I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab

I tested every IP KVM in my Homelab(jeffgeerling.com)

51 points by vquemener 2 hours ago | 12 comments

syntaxing 5 minutes ago |

Not affiliated but I had good experience with GL.inet’s comet line [1]. They have one on kickstarter that’s the size of a google cast puck that uses purely usb-C. Though all my KVM do not have internet access (blocked at my gateway). I can only access it via tailscale externally.

[1] https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-rm1/

chrisss395 9 minutes ago |

I have a CSE847 and HP DL380 G10 that have gone down for me due to power outages. Many of these look complex, and I basically just need remote power-on/toggle capability. Should I be looking at something else?

magicconch 3 minutes ago | |

You could configure BIOS/UEFI to power-on when power is restored (or return to last state). Or use wake-on-LAN, which quite a few consumer routers can send through their web interface.

j45 5 minutes ago | |

Sounds like you might need a UPS/Battery backup for outages.

Some of those servers can have multiple power supplies for failover too. They also can have cards in them to power them on/off remotely as well as long as they have power.

leetrout 16 minutes ago |

I deploy pikvm and I have been mostly happy. The tinypilot has a better feel to it. Something feels more polished.

Barbing 56 minutes ago |

Neat, someone mentioned these when I proposed a ludicrous anti-fingerprinting strategy https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44549352

Jeff Geerling rocks

ectoloph 55 minutes ago |

I have a mild distrust of some of the cheap IP KVMs. I don't think vendors are malicious, but I don't expect they get it right every time either.

Admittedly, I haven't looked at any open-sourced firmwares either which could have improved things.

I have found the Sispeed USB KVM very useful, the convenience is well worth the $50 it cost me. The UX isn't great but you don't really need it to be. It works (most of the time) via WebUSB for the keyboard mouse.

xxpor 53 minutes ago | |

Part of the problem is the absolute crap that most vendors throw on an AST2600 is even worse.

I will say iDRAC has been a lot more reliable for me, but the chance I'll ever buy a Dell server for home use is basically 0.

geerlingguy 42 minutes ago | | |

Always a fun adventure when you buy an old server motherboard to see what state of disarray the BMC is in. Or if you have to patch the license on older boards just to get into it. Usually I just ignore the BMC on any hardware more than 5 years old.

gruez 42 minutes ago |

How's the video quality/latency on all of these? RDP or parsec are probably the gold standard, but I doubt cheap arm SOCs can implement either properly.

geerlingguy 35 minutes ago | |

On some the latency is within 45-60ms (that's the best I've tested, under pretty strict LAN conditions), but average is more like 100-200ms. Not good enough for gaming, but fine for things like watching video, if you really want to do that.

Most employ heavy compression by default, and it looks a little more pronounced with motion. A few have 'high quality' mode, but especially on the Pi-based KVMs this eats up more CPU, so I don't use that.

It's on the whole best for use cases where you just need to log into remote servers and check on things, or reinstall/re-image something. I don't think I'd like using any of these for a constant remote session for daily work. I do use Screen Sharing on macOS for that sometimes, and it works great in its low-latency mode. None of the KVMs I've tested are quite to that level.

steele 43 minutes ago |

Another vote for JetKVM. Tailscale support is great. I'm glad to see audio is in the works because a Mac mini screaming from separate room during a remote session is disappointing.