How geeky sysadmins use their PDA....?

[benca1]

Hi, I do a lot of irix and linux support, and I'm looking forward to see how this new tool helps me out.

Curious, as I can find nothing on the web but from one CIO who claims to do Windows support remotely from cafes with a WiFi enabled PPC.

If you're a sysadm, how are you using your PDA? Once on a huge move, a co-worker of mine saved the day by plugging some dongle into the serial port of various servers with his Palm and acquiring a console. If it weren't for that Palm, many critical machines wouldn't have come up anytime soon.

So, anything about using Pocket PC with any unix system would be MUCH appreciated.

By the way, I've had it to here with those rabid linux people who won't talk to me because I bought a Pocket PC instead of a Palm. I don't know if any of your had the pleasure....

[Janak Parekh]

Well, a connected Pocket PC can ssh to any arbitrary machine using a tool like the PockeTTY from DejaVu software (www.dejavusoftware.com). There are also ports of various UNIX tools to Pocket PC; you might find this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9695&highlight=) interesting.

I don't know about your fellow sysadmins, but I administer Linux boxes and use a Pocket PC, and no one has yelled at me. ;)

--janak

[JvanEkris]

I'm not a sysadmin for a large system, but i manage my homeserver (RedHat 9) with WebMin (www.webmin.com), and the rest of the network through Nagios (www.nagios.org). All web-enabled, and can be modified to fit a small screen :). With WebMin, you can manage most common task through the web, including killing processes or halting the entire machine. It even allows you to enter command-line commands, responding with the output.

Jaap

[benca1]

Thanks Janak. I did find that thread helpful <whew> there's a free ssh client.

Jvan, thanks for your input too. I rolled out nagios to help me admin some 300 machines - I like it. Good suggestion regarding webmin. But I really want a terminal more then anything else.

Do either of you know of a way I can physically connect the PPC to a machines serial port to get a console? That would be cool in a pinch :wink:

[copernicus]

benca1,

Yes you can connect it physically. I use my Jornada 568 with it's serial sync cable to connect it to my SGI Origin 200 to administer it via serial connect (no null modem needed). I use Pocket TTY and it works great. It also works fine in configuring my network switches too.

Cambridge Computer Corporation has lot of great tools and some of them are free. Here is the link:

http://www.cam.com/windowsce.html


-c.

[Janak Parekh]

Yes you can connect it physically.
Well, not all have serial ports built in. For those that don't, you can buy one (http://www.socketcom.com/product/serial.asp) in a CF formfactor.

--janak

[JvanEkris]

Well,

I use a bluetooth connection to enter the network. Small dongle plugged in on a machine, and i'm on the network. This way i can see what the server sees when i'm fiddling with a client.......

Jaap

[Mitchybums]

I use the terminal server connection to manage xp-2k-2k3 machines on the network, I also use VNC for non-terminalserver machines.
If you have a vnc client running on a windows machine, you can access all the resources from that machine to manage your irix/linux servers.
If you have by accident a graphical interface on the server (unlikely, but possible) there is most likely a vnc server availiable.
Linux most defenately, IRIX, i dont know.
Best way is to use the telnet/ssh connections, since it's speedier and more secure. Graphical takes quite a bit of scrolling to see something, and Nyditot (screen size) isnt realy handy for it either. (although the scrolling feature in nyditot works better then scrolling in VNCclient)

VNC can be set up for different port numbers, so that makes it pretty secure, I used to do it in terminalserver, but havent figured it out on how to do it with the client on the pocketpc. Citrix might also be an option, if there is a citrix server in the network. They have clients for pocketpc and you can even have it run on the 320x240 resolution pretty decent.

I havent played with ssh yet, but if you want to access the servers from a cafe, look into the security issues.
If you can access them, so can others.

[benca1]

Thanks everyone.

Mitchy, I've deployed a ssh server that authenticates through a SafeWord card and uses RSA private keys via port forwarding. So long as I have a portable ssh client and WiFi, I can, wonderfully enough, login to the ssh server, and telnet (through port forwards) into my workstation. From there, I can admin and remote reset anything internally. No GUI needed, no need for VNC (can I run that on a PDA anyway...?). Ahhh the blessings of unix. This is FAR more secure, (with a 2048 but RSA key) then anything else I can think of outside of a hardware based VPN solution... but then that blows away the whole being wherever I want to be thing.

The next time I'm paged, while sneaking away at a local Starbucks, I can just into work, telnet to a console server, and reset! My PDA should be used to make my life easier... I think.

Finding new ways to get geekier is fun stuff. Now if Bluetooth can do it's thing - and not die - then I can be anywhere in teh country and accomplish the same thing.

The physical connection thing is more of a curiousity. We have aging terminal servers, and every once in awhile I need to hook up a WYSE terminal to get a machine back up. If I could just connect up the PDA instead... well if you ever carried a WYSE you know where I'm coming from :D

[ctmagnus]

There's also a free telnet client (based on PocketConsole (http://www.symbolictools.de/public/pocketconsole/)) available here (http://www.symbolictools.de/public/pocketconsole/applications/telnet/index.htm).


no need for VNC (can I run that on a PDA anyway...?)

Yep. Get it here (http://www.allware.com.mx/wwbase.exe).

[Mitchybums]

Just an addition on your bluetooth comment.
If you suffer from lost connections while using ssh, just install(or use) screen as a save heaven. It will save your behind bigtime when puting in commands, and then loose the connection.
just reconnect, and use screen -r to go on where you left off.
(unix/linux command)