Examples: Selecting Remote Management Tools

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

After you define your remote management requirements, you can select the tools and components you need to perform remote management tasks. The following illustrations describe the tools for the business situations and remote management levels described in "Examples: Determining Remote Management Requirements" earlier in this chapter.

Minimal Remote Management

Because the branch office in this business situation has low availability requirements and has on-site support, this situation requires no special out-of-band support. Emergency Management Services together with the basic serial port can provide out-of-band management support for the few times when administrators need to perform remote out-of-band tasks. Although this organization decided to use existing hardware, the OEM can provide a BIOS upgrade that supports console redirection. Remote Desktop for Administration provides remote in-band support in this situation.

For this branch office, administrators can perform tasks such as the following remotely:

  • All in-band tasks, such as monitoring, configuring, and troubleshooting when the operating system is responding over the network.

  • Monitoring operating system startup.

  • Troubleshooting when the operating system is low on resources, such as when CPU usage is excessively high.

  • Running Recovery Console.

  • Monitoring firmware initialization and configuring firmware settings.

Administrators must perform the following types of tasks locally:

  • Powering up and powering down.

  • Resetting.

  • Viewing POST status.

  • Troubleshooting when the operating system is unresponsive.

For an illustration of out-of-band hardware configuration for this example, see "Configuring for Direct Serial Connection" later in this chapter.

Moderate Remote Management

Because the data center in this business situation has many high-availability servers, the organization does not want to incur the costs of upgrading to new computers to obtain out-of-band management support. The BIOS for some of the existing servers can be upgraded to provide console redirection; for other servers, such an upgrade is not available. Emergency Management Services together with a serial port provides out-of-band support when the Windows Server 2003 operating system is functioning.

This data center is configured with terminal concentrators to consolidate access to many servers by using a single in-band network connection. These terminal concentrators have SSH built in to provide authenticated and encrypted remote console sessions. They also have a built-in intelligent UPS for power backup and remote power functionality.

In this data center, administrators can perform tasks such as the following remotely:

  • All in-band tasks, such as monitoring, configuring, and troubleshooting when the operating system is responding over the network.

  • Monitoring operating system startup.

  • Troubleshooting when the operating system is not responding over the network, such as when CPU usage is excessively high.

  • Running Recovery Console.

Administrators must perform the following tasks locally:

  • For servers without firmware console redirection, viewing POST results.

  • For servers without firmware console redirection, monitoring firmware initialization and configuring firmware settings.

  • Troubleshooting when the operating system is not responding to Emergency Management Services or the network.

For an example configuration for this example, see "Configuring for Terminal Concentrator Connections" later in this chapter.

Maximum Remote Management

In this business situation, the remotely administered servers support Emergency Management Services and include firmware console redirection and built-in service processors. The servers are configured with a terminal concentrator that has built-in intelligent UPS functionality and built-in SSH for secure communications.

Administrators perform all tasks — except hardware replacement — remotely. The Windows Server 2003 operating system is also installed remotely by using RIS.

For possible out-of-band hardware configurations that are appropriate for this business situation, see "Configuring for Intelligent UPS and Terminal Concentrator" and "Configuring for Network Service Processor" later in this chapter.