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JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

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Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#181

Post by lloeki »

neilv wrote: post #80

Provenance and trust are relevant for a remote KVM. But I can't find any information on their Web site about who runs the JetKVM company, not even a partial name or handle of anyone, nor even what country they are in. Which seems odd for how much this product needs to be trusted. Searching elsewhere, other than the company Web site... Crunchbase for JetKVM shows 2 people, who it says are based in Berlin, and who also…

https://github.com/jetkvm/kvm/graphs/contributors gives us top contributors @ym and @adamshiervani both being Berlin-based, plus @IDisposable in Saint Louis, MO.

> Estonia

Dunno if this is still the case now but Coinbase used to have an IBAN in Estonia (or maybe Latvia, can't recall). The three baltic states became quite the EU tech hub lately.

> The product reportedly ships from Shenzhen

This is not unusual for low-count (Most products come out of Shenzen (or another) anyway, "shipped from" is quite a lousy indicator of anything.

I would appreciate a bit more transparency regarding some provenance bits but hey it's a niche Kickstarter still, not a full-blown scaled-up enterprise.

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#182

Post by blkhawk »

system2 wrote: post #159

It is hard for me to understand who benefits from these devices. Any serious server environment already uses idrac or something similar. What kind of device are people planning to remote into with them? NVRs maybe?

People without a serious server environment or in all the myriad places where you need a local terminal temporarily or setting up one is super inconvenient. Say a small 19" rack in a cellar. with this you just plug in in, memorise the IP and go somewhere where you can sit comfortably.

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#183

Post by jonathanlydall »

burnt-resistor wrote: post #129
crims0n wrote: post #57

Please forgive my ignorance, but what advantage does this have over RDP/VNC?

Add-on, almost lights-out remote management. Without lights-out management, eventually physical access to power cycle will be needed. For systems people care about, they already have BMC (Supermicro), iLO (HP), iDRAC (Dell) controllers. Anything that can capture HDMI and spit it securely over a wire without some cloud-dependency bullshit, present "virtual USB" or input over the network, and close a RST circuit moment…

Can you elaborate further on the security concerns of NanoKVM?

I also fundamentally disagree on your implication that one should "never" use desktops as servers, it all depends on your needs and what trade-offs make sense for your situation.

I've been doing this for decades for a basic home server (essentially, for Plex, a personal Minecraft server and a couple of other minor things for my home) in combination with a backup strategy. I guess I've been lucky that I've never had data loss, but if it packed up tomorrow taking all data with it, it wouldn't be a big deal for me.

If I had used a full server, it would have been noisier, more expensive and possibly more power hungry. The amount of money I haven't spent at this point is very substantial.

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#184

Post by wkat4242 »

pseudalopex wrote: post #125
neilv wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. Small outfits can be a pretty big category of companies that don't have a fully locked-down enterprise security environment with clout who can insist that everything like that racked and put under their control. Homelabbers tend to like rackmount. (I've owned multiple servers with such dedicated remote management/access hardware built in.) JetKVM seems designed to be more a shadow IT at individual desks solutio…

Home lab is a subset of hobbyists. And many of them like mini PCs.

Yes me too. A lot of my stuff is NUCs and similar. Several of those nice ultra-cheap N100s. Amazing stuff

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#185

Post by lloeki »

philjohn wrote: post #169
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does share similarity to a rebranded Sipeed NanoKVM model already sold in China. Would have to dump the flash with proper tooling, and load up a clean OS on a blank chip to even begin checking for issues. Mostly, these gadgets are purposely built like garbage for a number of reasons. If I needed a DIY KVM install for a home-theater, I'd just setup a https://pikvm.org/ install. =) https://github.com/pikvm/pikvm/

The firmware is open source and you can compile and flash your own. You can even run your own version of their cloud access offering https://github.com/jetkvm

Also you can SSH into it:

https://jetkvm.com/docs/advanced-usage/developing#developer-...

And the serial console is available over USB UART (SBU)

If it's attempting to be a covert op it's doing either a terrible job or a very advanced one.

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#186

Post by lloeki »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #93
neilv wrote: post #80

Provenance and trust are relevant for a remote KVM. But I can't find any information on their Web site about who runs the JetKVM company, not even a partial name or handle of anyone, nor even what country they are in. Which seems odd for how much this product needs to be trusted. Searching elsewhere, other than the company Web site... Crunchbase for JetKVM shows 2 people, who it says are based in Berlin, and who also…

It does share similarity to a rebranded Sipeed NanoKVM model already sold in China. Would have to dump the flash with proper tooling, and load up a clean OS on a blank chip to even begin checking for issues. Mostly, these gadgets are purposely built like garbage for a number of reasons. If I needed a DIY KVM install for a home-theater, I'd just setup a https://pikvm.org/ install. =) https://github.com/pikvm/pikvm/

> similarity to a rebranded Sipeed NanoKVM

That NanoKVM is RISC-V, the JetKVM is ARM Cortex-A7. Unlikely to be a rebrand.

That said the UI looks somewhat similar so Sipeed might have aped the JetKVM software part (which is FOSS)

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#187

Post by dns_snek »

BobbyTables2 wrote: post #144

The cynic in me wonders how remote access software companies are NOT in bed with governments and organized crime. Wouldn’t it just be too lucrative? Sure, these entities may not care about YOU. But YOU provide a means of free computing power, internet connection — the means for proxying cyber attacks.

The market for this type of device is negligible compared to the market of people who install free VPNs and mobile games that come bundled with a botnet membership.

"The means for proxying cyber attacks" are entirely commercialized, just search for residential proxy providers. They sell by the gigabyte and primarily rely on naive users and compromised devices.

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#188

Post by volkadav »

Trip report of size one, fwiw: I have a JetKVM device at home and it's been super handy in my small homelab (half dozen or so older dells and lenovos). I haven't experienced any problems with my device. It seems solidly built, the software works well and is receiving updates, and the price was very fair from what I recall. One feature that I thought was particularly a nice touch was that you can store OS images on it and have it show up as storage on the target machine (though some of my older gear doesn't seem to want to boot from it for whatever reason -- which I suspect has more to do with decade+ old workstations that last got a firmware upgrade when Obama was president than anything JetKVM is or isn't doing).

Overall, I'd recommend them. :)

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#189

Post by cimnine »

somanyphotons wrote: post #25

I wish there was a KVM out there that didn't need HDMI, where it sat on PCIe bus and presented a really dumb framebuffer/kb/mouse to the BIOS/OS, but sent it out over the network

I'm thinking similarly, but not via PCIe, but via USB: There are plenty of USB->VGA and USB->HDMI adapters that contain a dumb graphics card. So, embedd one of these and grab the video signal internally.

Thereby, plugging in just a single USB cable would deliver the power needed, keyboard, video and mouse. And bonus for an emulated USB-Stick/DVD drive.

What I don't know if these USB video cards are initialized during early boot and usable during the UEFI/BIOS phase. Is that why they grab the HDMI?

Re: JetKVM – Control any computer remotely

#190

Post by donaldihunter »

nati0n wrote: post #3

PiKVM seems to be the large competitor here and is completely open source. If you're looking into KVM solutions, probably check it out, but JetKVM is over 50% less, which is a huge argument in favor of it. https://pikvm.org

Geekworm make cheaper KVM hardware built around the Raspberry Pi. I have a KVM-A8 which mounts in a card slot.

https://geekworm.com/collections/pikvm

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