MeshCentral - IP-KVM Raritan KX III support

This week, a framework was added in MeshCentral to support for IP-KVM switches. For now, the only supported model is the Raritan Dominion KX III switch. This allows for a new form of out-of-band management of computers. MeshCentral can manage remote devices using the agent, agent-less on the local network (SSH/RDP), agent-less using Intel® AMT and now, using IP-KVM devices. In detail:

  • IP-KVM devices. Many vendors offer IP-KVM devices that connect to a computer’s display output and have connectors for USB to emulate a mouse, keyboard and sometimes storage devices. This allows administrators to remotely control computers even without a operating system agent installed. It’s done by emulating local user input over the network. It’s much like what is available with Intel® AMT, but as a completely different devices connected to the PC you want to remote. MeshCentral now has a framework for supporting IP-KVM devices. When support is enabled, it’s offered as a new device group type.
  • IP-KVM device group. MeshCentral now has a new device group type for IP-KVM devices. You can create an IP-KVM device group and specify the model, hostname, username and password of you IP-KVM device and MeshCentral will access the device to pull port information, port status and more. MeshCentral will poll the status every 5 seconds and provide live updates of the IP-KVM ports on the web site.
  • Remote Control. In addition to IP-KVM device and port monitoring, MeshCentral allows the users to take control of a remote device by acting as a forwarding agent for the IP-KVM web viewer. MeshCentral continues to authenticate to the IP-KVM device, but it forwards traffic to the user’s browser without disclosing the credentials used to access the IP-KVM device. This is done by inserting the IP-KVM device credentials on-the-fly as data is being forwarded.
  • Event log and auditing. As with any other remote-control session, MeshCentral will log the start and end of sessions and track the amount of data the was forwarded in each direction. This creates an additional audit log of what users are accessing what IP-KVM port and when.

The benefit of this new feature is that administrators have a single place they can see all their devices, regardless of how the are managed (MeshAgent, Intel® AMT or IP-KVM). You can then grant permissions to other users on a per-port basis and have an audit of who is doing what. You can add many IP-KVM switches into an account making it easy to see all your devices even if you have many IP-KVM switches deployed.

Many more bugs have also been addressed. As usual, feedback is appreciated. If you see any problems or need support on something, please create a new issue on GitHub or help other users. For more information, visit the portal at https://meshcentral.com.

Enjoy!
Ylian
MeshCentral, Blog, Twitter,
Reddit, GitHub, YouTube.






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