The out-of-band access equipment company founded by uClinux pioneer Bob Waldie is shipping a new line of infrastructure management gateways. Opengear says its Linux-powered IM4200-series management gateways can provide a single point of access to hundreds of network- and serially-attached devices.

Opengear's new IM4200 series infrastructure management gateways run embedded Linux
(Click to enlarge)

The IM4200 devices are powered by a Micrel KS8695P processor with a 166MHz ARM core. They are available in three 1U models, with 16, 24, or 48 RJ-45 ports, respectively.

The IM4200 devices can be used to remotely control applications and reconfigure operating systems using in-band graphical tools such as X11, RDP, or VNC, or HTTP/S.

For out-of-band monitoring, logging, recovery, inventory, and hardware control, the devices support IPMI and SOL (Serial over LAN), along with the “lights-out” management tools that accompany BMC (baseport management controllers) and other service processors, including iLO, RSA, ALOM, DRAC, Opengear says. Out-of-band channels can also provide “full KVM (keyboard video mouse) control,” according to the company.

Communications are encrypted using 128-bit AES encryption. Each unit has 500MB of local flash memory, for storage of custom scripts and logs, alarm settings, and tftp/ftp files.

Additional touted features include:

• Built-in modem for out-of-band dial-in or heart-beat triggered dial-out
• Integrates with centralized enterprise management
• Simple browser or command line management interface
• Local or remote access to headless servers (LOM, IPMI) and network devices
• Power management – remotely turn on, off and reboot equipment via serial, IPMI
• Multiplatform – Linux, Windows, Cisco, BSD, UNIX, and SUN compatible
• Optimized hardware and robust Linux software
• Configurable open-source Linux kernel and applications
• Automated alerts and alarm management
• Console logs maintained and archived off-line
• Secure, encrypted access to remote systems
• Port access can be restricted by password, account, or IP address
• Multiple levels of filtering and access logging
• Unlimited users with multiple users per port
• Up to 50 concurrent SSH sessions (SDT tunnels) can be open at the one time
• Affordable and compact
• Reduces MTTR and MTBF

Waldie spoke with LinuxDevices briefly about the new products, stating, “Customers like the built-in high-reliability and high-availability features, such as dual power supplies, built-in modems, and a minimum of two Ethernet ports. And, they like the granular access control list, which is allowing smaller co-location services to offer out-of-band server management features.”

“Also, we're proud to have been a finalist in the 'Best of LinuxWorld' awards, which is not easy for a hardware company to do,” added Waldie.

Availability

According to Waldie, two of the three IM4200-series models are currently available, with the third expected in September. As of publication time, the new models had not been added to Opengear's online store, however.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.