Keep in mind you absolutely can DIY the PiKVM, it's supported in their docs. Buy the Pi, buy the extra hardware you may need for power splitting & video in, install PiKVM software (unfortunately it's a rather massive package of custom software), and it's probably around a hundred bucks cheaper than their cheapest product version.
I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
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Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you played around with OpenBMC or any of the open-sourced BMC firmware alternatives? ETA: specifically on older server/workstation boards instead of the stock firwmare
I've been interested but the idea of SPI flasher recovery has always meant I've not bothered actually trying. Maybe I will finally on one of these old boards I have lying around..
Same here; trying to get OpenBMC flashed onto older motherboards can be a rabbit-hole. I generally throw an IP KVM on top if I really need remote control and can't settle on just SSH and a remote power cycle if that fails.
Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#43The JetKVM picture is aggravating to look at. It shows IPv4 address in large print and the IPv6 address in small print. That’s fine, but the IPv6 address is truncated with an ellipsis. How is that useful? A truncated IP address doesn’t work. Do the developers expect autocomplete for IP addresses? (And the IPv6 address is a ULA, so it could have been much shorter if SLAAC was involved in creating the address. Otherwis…
They are not in a hurry to fix it: https://github.com/jetkvm/kvm/issues/1158
Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you get a kvm connected to a networked PDU with per-outlet control? Then a power cycle on the plug for the mac would accomplish the same thing. Or just use the network port on the PDU directly w/o kvm.
The annoying thing with Macs is they don't have the ability to 'Power on after clean shutdown and power cycle'. They can power on after a power fail, but that's not the same thing. I want to be able to have power toggle on my Mac remotely, but without soldering in a jumper on the power button, AFAIK there's no way to do it :(
That is frustrating. Sounds like no way forward w/o basically forcing a crash via hard shutdown from a PDU.
Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#45All of these support a single computer only, so if your home lab has multiple PCs you need a remote control KVM switch too. And separately a remote control power strip/outlet if you need that also. KVM switches are relatively cheap[^1] so I'm surprised there isn't an integrated solution. [^1]: e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Computers-Switches-Supports-switching...
There are a few, like this add-on for PiKVM[1], a fully integrated version from Geekworm[2], and an as-yet unreleased 4-port IP KVM switcher from GL-iNet[3]. [1] https://technotim.com/posts/pikvm-at-scale/ [2] https://geekworm.com/products/pikvm-x680 [3] https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-rm4pe/
PiKVM themselves offer a 4-port switch, which can be chained five times, giving 20 ports in total: https://docs.pikvm.org/switch/>
Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#46Okay, there were two things that bothered me with these KVM switches: the power adapters are massive so there's too many cables, and the cables don't go always in the same side of the thing. Your post covers both and I'm thrilled. The final thing I recognize is a bit of a nice to have but the only thing that I want to rack that doesn't have a BMC is my Mac Mini which I've hesitated to put in the Sonnet RackMac and ru…
Could you get a kvm connected to a networked PDU with per-outlet control? Then a power cycle on the plug for the mac would accomplish the same thing. Or just use the network port on the PDU directly w/o kvm.
You're right. I just need to upgrade my PDU. But as you can imagine, I'm hesitating because I don't want to power down the rest of the hardware either.
Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#47+1000 points for the PiKVM V4 Plus. We (Revise Robotics - a YC company!) refurbish laptops with robots and AI - as part of this, we (or rather, the AI) send(s) keyboard commands in software to the computers we're refurbishing. How/why? The AI needs to navigate the BIOS among other tasks - so we need a KVM to send arrow down and enter, roughly speaking. We were a GL.iNet KVM shop until we ran into a nasty issue with a…
$400 for kvm?
Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#48All of these support a single computer only, so if your home lab has multiple PCs you need a remote control KVM switch too. And separately a remote control power strip/outlet if you need that also. KVM switches are relatively cheap[^1] so I'm surprised there isn't an integrated solution. [^1]: e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Computers-Switches-Supports-switching...
There are a few, like this add-on for PiKVM[1], a fully integrated version from Geekworm[2], and an as-yet unreleased 4-port IP KVM switcher from GL-iNet[3]. [1] https://technotim.com/posts/pikvm-at-scale/ [2] https://geekworm.com/products/pikvm-x680 [3] https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-rm4pe/
It also looks like BliKVM is now making the BLiSwitch: https://blikvm.com/docs/device-guides/BliSwitch-v2-guide/
Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#49Hey Jeff, I did some research on the jetkvm after reading this as I was very impressed but wanted full scale hdmi + Poe and was going to pull the trigger on the clone you mentioned later, ArkKVM but felt like I’d rather support the main project if I could… What I found seems to indicate that Jet fixed those two issues in a hardware revision but it’s really difficult to distinguish the new on from the old as they’ve s…
Indeed, I will add a note in my blog post. They should've called it V2 or something.
Re: I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab
#50The HP z2 mini g1a supports a BMC module that is a full redfish implementation, so it can do virtualmedia and UEFI configuration read/write.
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-anyware-remote-system-c...
I was pretty disappointed to discover DGX spark has no BMC. I was able to hook it up to pikvm by connecting leads to the power switch wires. It honestly works really well and I can provision it with MAAS
Shout-out to pikvm for their redfish support with the pikvm switch
Great writeup there are quite a few here that are new to me