Select Blade Tasks → Remote Control to operate a blade server from a networked remote console.
The following illustration shows the remote-control page.
Click Start Remote Control to establish a remote console. On a remote console, you can control the blade server as if you were at the local console, including restarting the blade server and viewing the POST process, with full keyboard and mouse control. Remote console keyboard support includes all keys. Icons are provided for keys that might have special meanings to the blade server. For example, to transmit Ctrl+Alt+Del to the blade server, click the Ctrl and Alt icons, then press the Del key on the keyboard.
Use the remote console to perform the following tasks:
- View and change the blade server that currently controls the keyboard, monitor, and mouse (KVM) and the removable-media drives and USB ports (media tray) in the selected blade server unit. See the Installation and User’s Guide for your blade server for more information about KVM and media tray switching.
- The operating system in the blade server must provide USB support for the blade server to recognize and use the keyboard and mouse, even if the keyboard and mouse have PS/2-style connectors.
- If the operating system in the blade server does not support remote disk access, this feature is not available.
- If you install a supported Microsoft Windows operating system on the blade server while it is not the current owner of the KVM, a delay of up to 1 minute occurs the first time that you switch the KVM to the blade server. All subsequent switching takes place in the normal KVM switching time frame (up to 20 seconds).
- Select and access the drives in the media tray.
- Mount a drive or image, from the system that is acting as the remote console, onto a blade server. The mounted drive or image appears as a USB device that is attached to the blade server. See Using the remote disk feature for information and instructions.
- Access files at any available network location.
- View the details of any currently active remote-control session (user ID, client IP address, start time).
- Enable or disable local switching of the KVM for blade servers
until it is explicitly enabled again. This prevents a local user from switching
the console to a different blade server while you are performing remote-control
tasks. Users with access to the BladeCenter unit can use the KVM select button
on a blade server to switch KVM and media tray ownership. Unless you disable
local access, they also can use a keyboard that is attached directly to the
management module to switch KVM control between blade servers.
If a local user discovers that there is no response when the KVM select button is pressed, local control might have been disabled on the blade server by a remote user who is using the management module.
- Enable or disable local switching of the media tray for all blade servers until they are explicitly enabled again. This prevents other users from switching control of the media tray to a different blade server while you are performing a task. The media tray is used by one blade server at a time.
The following illustration shows a remote-control session for a management module.
The timeout value for a remote-control session is the same as the timeout value that you set for the management-module Web interface session when you logged in.