Dell PowerEdge 180AS User manual

Dell™ Remote Console Switch
System User’s Guide
Notes, Notices, and Cautions
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better
use of your computer.
NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss
of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage,
personal injury, or death.
___________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2008 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
2161DS-2/4161DS/2321DS Remote Console Switch

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590-728-599C/59E-728-599C
October 2008
Model 2161DS-2/4161DS/2321DS Remote Console Switch

Safety and EMC Approvals and Markings
• UL / cUL
• CE - EU
•N(Nemko)
•GOST
•C-Tick
•NOM/NYCE
•MIC(BCC)
•SASO
•TUV-GS
•IRAM
•FCC,ICES,
•VCCI
•SoNCAP
•SABS
•Bellis
•FIS/Kvalitet
•Koncar
•CKT
•INSM
•Ukrtest
•STZ
Safety certifications and EMC certifications for this product are obtained under
one or more of the following designations: CMN (Certification Model
Number), MPN (Manufacturer’s Part Number) or Sales Level Model
designation. The designation that is referenced in the EMC and/or safety
reports and certificates is printed on the label applied to this product.
Please refer to the
Dell Regulatory Technical Bulletin included with your Remote
Console Switch for more detailed EMC and EA text.

iv Contents
Contents
Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Rack Mounting of Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
LAN Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
1 Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Remote Console Switch Features and Benefits . . . . . . 1
SIP Intelligent Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Multiplatform Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Interoperability with Avocent® IQ Module Intelligent
Cabling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
OSCAR Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
On-board Web Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
DSView® 3 Management Software Plug-in . . . . . 2
Virtual Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Encryption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Operation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
FLASH Upgradeable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Cascade (Tier) Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Remote Console Switch Software Features and Benefits 5
Easy to Install and Configure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Powerful Customization Capabilities . . . . . . . . . 6
Extensive Remote Console Switch Management . . 6
IPv4 and IPv6 Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Contents v
LDAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Interoperability with Avocent Products . . . . . . . 6
2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Remote Console Switch Quick Setup Checklist . . . . . 8
Remote Console Switch Installation and Setup . . . . 10
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Setting Up Your Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Keyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Rack Mounting Your Remote Console Switch Unit . . . 11
Installing the Remote Console Switch Unit. . . . . 15
Video Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Mouse Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Connecting a SIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Adding a Cascade Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Cascading with Legacy Switches . . . . . . . . . 29
Adding a PEM (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Connecting to the Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
On-board Web Interface Installation and Setup . . . . 32
Supported Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Launching the On-board Web Interface . . . . . . 32
Remote Console Switch Software Installation and Setup 33
Installing the Remote Console Switch Software . . 34
3 Controlling Your System at the Analog
Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Viewing and Selecting Ports and Devices . . . . . . . 36
Selecting Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

vi Contents
Soft Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Navigating the OSCAR Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Configuring OSCAR Interface Menus . . . . . . . . . . 41
Changing the Display Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Setting Console Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Controlling the Status Flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Setting the Interface Language. . . . . . . . . . . 48
Assigning Device Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Assigning Device Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Configuring Network Settings . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Displaying Version Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Scanning Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Setting the Preemption Warning . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Displaying Configuration Information . . . . . . . . . . 56
Running System Diagnostics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Broadcasting to Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Power Controlling Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Power window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
PDUs window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
PDU Settings window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
PDU Inlets window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
PDU Outlets window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4 Remote Console Switch Software
Basic Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Launching the Remote Console Switch Software. . . . 65

Contents vii
Navigating the Remote Console Switch Software . . . 65
Viewing Your System in the Explorer . . . . . . . . 66
Explorer Window Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Adding a Remote Console Switch or Avocent Remote
Console Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Accessing Your Remote Console Switch . . . . . . . . 75
Launching the VNC or RDP Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Changing Server and Switch Properties . . . . . . . . 78
Changing General Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Changing Server Network Properties . . . . . . . 80
Changing Switch Network Properties . . . . . . . 81
Changing Information Properties. . . . . . . . . . 83
Viewing Server Connections Properties . . . . . . 84
VNC properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
RDP properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Accessing a Server via a Browser Window . . . . 89
Changing Server and Switch Options . . . . . . . . . . 89
General options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
HTTP/HTTPS options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
VNC options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
RDP options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Organizing Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Modifying Custom Field Names . . . . . . . . . . 95
Creating Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Assigning a Unit to a Site, Location, or Folder . . . 96
Deleting and Renaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Customizing the Explorer Window . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Modifying the Selected View on Startup . . . . . . 99
Changing the Default Browser . . . . . . . . . . . 100

viii Contents
Managing Your Local Databases . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Saving a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Exporting a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Loading a Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5 Using the Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Accessing Servers from the Remote Console Switch
Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Accessing Servers from the On-board Web Interface 105
Interacting With the Server Being Viewed . . . . . . 106
Viewer Window Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Adjusting the Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Adjusting the Viewer Resolution . . . . . . . . . 111
Adjusting the Video Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Minimizing Remote Video Session Discoloration. 114
Improving Screen Background Color Display . . 114
Setting Mouse Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Minimizing Mouse Trailing . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Improving Mouse Performance . . . . . . . . . 116
Reducing Mouse Cursor Flickering . . . . . . . . 117
Viewing Multiple Servers Using the Scan Mode . 117
Scanning Your Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Thumbnail View Status Indicators . . . . . . . . 120
Navigating the Thumbnail Viewer . . . . . . . . 121
Using Macros to Send Keystrokes to the Server . 122
Session Options - General Tab . . . . . . . . . . 123
Screen Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Preemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Preemption of Remote User by a Remote
Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Contents ix
Preemption of a Local User/Remote Administrator
by a Remote Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Connection Sharing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6 Virtual Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Common Virtual Media Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Configuring Virtual Media Locally . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Enabling/Disabling Virtual Media Using the
OSCAR Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Setting Virtual Media Options Using the OSCAR
Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Configuring Virtual Media Remotely . . . . . . . . . . 133
Enabling/Disabling Virtual Media Using the
On-board Web Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Setting Virtual Media Options Using the On-board
Web Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Launching Virtual Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Virtual Floppy Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Virtual CD/DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Virtual Media Connection Status . . . . . . . . . . 138
Reserving a Virtual Media Session. . . . . . . . . 139
Resetting the USB Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
7 Managing Your Remote Console Switch Using the
On-board Web Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Migrating Switches from the Remote Console
Switch Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Viewing and Configuring Remote Console Switch
Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Changing Remote Console Switch Parameters . . 141

xContents
Setting Up User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Locking and Unlocking User Accounts . . . . . . 147
Enabling and Configuring SNMP . . . . . . . . . 148
Enabling Individual SNMP Traps . . . . . . . . . 150
Viewing and Resynchronizing Server Connections 151
Modifying a Server Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Viewing and Configuring Tiered Switch
Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Viewing the SIPs and Avocent IQ Modules. . . . 154
Viewing Remote Console Switch Version Information 155
SIPs Subcategory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Upgrading Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Controlling User Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Rebooting Your System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Managing Remote Console Switch Configuration Files 164
Managing User Databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Installing a Web Certificate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Managing PDUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
8 Migrating Your Remote Console Switch 171
Accessing the AMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Upgrading Firmware Using the AMP . . . . . . . . . 172
Upgrading Remote Console Switch Firmware . . 172
Migrating Remote Console Switches to the On-board
Web Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Using the Resync Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175