Simple Management for Complex Lab Networks
Network labs require always on connectivity, whether supporting device testing before shipment, validating firmware upgrades or developing new hardware. Housing equipment and software from a wide range of vendors along with a growing number of IoT devices, Smart Out-of-Band management provides an ease of configurability and automation for even the most complex network lab.
Device Testing
To ensure that customers receive fully functioning products, extensive testing is completed before shipment. Unrealistic for one operator to efficiently run these Devices Under Test through the QA process, advanced features of Opengear console servers remediates this issue ensuring speed and high reliability for always on access. Allowing up to 96 devices to be connected at once, programming enables it to simulate operator input through a series of standard tests. Alerts, pass/fails and input/outputs are available to the QA team for final verification. Cascading allows multiple Opengear console servers to be clustered with one unit acting as the master to thousands of serial ports. These lab networks can then test large batches of devices with minimal operator intervention which enables efficient, high density testing and leads to significant cost savings.
Remote testers can:
- Recover from error conditions
- Power cycle a locked up device
- Reboot and reconfigure different versions of software
Firmware Validation
One of the most common applications for network labs is validating firmware upgrades and regression testing on various versions of operating systems. In these cases, any action or output must be logged and available for analysis – console errors, results, edge cases, random re-boots, last gasp trace and more. Opengear console servers support multiple versions of firmware with large embedded memory. There is also support for power cycling frozen test devices with preconfigured alerts while all actions and outputs are logged for analysis.
Connect to a wide range of devices with:
- USB
- Ethernet
- Serial ports
Provisioning New Lab Networks
Zero Touch Provisioning allows lab network engineers to set up new devices with automation to enable quick deployment and configuration in new, multi-vendor environments. Paired with Smart Out-of-Band engineers are able to manage and monitor remote equipment. High port densities allow for a wide variety of configurations while multiple firmware updates are enabled with embedded memory.
