[Beowulf] recommendation on crash cart for a cluster room: full cluster KVM is not an option I suppose?

[Rahul Nabar]

On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 1:26 AM, Mark Hahn <hahn at mcmaster.ca> wrote:

> thank goodness for lan IPMI (bios, serial console redirection) - it keeps me
> out of the machineroom 99% of the time.  heck, it keeps me out of the dozen
> other machinerooms that our ~30 clusters are in.

I am still a bit confused about the exact config. Trying to clarify the picture!

Question: Do you have:

(a)  a separate eth cable coming out of each server that takes the IPMI packets
(b) or are the packets pushed out over the primary eth cable already
consolidated at the eth card?

In case my option-(a)-picture is correct, then it means a doubling of
switch ports needed which wouldn't be so nice.

Sorry, I probably sound a total luddite but no point pretending I know
about the typical setup. [The stuff that I *have* used on servers in
the past looked like this: a dongle that connects over the monitor-out
and USB port; traps signals; converts them to I/P--> plugs into a
separate switch--> console; But I suspect the solution you guys are
all so happy about is not this but a better version! Yes, I know, I am
a caveman!  ]

---
Rahul