Perle Systems Technical Note

Out of Band Management of Cisco Routers, Switches and Firewalls

When the network is down how do you recover the networking equipment? The need for out-of-band remote access to Cisco serial console ports provides an efficient back door method for recovery. Whether its to reboot, reconfigure or troubleshoot the equipment, a terminal/console server enables you to access remote networking equipment when you need it most. This can be through the use of an alternate backup network dial-up or GSM wireless remote access.

Serial console ports are the most reliable and dependable form of communication for equipment management. That is why most high value networking devices have one. Whether its a router, switch, firewall, PBX, network storage device, etc, no matter what is happening with the device, the serial auxiliary or console port is always up and running. It is a trusted way to find out what is going on and the quickest way to recovery.

Perle IOLAN Terminal Servers and Console Servers are ideal for managing remote Cisco consoles having the following features

• Telnet, HTTP browser access, secure HTTPS and SSH support ensure that only authorized personnel have access to Cisco resources
• IOLAN Port buffers store messages from your Cisco equipment for troubleshooting purposes
• Access Cisco Serial Auxilliary Console ports using any Java-enabled internet browser. No need to load SSH or Telnet clients on administrative workstations
• IOLAN SCS models are fault tolerant with dual Ethernet interfaces for hot back-up or alternate network access
• Optional integrated dial-up modem provides reliable out of band access
• Ability to incorporate 3rd part wireless GSM/GPRS cards
• Perle Remote Power Switches that can power cycle equipment can also be used with IOLANs for a complete remote management solution

Cisco Console Port Pinout and Adapters