[Tfug] remote reboot

[Adrian]

On Wednesday 30 November 2005 16:28, Robert Hunter wrote:
> Jim, thanks for the tip.  I think I could cobble something together,
> for instance a diskless system running Knoppix, with a modem attached
> for dial-in capability, with serial connections to the hosts to
> manage, and an ethernet connection to the "glorified powerstrip". 
> More fun than tinker toys ;-)
> 

If the system has truely died/locked up (as opposed to a bad network 
connection), then there are only 2 ways to do this, you either have to have 
A) a way to externally power cycle the machine, or B) a hardware management 
interface.

In the case of A), you are limited to:
1) As Jim said, you can purchase devices that are essentually a networkable 
powerstrip
2) A networkable UPS
3) You can hack together a X10-like AC controller with another PC to act as 
base.

In the case of B) you can:
1) There are specially made generally purpose ISA cards that act as a video 
(for access to the BIOS during boot) and can throw a NMI on command (I forget 
the name of the most popular)
2) Special manufacturer cards, like the Dell Poweredge DRAC cards, which give 
you complete BIOS/reboot capability, regardless of the OS
3) An inter-chassis IMPI interface to another box (I've actually never seen 
this done)
4) BIOS access over a serial port, if the machine you have allows it (only 
servers), though this rarely works past the initial boot stage.

The problem is not one of a "system" to do the work, but a physical hardware 
interaction. Unless you can build your own ISA/PCI boards, if you want to 
scratch build something you're pretty much limited to A-3.

Adrian