Unix® System Management Primer Plus

Out-of-Band Management for Maintenance and Repair

What happens if a server crashes at your data center 20 miles away and doesn't come back up? How do you fix a machine whose network interface was accidentally disabled? How do you handle these and other repair and maintenance problems without physically being at the data center? The answer is out-of-band management, a term that refers to any technology that allows you to manage a device from outside the network or other normal channels of communication.

On Unix servers, out-of-band management is usually facilitated by consoles. For other hardware, like power strips, out-of-band management might mean accessing the equipment over the network instead of through direct physical access.

Using Consoles ...