Specifications

©
2002, David K. Z. Harris
25
Pg. 25
© 2002
David K. Z. Harris
Choosing your hardware
Ø Port densities needed?
Ø Number of devices needed?
Ø Cable lengths an issue…
Ø Would BREAK be a problem?
Ø Do you prefer certain vendors?
Ø Budget concerns…
² Patch Panels, or jacks in chassis?
² Cables and pre-wired adapters
Choose your port densities with cable lengths in mind, since you want to keep
your serial cable lengths shorter than 50 feet (16 meters). While most devices
can drive a signal farther, some cannot, and those shorter lengths will prove to
be limiting during your deployment phase. The cable length and the number of
devices will help you decide how many terminal servers you should have in a
given data center, and where they should be placed.
If you are serving large numbers of ports, you should consider purchasing
multiple terminal servers, and distributing them around the data center, rather
than having a single, large server. This becomes your classic “single point of
failure” discussion.
Some devices are sensitive to the serial BREAK signal. (Test equipment,
modems, and Sun hosts are the most sensitive.) If the serial BREAK would be
a problem for some of your devices, your choice of vendors will be smaller.
Consider whether you need to plan for ‘partner’ networks, or future mergers…
Console servers are expensive, but the payback comes from minimized
downtime. You can add more value to the capital investment by adding free
logging software. In addition, you may be able to deploy a modular console
server, starting with fewer ports now, but with the ability to add modules later,
thereby spreading the cost over a few fiscal quarters (maybe even bridging
fiscal years).