remote administration opinions

[brihyn]

All-
Hopefully this will illicit some good advice...
I want to find a solution to remotely administer my servers when i'm out on the town. I like the ppc solution, but I don't have any idea what to look for for good ppc (i currently have an old jornada), or service...
Any suggestions? I want something of decent quality, yet price is definately an issue, as I'll have to sell my boss on this.
ideas?

[surur]

Assuming you will be using graphical remote administration e.g. vnc, terminal service or logmein.com you would really benefit from a large VGA screen, which would really boost your productivity.

That leaves the 5 vga pocketpc's. If you are very price sensitive you should get the dell x50v and an extended battery. If you are more flexible look into the loox 720 (into which you can easily plug most usb keyboards) and a good battery or the HP hx4700, which will give you the largest screen plus great battery life.

A valid alternative would be one of the pocketpcphones, which would make you more connected and constantly available. I would suggest the siemens sx 66, as it has a fast connection allowing snappy remote admin, and a keyboard, which should make command line easier. However the screen is just qvga, which may be an impediment and lead to constant scrolling.

My 2p then.

Surur

[GSmith]

I agree with the VGA recommendation and the Pocket Loox 720. You may have a hard time getting the Loox 720 in the US. Two places to get it are Expansys (from their US site) and from Clove (based in the UK and which I've heard will ship to the US). www.firstloox.org is the fairly busy message board for the Loox.

One note that I've seen relevant to keyboards, Pocket PC's, and remote administration (of Unix machines in particular) is that the HP bluetooth keyboard has an ESC key, but the others (Targus/Think Outside and the various Freedom OEM versions) do not. I have not confirmed this, however.

[brihyn]

Thanks, that's a good start. I hadn't even thought about screen size. So what about service? What do you suggest I look for for a provider, suggestions, etc.

[surur]

This depends on what kind of machines you are administrating. If windows servers terminal service may be appropriate, but on other platforms vnc is the obvious solution. Firewalls may also complicate the issue.

Surur

[Sven Johannsen]

One note that I've seen relevant to keyboards, Pocket PC's, and remote administration (of Unix machines in particular) is that the HP bluetooth keyboard has an ESC key, but the others (Targus/Think Outside and the various Freedom OEM versions) do not. I have not confirmed this, however.

That's backwards based on the ones sitting in front of me. The HP BT keyboard does not have an ESC key, labelled at least. The TO one does, though it is one of the function + keys on the top row.

Something to consider is what all you intend to do remotely. Restarting a service is reasonable even on a Smartphone. Creating a new user profile would really benefit from a keyboard, IMHO. Shame there isn't a VGA PPCPE yet, as that would be ideal. With any of the VGA devices, you would likely need to make sure you have a phone as well that supports GPRS and BT. Include the keyboard for more significant sessions and you have three things to haul around, but a fairly usable system. With a phone edition, you could cut back the phone, and the keyboard would be a personal choice, but you give up the resolution. The resolution depends a lot on your eyes too. I personnally have to use some pretty strong reading glasses to get much out of a VGA screen on a PPC, if it is a terminal services screen of a full sized server.

It'll be interesting to see how HP's new Mobile Communicator could be used in this scenario. Screen's a bit small, but you have the GPRS and keyboard built in, if you can stomach thumboards.

[brihyn]

thanks to everyone for their replies. I'm a network engineer in charge of a small webfarm/sql server etc. I really just need to be able to log on, restart services, verify websites are running, receive emails etc., so Term Serv is really a major thing I'm after.

What about providers. Verizon is one I'm considering, but what suggestions/opinions do you all have?

[JvanEkris]

I work with a VGA HP device (Hx4700 to be precise), a keyboard and SSH to administer some linux servers. Works great if you are able to work with a command-line.

Jaap