[ale] Running a hands off remote Linux installation

[jdp at algoloma.com (JD)]

On 07/31/2012 10:30 AM, simontek at gmail.com wrote:
> Who shuts off a server? Get a server with amt or pmi built in. Allows you to log in, and turn on a machine that is turned off

Thanks for the AMT mention - I didn't know that Intel had it available on
certain desktops.  Looks like the official name is "Intel vPro" with AMT being
the remote management layer.

For a list of processors capable of vPro (if other parts also support it):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_vPro#Desktop_PC_requirements

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OSS IPMI projects: http://ipmiutil.sourceforge.net/docs/ipmisw-compare.htm
I couldn't figure out quickly which hardware was needed for these however. Will
my $100 Biostar MB support this for remote management?

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Shutting down a server rarely happens, but sometimes it is necessary.

Often the local guys are experts at "some-other-OS", not Linux, so when it is
time to upgrade to Linux, having the remote expert able to perform the install
is nice and more efficient.

Sometimes moving a server is needed. It could be across an isle or across the
country.

When it is time to test disaster recovery ... shutting down the primary
production box without warning a day prior to the scheduled test is good. That's
how you really test if your DR processes and procedures really work.  We've all
been through pre-announced fire drills.  Once I walked down 37 floors of a
building, but the following 8 yrs, I knew to be somewhere else when the fire
drill happened to avoid that walk again just for a drill. DR testing is the
same. People will prepare unlike what a real unplanned disaster might cause.
Earthquakes and tornadoes don't provide advanced warning.

Oh well, time to go vote.  I'd like to buy emergency alcohol on Sundays!