typically.)

Some UPSs have switchable output groups and to allow you to power-cycle outlets on the UPS via its management interface. Be sure to look into that.

As you say, a "lights out" management card can typically power-cycle the host system from that management interface as well. I don't know of any third-party solutions for this as, typically, it requires the motherboard to "play along". You might be able to swing something with Intel vPro-based chipsets since, really, vPro is just a second computer built into the motherboard chipset.

• http://www.startech.com/item/PCM815SHNA-8-Outlet-Remote-Power-Switch-RS232-Interface.aspx

• http://www.wti.com/power-reboot-switches.html

Finally, here's a how-to "do it yourself" article, but I'd highly recommend against doing anything like this for a serious datacenter environment.

• http://www.streettech.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&thold=-1&mode=flat&order=0&sid=1504

Answer 2

Yes, it's called a stonith (shoot the other node in the head) and is built into to some UPS devices.

Look for hardware stonith

Answer 3

Server Technology's PT45 allows both remote power on/off and serial access. For a Linux server without a LO processor you could configure a serial port login for text access. I haven't found a system that combines remote KVM with power control, even though that combination would make a LOT of sense.

Disclosure: I don't own Server Technology stock nor have I used their products.

Answer 4

The most common solution would be a controllable power distribution unit (a.k.a. smart power strip, it has many names). Many vendors have those, here are some from APC.

A better solution is a integrated system, which has manageable PDUs, a console server and and perhaps KVM switch that work well together. Again there are several vendors, OpenGear is one with a different approach to the embedded software; Avocent is a more typical enterprise'y vendor.

Answer 5

See http://serverfault.com/questions/12390/how-does-the-belkin-omniview-remote-ip-manager-ip-kvm-do-hard-reboots