One of the hardest things to do is to manage a system that is in a machine room or co-location center, especially if they are not anywhere near your office. Sometimes, even if you have a machine room downstairs, you find it difficult to get kvm access to that system when things go wrong. One of the best things that server manufacturers have come up with recently are Lights Out Management systems, built right into rack-mount new hardware. If you have any say in what kind of hardware is purchased, pushing for systems with LOMs is a must. Using a system that has an LOM has many advantages.

Lets assume that you have a system in a co-location network across town or even several hours away. Having access to it through an ALOM is just as good as having a keyboard, mouse, and monitor at the location, without having to waste the gas. Even the most basic versions of the ALOM allow you to, at a minimum, power on, power off, and reset the system. Certain systems even allow you a web GUI interface (which may be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on your OS).

The three biggest manufacturers with ALOM technologies are Sun Microsystems, HP, and Dell.

Sun’s Advanced Lights Out Management system allows users to have command line access to systems through ssh, as well as having the ability to power machines on and off. The older hardware that has LOM only allow you to do power ons, power offs, and resets, and some include a web based GUI. All new Sun hardware includes the ALOM with ssh access.

Dell and HP also have lights out management systems, though they are using web based management tools. If you are running a Windows server, or prefer GUI access to your Unix/Linux distribution, the use of the GUI interface by these two manufacturers would be best. HP charges extra to turn on the component, which ships with your system regardless of whether it is activated or not. Dell charges you to install the component.

Whatever hardware you may decide to run, it is a great asset to you to have systems with Lights Out Management. It save time, money, and makes your job a lot easier.