IP KVM Solution that supports 4 devices, but needs to be physically as small as possible

Hardware Hub Other Hardware
,
1

Hi guys,

I am trying to work out the best way to plug four SBCs into a single IP KVM interface so I can manage them remotely if required to ensure uptime remains good. Unfortunately the SBCs are being packed into a watertight canister for several years that doesn’t have much space available left in it. I need the out of band interface for reliability reasons.

I have a couple of solutions in mind already but I’d be curious to hear others thoughts on it.

  1. Use a single ip-kvm plugged into some kind of 4 port kvm and rely on keyboard hotkeys over the kvm. I also saw the Jetkvm has a serial interface port and could be plugged into HDMI 2.1 KVM w/EDID & Serial Control - Single Monitor - Four Computer — Level1Techs Store but this seems like expensive overkill. But I really don’t know how reliable the keyboard hotkey controls will be!
  2. Use loads of NanoKVM’s, but I’d have to put another network switch inside and NanoKVM’s don’t have the best reputation due to security practices.
  3. Design my own KVM PCB with the required ports and use a Raspberry Pi compute module 5 with PiKVM. I’ve never designed a PCB before but in theory it doesn’t seem too complicated? I don’t need high bandwidth HDMI, even 720p would do and I am sure there are switching ICs out there which would be commonly available. There must be reference designs for integrating a compute module 5 right? But it’s the most time intensive.

Really split on which approach to take!

2

JetKVM maybe an alternative to nanokvm? Afaik there were no security issues with it. I have one and it works fine, though I haven’t gotten much use out of it yet (since it’s relatively rare I need it).

3

Yeah, that’s true, I could just look to use JetKVM’s instead.

4

Sorry for the borderline threadjacking, but I’ve always wondered about something similiar to this idea but where the solution would also support multiple serial connections. I’ve got a few older switches that are getting harder and harder to ssh to thanks to their outdated ssh trappings.

5

Terminal servers are a reasonable solution to this or a raspberry pi or other similar single-board computer using usb-to-serial adapters (plus the two built in UARTs (if you have TTL level signals))

7

Hi, this is actually been incredibly useful advice. I’d never heard of this feature before but it looks like the industrial SBCs I have look like they support it judging from the user manual. Do you have any expierence of using particular terminal servers remotely? I’ll guessing the workflow is SSH into terminal server → configure device on desired port at the same time as doing SSH into device to be managed → reboot.