Lantronix’s SecureLinx line of KVM switches allows
remote control of both Intel-based and Macintosh
computers over standard IP-based networks, independent
of the computers’ OS. I tested the SecureLinx
Spider, a single-system KVM-over-IP unit that’s unique
in its design, requiring no rack space; it’s lightweight
enough to hang from the back of a system. The Spider
is cascade-able, allowing many Spider units to share a
single Ethernet port.
The Spider does provide the convenience of
browser-based remote control of host computers.
Using it, I was able to connect to a remote system and
complete typical operations there. Unfortunately, however,
my overall experience wasn’t ideal. In my testing,
I encountered lags in screen updates, inconsistent
mouse operation, and features that didn’t work
consistently.
You can configure the Spider and control the
attached computer through one of two interfaces: a
Web interface and SpiderView, a GUI that requires Windows XP and ActiveX support. SpiderView is
primarily an administrative tool, letting you discover Spider devices on the network, and includes a
wizard to guide you through the device’s initial configuration. SpiderView also includes a remote control
interface.
The Spider’s embedded Web server and Java applets provide access to its full complement of
features and configuration options. Remote control through the Web interface requires that the client
run a Java Runtime Environment (JRE). I tested the PS2 version of the Spider with a variety of
setup and remote control configurations. I found that some options worked much better than others.
Mouse support for the PS2 model is configurable between USB and PS2 compatibility. You
should avoid the PS2 mode; in my tests, the indicated mouse pointer frequently lost synchronization
with the host system’s mouse pointer location. Fortunately, newer systems support USB mouse
devices, and configuring the Spider to use this option worked fairly well.
Media redirection is an interesting Spider-supported feature, letting the remote system use data
present on your local computer or a network share. This capability is handy when you don’t find it convenient
to map to a network share from the remote system. From the Virtual Media menu of the Spider’s
embedded Web site, Spider will mount a diskette image file (up to 1.44MB) as an additional
read-only disk drive. Similarly, Spider will present a CD-ROM image file (up to 800MB) present
on a Windows Common Internet File System (CIFS) share to the host system as a
drive letter.
The Spider’s user experience wasn’t quite as clean as I hoped for.
Although more than adequate, the video refresh wasn’t the fastest I’ve
seen. I was also a bit annoyed that I needed to keep my browser
window to the Spider’s Web interface open to maintain the
Java console window. Overall, I find it difficult to recommend
this unit. Considering that administrators generally do much
of their work from one or two workstations, a full-featured,
performance-optimized remote control client—with support
for rapid connection to and switching among your usual
servers—would be a big improvement. Considering the
Spider’s per-server price, I don’t think that’s too much
to ask.
End of Article
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