Which KVM?

[Kendo Nagasaki]

Within my office we will be installing a new server within the next week or two, i thought i'd take advantage of this by reducing the amount of clutter there is within our server area.

We will have 4 servers in total and it would be handy to have centralised control, so for this scenario does anyone know of a decent kvm that would suit?

I've had a quick look around and found these two:

- Belkin OmniView E 4 Port KVM Switch

- D-Link DKVM 4K

These seem to be able to do what i want but with only a maximum of 4 connections am i in danger of not future-proofing?

I obviously would like a name brand that is reliable and straight-forward to use but at a decent price - can anyone help?

Thanks

 

[Imy]

I have a Belkin 4 port KVM. It works. They are pretty simple devices.

I'm thinking of chucking mine and getting a Avocent DVI/USB KVM.

You can get 8-connection (and more) KVM's. The real cost is in the cables, so just buy them as you need them.

What connections do you require?

 

[Kendo Nagasaki]

It turns out that i'll be connecting 3 servers, so i would need to connect the keyboard, monitor and mouse of all them to it. As its only for server use and using a CRT it doesn't need to be DVI or anything fancy like that. It also doesn't need to be usb.

Would you recommend the Avocent KVM's?
Do the units not come with the appropriate cables included or do you have to buy them separate?

Edit: Just checked and you obviously need to buy the cables separate, they seem to come in packs of 1x15pin and 2x6pin - would this mean that i would require 3 packs? (3x15pin for the monitors)

 

[Imy]

Its usually one cable pack per pc.

I can't recommend the Avocents because I've never used them. I'm only considering getting one because they do the only 1920x1200 DVI/USB KVM I can find.

I think you'd be better off just getting a basic Belkin SOHO solution like I have now. Its neat and tidy and you get hot key support for switching (without the need for drivers) which means you can hide all the wiring and hardware out of sight.

 

[siztenboots]

We use the avocent units rebadged as HP. The interconnect cable used is bog standard cat-5 rj45's , so the racks stay very tidy. The dongles that attach to the PS2/Mouse/VGA port are intelligent, so you can repatch the cat5 and the menu system knows exactly what is connected and where.

We found the cheaper KVMs would lose the mouse/keyboard on Linux/Netware/NT4.0 .

Definate thumps up for these

 

[Kendo Nagasaki]

I've narrowed it down to these two:

- Avocent SwitchView PC KVM - 4 ports, 1 local user;

- Belkin Omniview E Series 4-Port KVM Switch, PS/2.

As its for business use i tempted to go for the Belkin as its a name brand but i would prefer the Avocent. This is a name that i haven't heard of before, although are they more of a specialist in this field?

 

[stu4691]

You might want to look at blackbox as well as they do a range of KVM from cheap ones to all singing and dancing models.

I used one for 5 years in my previous job and it worked perfectly all that time.