Helping a broadcasting company to remain secure

Because 24/7 service is vital, the company needed a robust and effective cellular out-of-band management solution. The customer was particularly worried about access to their key infrastructure and data equipment in the event of a denial of service attack on the internet.

The console ports of all equipment were aggregated by using the Lantronix SLC8000, which can also be used as a gateway to any particular site and its device. It was now just a question of choosing the right complementary solution to allow the engineers and network administrators to remotely access the console manager potentially from anywhere in the world during an unprecedented network outage.

Key requirements of the application included instant access to the console port of any piece of equipment within a local data centre; a top priority for availability and control (even in the event of a DOA attack); to make full use of the audit log tracking features of the Lantronix SLC8000 unit; and to make the application simple, reliable and cost effective.

Therefore, the customer incorporated the Lantronix PremierWave XC cellular unit at each key site as an added solution to each SLC8000 Advanced Console Manager. A GSM cellular connection to the main administrator port on the front panel of the SLC8000 unit provided direct access. Administrators now have Command Line level access for debugging, and rebooting any piece of equipment attached to the console manager even in the event of a denial of service attack on their network.