In addition to safe and reliable power delivery, SynLink PDUs give you fully secured, remote out-of-band access to your important assets such as servers, bitcoin/crypto miners, network devices, desktop PCs, etc.
Out-of-band refers to the way you can access your device “outside” of its typical (in-band) channels. Servers, routers, switches, miners, desktop PCs, etc. are typically connected to the local network and the internet via an Ethernet port. HTTP requests and other types protocols must physically go through this channel. In most cases, an Ethernet port or WIFI card is referred to as the in-band access, because it is the primary channel of communication to the device. Out-of-band access is any method of communication that does not rely and is independent of primary channel of communication.
Without an out-of-band access, you are limited to two ways you can access your host. First is the traditional method which is discussed above. While the first method is typically robust, it is not uncommon for equipment/hosts to malfunction and lose connection to the network. In some cases, legacy devices simply do not have network access. When this happens, your next option is to pay a visit to that equipment and debug the issue locally. This situation typically requires the user to travel, which costs time and other valued resources.
SynLink PDUs provide you with a simple solution. Using relay switches, the PDU can cold boot your computer. If that fails, you can use the PDU’s console server to access the console and recover your system.
In this guide, I will show you how you can configure your SynLink PDU as a console server. A console server is simply a device that gives you remote, out-of-band access to your host’s command line (also referred to as shell/console/terminal). A console server accomplishes this by tapping into your host’s other method of communication: Serial Port.
Serial communication is ubiquitous and it is always accessible regardless of the device’s internet connectivity. SynLink PDU gives you remote access to this serial communication, thus giving you a secondary out-of-band communication in case your primary connection fails.
Serial ports vary from system to system. We discuss below the most commonly found serial ports, as well as the cabling required to connect to your SynLink PDU.
Target Device Console Port | Cable Types to Use | Notes |
---|---|---|
Cisco RJ45 | RJ45 to USB-A RJ45 to RJ45 Rollover Console Cable |
The USB cables have embedded USB-to-Serial Converter Chips (i.e. FTDI) |
DB9 | DB9 to RJ45 DB9 to USB-A |
The USB cables have embedded USB-to-Serial Converter Chips (i.e. FTDI) |
USB (w/ built-in USB-Serial Converter) |
USB Male to USB-A Male | Hosts with built-in Serial-to-USB Converter can connect directly to the "USB" port using a USB male-to-male cable. |
USB (without built-in USB Serial Converter) |
USB Male to USB-A Male | If your target device does not have a built-in USB-Serial converter, you can still access it by using SynLink's USB "COM" port. SynLink PDUs have a built-in USB-Serial converter which allows you to connect to virtually any types of hosts. |
Many of today's computers no longer provide a dedicated serial port. However, most do have a USB port which you can use to access the console. You just need to perform a few extra steps on your target computer, which I describe below:
For Linux-based devices:
For any questions/comments/concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us via phone or email. Thanks for reading!
*WLAN requires additional accessory
**Embedded 4G modem is available on select models only