User guide

Dominion KX II – Frequently Asked Questions
© 2012 Raritan Inc. Page 14 of 18 V1098 R6 May 2012
Does remote power control
require any special
configuration of attached
servers?
Some servers ship with default BIOS settings such that the server does not
automatically restart after losing and regaining power. For these servers, see
the server’s documentation to change this setting.
What happens when I
recycle power to a server?
Note that this is the physical equivalent of unplugging the server from the AC
power line, and reinserting the plug.
Can I power on/off other
equipment (non-servers)
connected to a PDU?
Yes. You can power on/off other equipment attached to the PDU by outlet from
the Dominion KX II’s browser-based interface.
Local Port Consolidation, Tiering and Cascading
How do I physically connect
multiple Dominion KX II
devices together into one
solution?
To physically connect multiple KX II devices together for consolidated local
access, you can connect the local ports of multiple “tiered” (or “cascaded”) KX II
switches to a “base” KX II using the tiering feature of the KX II. You can then
access the servers connected to your KX II devices from a single point in the
data center via a consolidated port list.
The D2CIM-DVUSB CIM must be used to connect the tiered KX II switch to the
base switch. Or for the KX2-832 and KX2-864, the extended local port can be
connected via Cat 5/6 cable (no CIM required) to the base KX II switch.
Access via the consolidated port list is available in the data center or even from
a remote PC. All servers connected to the tiered KX IIs can be accessed via a
hierarchical port list or via search (with wildcards).
Two levels of tiering are supported; up to 1024 devices can be accessed in a
tiered configuration. Remote power control is also supported.
Virtual media, smart card and blade server access via tiered access will be
supported in a future release. Of course these features are available when
accessed via a standard remote connection.
While remote IP server access via the consolidated port list is available as a
convenience, remote accessing a tiered server from CommandCenter or via the
KX II the server is connected to, is recommended for optimal performance.
Do I have to physically
connect Dominion KX II
devices together?
Multiple Dominion KX II units do not need to be physically connected together.
Instead, each Dominion KX II unit connects to the network, and they
automatically work together as a single solution if deployed with Raritan’s
CommandCenter Secure Gateway (CC-SG) management appliance.
CC-SG acts as a single access point for remote access and management.
CC-SG offers a significant set of convenient tools, such as consolidated
configuration, consolidated firmware update and a single authentication and
authorization database.
Customers using CC-SG for centralized remote access can make good use of
the KX II’s tiering (cascading) feature to consolidate the local ports of multiple
KX II switches and locally access up to 1024 servers from a single console
when in the data center.
Is CC-SG required?
For customers wanting stand-alone usage (without a central management
system), multiple Dominion KX II units still interoperate and scale together via
the IP network. Multiple Dominion KX II switches can be accessed from the
KX II Web-based user interface and from the Multiplatform Client (MPC).