| Power Distribution Management System |
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| An important problem involves the remote monitoring
of large numbers of computers and other electronic equipment
sensitive to environmental
extremes. This includes SMEs with a computer room
consisting of a small number of servers and routers, as
well as huge organizations,
such as Remote Data Centers and Server Farms that manage
hundreds or thousands of computers. Whatever the situation,
this type of sensitive
electronic equipment must be placed in a location with temperature
and humidity kept within strict bounds. The problem faced
by administrators is
how to monitor such environments remotely so that faulty
air conditioning equipment can be repaired as needed, and
security can be notified when
intruders enter restricted areas. |
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As a concrete example, consider the Remote Machine
Room illustrated in the above figure. A typical environment
monitoring system for this type of
operation consists of security cameras, and sensors that
check temperature and humidity. A serial device server
can be used to provide immediate Internet
access for these devices, giving the administrator a straightforward
and economical solution for setting up an environment monitoring
system. In this
case, the serial device server can be configured in Driver
Mode to provide LAN-to-LAN connectivity, making it possible
to view images from the security
cameras and check data from the sensors, all in real-time,
and from any computer connected to the Internet.
We should also point out that a serial device server configured
in Driver Mode provides the administrator with a very straightforward
way of setting up and
managing this type of monitoring system. In this case,
the serial devices consist of cameras and sensors, each
of which should come with a manufacturer
supplied driver that allows the user to access and control
the device via a computer's serial port. What Driver Mode
does is allow the administrator to connect serial devices
to a serial device server, connect the serial device server
to an Ethernet LAN, and then access and control the serial
device from any computer
connected to the network. No change is required to the
serial device, or the manner in which it is accessed from
the host computer. |
