[clug] remote power cycling many machines

Robert Edwards bob at cs.anu.edu.au
Sat Apr 4 21:37:00 UTC 2020


On 4/4/20 8:34 pm, Xi Yang wrote:
> Hi Bob,
> 
> I was using a USB controlled relay module to control the front-control
> panel collector wired the RESET SW pins on the motherboard, which is
> very easy to be made and installed on PCs. A few of Steve's machines
> in the CECS machine room still have them installed. I think I was
> using this module
> https://www.auselectronicsdirect.com.au/2-channel-usb-controlled-5v-relay-module-for-ardui?gclid=CjwKCAiAj-_xBRBjEiwAmRbqYpkyfGYcObMKoSzPkTEMTIGIFJ_dEVP37VKvc-PAo9URLDQOnE-_7RoCgfEQAvD_BwE.
> 
> -Xi

Thanks Xi.

That is kind-of what I am looking for, but still requires some
cabling and an Ethernet-connected device to control it. Two
relays allow separate control of reset and soft-power switches.

If I can find something a little more integrated, I'll go with
that.

cheers,
Bob Edwards.

> 
> On Sat, Apr 4, 2020 at 8:17 PM Robert Edwards via linux
> <linux at lists.samba.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Hope you are all keeping safe and healthy.
>>
>> During these strange times, I find myself responsible for a larger
>> than expected cohort of random machines spread across multiple
>> buildings in various peoples offices, which they are no longer
>> permitted physical access to.
>>
>> These machines have been left running but seem to randomly need to
>> be power cycled for various reasons - some are running 'doze and
>> others, running Linux, seem to get randomly shutdown by various
>> remote users for whatever reason.
>>
>> Many of the servers in machine rooms that I am responsible for
>> have various forms of Lights Out Management (LOM), such as iDRAC
>> or BMC etc., so can be remotely managed, as required (generally
>> don't need it, though).
>>
>> So, for this vast array of random machines in offices, I have been
>> researching various generic options for LOM and/or remote power
>> control.
>>
>> There used to be some PCI cards that could do much of this (eg.
>> https://www.startech.com/support/SV1110IPPCI) but seem to be largely
>> discontinued. These days Remote KVM over IP seems to be the
>> preferred option, but generally has no provision for power control/cycling.
>>
>> There are instructions on the web to set up, eg., a RaspPi to do
>> this, but making up 20 or more seems like a big job (eg.
>> https://github.com/Fmstrat/diy-ipmi).
>>
>> I could go for "smart" power-boards, but need a wired way to
>> control them (I don't want to rely on WiFi or other wireless
>> technologies).
>>
>> What have others tried/can recommend?
>>
>> cheers,
>> Bob Edwards
>>
>> --
>> linux mailing list
>> linux at lists.samba.org
>> https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/linux




More information about the linux mailing list