Post by Eran Kessel
Remote Access Management is a way of effectively managing and securing all the remote access protocols (i.e. RDP, VNC, SSH, KVM IP, SP, IPMI and more) in your data center. But why use remote access management anyway?
Well, nowadays IT personnel are often physically removed from their data center where all the IT infrastructure resides. "Lights-out" data centers and disaster recovery sites have become necessities for medium to large enterprises. Now days IT staff are always on the move, they work from remote offices, from home, while on the road, or from branch offices. The ability to work remotely has been made possible due to the increased reliability and usability of the internet and of remote access tools like KVM IP, RDP, VNC, SSH, Telnet and others. But, with all of these tools comes their associated IP addresses, passwords and user names, and IT managers need a way of organizing all this information. The current default option for keeping track of all these tools are spreadsheets, which require a lot of copying and pasting, and are not very secure. Organizations need a way to quickly and securely gain access to these remote access tools, which is why Remote Access Management is a requirement.
What are the benefits of a Remote Access Management strategy?
Different tech teams need different tools to accomplish their specific jobs. Different types of servers are better served by specific technologies and tools. Each technical team, or even an individual, will argue for the tool they like best. Employees will be more productive if allowed to use the tools they know and love, and aren't forced to compromise. So, having a Remote Access Management strategy not only means that you have an efficient and secure method for managing your many remote access tools, it also increases your IT efficiency and allows freedom of choice for your IT staff.
So, how does the enterprise IT define a remote access strategy for itself?
Defining a RAM strategy is quite simple and requires a few simple steps. First step is to map all remote access protocols that are being used by the IT staff, second step is to simply associate the right remote access protocol to the appropriate server or network device in the data center, let’s refer to them as targets. Third step is to assign the correct access rights to each of the IT staff, according to the organizational work flow.
Minicom's Access Management solutions aim to dramatically Increase IT efficiency & security, to save on IT costs and to simplify the daily workload of the IT staff by:
•Tighter security - Avoid unwanted access to IT assets, centrally manage and log all activity
•Enforced uniformity – All for one, and one for all! IT staff all operate through same web interface
• Open platform eco-system - Avoid dreaded vendor lock-in and integrate your choice of 3rd party KVM, Power or Serial device into the system
•On-Demand Remote Access - assign multiple access protocols to same target, whether In- band or OOB. Solve problems on the spot, in the most efficient manner
•Real Needs - Maximize past investments, Minicom's industry leading Real NeedsTM approach allows you to upgrade and repurpose running legacy KVM systems and to avoid costly replacements
Eran Kessel is a VP Marketing & Products at Minicom
