Mailing List Archive

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004, Michael Redinger wrote:

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> Hello,
>
> has anyone tested the Comtrol RocketPort uPCI 32-port card with conserver?
> I am planning to use 2 of these cards in a 1U server and use it as
> console server.
>
> Or are there any other uPCI cards which support at least 32 Ports (1U
> rack mounted)?
> I know the Cyclades-Y series card, but it is only available as 32-bit
> PCI card (not uPCI) - this means that I would not be able to put 2 of
> them in our 1U servers.
> (Yes, there is the Perle RIO, but the rack mount concentrators only have
> 16 ports, and it is more expensive.)
>

The Ze cards (PCI only) support up to 64 ports per card, with the gotcha
that each 16 port breakout box consumes and additional 1U and you need to
buy an additional power supply for the 3rd and 4th breakout boxes.

FWIW, I'm happy with my Ze's as well as my TS's. What particular problems
have you had?

-n

--
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nathan hruby <nhruby@uga.edu>
uga enterprise information technology services
production systems support
metaphysically wrinkle-free
-------------------------------------------

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nathan r. hruby wrote:
| On Tue, 17 Aug 2004, Michael Redinger wrote:
|
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|> Hello,
|>
|> has anyone tested the Comtrol RocketPort uPCI 32-port card with
|> conserver?
|> I am planning to use 2 of these cards in a 1U server and use it as
|> console server.
|>
|> Or are there any other uPCI cards which support at least 32 Ports (1U
|> rack mounted)?
|> I know the Cyclades-Y series card, but it is only available as 32-bit
|> PCI card (not uPCI) - this means that I would not be able to put 2 of
|> them in our 1U servers.
|> (Yes, there is the Perle RIO, but the rack mount concentrators only have
|> 16 ports, and it is more expensive.)
|>
|
| The Ze cards (PCI only) support up to 64 ports per card, with the gotcha
| that each 16 port breakout box consumes and additional 1U and you need to
| buy an additional power supply for the 3rd and 4th breakout boxes.

Same problem as with the Y series - it is PCI only. I do not know any
modern 1U server where you can use 2 PCI cards (2 uPCI are ok).

| FWIW, I'm happy with my Ze's as well as my TS's. What particular problems
| have you had?

Well, I did not have any particular problems - it's just that a solution
using a standard Linux server and console seems much better ...
The TS are slow (especially the ssh connections) and too expensive.
I had to write some (very strange) scripts to get a functionality
similar to a "normal" Linux box (eg. for log rotation) and it lacks many
standard tools (I do not want to have to cross-compile every little
utility myself).
Conserver also seems much better regarding the core console
functionality and it seems easier to manage. Ever tried to find out to
which of your 5 console servers a particular host is attached? I wrote
some scripts to do this (that was before I heard of conserver).
Of course I will still use our existing console servers (integrating
them with conserver seems easy enough), but for a new system conserver +
~ 1U server + 2 RocketPort 32-port cards seems to be the better solution.

Michael

- --
Michael Redinger
Zentraler Informatikdienst (Computer Centre)
Universitaet Innsbruck
Technikerstrasse 13 Tel.: ++43 512 507 2335
6020 Innsbruck Fax.: ++43 512 507 2944
Austria Mail: Michael.Redinger@uibk.ac.at
BB98 D2FE 0F2C 2658 3780 3CB1 0FD7 A9D9 65C2 C11D
http://www.uibk.ac.at/~c102mr/mred-pubkey.asc
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On Wed, 18 Aug 2004, Michael Redinger wrote:

> nathan r. hruby wrote:
> | On Tue, 17 Aug 2004, Michael Redinger wrote:
> |
> |> Or are there any other uPCI cards which support at least 32 Ports (1U
> |> rack mounted)?
> |> I know the Cyclades-Y series card, but it is only available as 32-bit
> |> PCI card (not uPCI) - this means that I would not be able to put 2 of
> |> them in our 1U servers.
> |> (Yes, there is the Perle RIO, but the rack mount concentrators only have
> |> 16 ports, and it is more expensive.)
> |>
> |
> | The Ze cards (PCI only) support up to 64 ports per card, with the gotcha
> | that each 16 port breakout box consumes and additional 1U and you need to
> | buy an additional power supply for the 3rd and 4th breakout boxes.
>
> Same problem as with the Y series - it is PCI only. I do not know any
> modern 1U server where you can use 2 PCI cards (2 uPCI are ok).
>

I don't know what uPCI us. I figured that if you wanted (2) 32 port
cards, (1) 64 port PCI card might fit the bill as well, as everything
still has a PCI slot (granted, they are getting a bit harder to find :)

In the end, it's whatever you want :)

> | FWIW, I'm happy with my Ze's as well as my TS's. What particular problems
> | have you had?
>
> Well, I did not have any particular problems - it's just that a solution
> using a standard Linux server and console seems much better ...
> The TS are slow (especially the ssh connections) and too expensive.
> I had to write some (very strange) scripts to get a functionality
> similar to a "normal" Linux box (eg. for log rotation) and it lacks many
> standard tools (I do not want to have to cross-compile every little
> utility myself).

Yah. Understood. I love conserver. Our TS's, for the most part, are at
remote sites that we just don't feel like setting up a whole extra box
with a serial port or 3... The TS's are a good fit for those situations.

> Conserver also seems much better regarding the core console
> functionality and it seems easier to manage. Ever tried to find out to
> which of your 5 console servers a particular host is attached?

Yeah, all the time: console -i | grep $consoleName :)

You know you can use conserver with your current TS's, right?

-n
--
-------------------------------------------
nathan hruby <nhruby@uga.edu>
uga enterprise information technology services
production systems support
metaphysically wrinkle-free
-------------------------------------------