Con Server For Serial Console Management

Con server, or "console server" as it was originally called

, has been around ever since Tom Fine introduced it during the Large Installation Administration Conference IV (LISA IV) in 1990 at Colorado Springs. There have been a number of different versions over the years, most of which were variations of version 8. Companies used these different versions and individuals until finally Bryan Stansell combined all the various forks. He also incorporated other submitted patches for the code, while adding some additional features such as SSL encryption, Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM), control for TCP Wrapper access, and UNIX domain socket (UDS) networking. Bryan Stansell released version 8.1.17 on September 29, 2009. The most recent version of the software can be downloaded from the conserver.com site.

Con server serves as a system for serial console management, providing system console remote access while logging to a master central host. Local and network serial connections are both supported, and the server console history can be replayed even if the server happens to be down. Con server supports access by multiple users, although only one user will be able to have write-access to the console at one time. It is a good solution if you have a need for more than one user to watch the serial console simultaneously. All serial traffic is logged, which means you can go back and review the log to view changes that were performed on the console or to find out why something crashed. The console logs can also be tied into a monitoring system, which can then simply watch the created log files. Because it allows for multiple users, it is also a good solution for training or mentoring purposes when multiple people need to work on the equipment. It is a good remote access solution, allowing you to interact with the equipment from any location, as long as you have network connectivity. It is also useful for computer cluster setups. Messages can be logged via a terminal server, or by utilizing a daisy-chain setup. When a daisy chain is used, an instance is set up to run on every node, which then monitors the next machine's console.

Con server is cross-platform and can be used on UNIX, Linux and Windows operating systems. In most cases, it is set up to utilize console servers and individual management Ethernet networks. Although SSH or some variety of reverse telnet is generally utilized, there is not a specific limitation for the type of network protocol. There is both a client and a server part to Con server. The client is not necessarily needed, since the server component will log all the data. However, the client can be used for system administration and real-time monitoring.

by: Hector Klein

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