resetting a computer remotely?

Is there some sort of common or uncommon BIOS feature that will allow you
to totally reset a computer remotely, even after it's crashed?

Maybe there's some sort of ISA/PCI/PCI-X card you can get, or a special
kind of powerstrip, or... some sort of standard BIOS feature, or maybe
one of the free BIOS implementations can do this?

I'm thinking along the lines of maybe something that has a top-priority
NMI, so even if some other IRQ/NMI gets wedged, you might be able to yank
on the reset pin anyway. Or something like that. You tell me. :)
Please. Or even something with its own ultra-low-power, ultra-slow
additional CPU that runs all the time and just watches for a magic network
packet (authenticated somehow I assume, although the machines I want this
for are on an unrouted net anyway), and upon seeing it Reboots.

Thanks!


Thanks!

On 2004-12-08, Dan Stromberg <strombrg@dcs.nac.uci.edu> wrote:
>
> Is there some sort of common or uncommon BIOS feature that will allow you
> to totally reset a computer remotely, even after it's crashed?
>
> Maybe there's some sort of ISA/PCI/PCI-X card you can get, or a special
> kind of powerstrip, or... some sort of standard BIOS feature, or maybe
> one of the free BIOS implementations can do this?

Well, there is a special kind of powerstrip. APC manufactures what they
call a switched PDU, which is basically a glorified power strip that you
can attach to a network. Assign it an IP address, then use a web
browser to log in to it and switch on/off outlets individually. It's
obviously a last resort, since it doesn't know whether the machine is
still alive or not before it cuts power to the outlet, but it might be
enough for your needs.

I assume that other manufacturers also make a similar item, though
perhaps under a different name.

--keith

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On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:19:14 GMT, Dan Stromberg
<strombrg@dcs.nac.uci.edu> wrote:

>
>Is there some sort of common or uncommon BIOS feature that will allow you
>to totally reset a computer remotely, even after it's crashed?
>
>Maybe there's some sort of ISA/PCI/PCI-X card you can get, or a special
>kind of powerstrip, or... some sort of standard BIOS feature, or maybe
>one of the free BIOS implementations can do this?
>
>I'm thinking along the lines of maybe something that has a top-priority
>NMI, so even if some other IRQ/NMI gets wedged, you might be able to yank
>on the reset pin anyway. Or something like that. You tell me. :)
>Please. Or even something with its own ultra-low-power, ultra-slow
>additional CPU that runs all the time and just watches for a magic network
>packet (authenticated somehow I assume, although the machines I want this
>for are on an unrouted net anyway), and upon seeing it Reboots.
>
>Thanks!
>
>
>Thanks!

Do a google for "pc watchdog" - there's a whole class of card that
plugs into the hardware and basically watches to see if the system
crashes, and reboots if it does. Linux kernel has support for these
already. I like the ones from pciwatchdog.com

Mike-

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On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 11:26:03 -0500, Michael W Cocke wrote:

> On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:19:14 GMT, Dan Stromberg
> <strombrg@dcs.nac.uci.edu> wrote:
>
>>
>>Is there some sort of common or uncommon BIOS feature that will allow you
>>to totally reset a computer remotely, even after it's crashed?
>>
>>Maybe there's some sort of ISA/PCI/PCI-X card you can get, or a special
>>kind of powerstrip, or... some sort of standard BIOS feature, or maybe
>>one of the free BIOS implementations can do this?
>>
>>I'm thinking along the lines of maybe something that has a top-priority
>>NMI, so even if some other IRQ/NMI gets wedged, you might be able to yank
>>on the reset pin anyway. Or something like that. You tell me. :)
>>Please. Or even something with its own ultra-low-power, ultra-slow
>>additional CPU that runs all the time and just watches for a magic network
>>packet (authenticated somehow I assume, although the machines I want this
>>for are on an unrouted net anyway), and upon seeing it Reboots.
>>
>>Thanks!
>>
>>
>>Thanks!
>
> Do a google for "pc watchdog" - there's a whole class of card that
> plugs into the hardware and basically watches to see if the system
> crashes, and reboots if it does. Linux kernel has support for these
> already. I like the ones from pciwatchdog.com
>
> Mike-

"How crashed" does a system have to be, before one of these will kick in?

Do they only reset on a wedged CPU?

We're seeing hosts that accept connections, but the daemon on the port
can't do anything, even if the daemon is mlockall'd into memory, never
forks, never execs, and never hits the disk. Is such a card likely to
help in such a situation?

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:08:45 GMT, Dan Stromberg
<strombrg@dcs.nac.uci.edu> wrote:

>On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 11:26:03 -0500, Michael W Cocke wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:19:14 GMT, Dan Stromberg
>> <strombrg@dcs.nac.uci.edu> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>Is there some sort of common or uncommon BIOS feature that will allow you
>>>to totally reset a computer remotely, even after it's crashed?
>>>
>>>Maybe there's some sort of ISA/PCI/PCI-X card you can get, or a special
>>>kind of powerstrip, or... some sort of standard BIOS feature, or maybe
>>>one of the free BIOS implementations can do this?
>>>
>>>I'm thinking along the lines of maybe something that has a top-priority
>>>NMI, so even if some other IRQ/NMI gets wedged, you might be able to yank
>>>on the reset pin anyway. Or something like that. You tell me. :)
>>>Please. Or even something with its own ultra-low-power, ultra-slow
>>>additional CPU that runs all the time and just watches for a magic network
>>>packet (authenticated somehow I assume, although the machines I want this
>>>for are on an unrouted net anyway), and upon seeing it Reboots.
>>>
>>>Thanks!
>>>
>>>
>>>Thanks!
>>
>> Do a google for "pc watchdog" - there's a whole class of card that
>> plugs into the hardware and basically watches to see if the system
>> crashes, and reboots if it does. Linux kernel has support for these
>> already. I like the ones from pciwatchdog.com
>>
>> Mike-
>
>"How crashed" does a system have to be, before one of these will kick in?
>
>Do they only reset on a wedged CPU?
>
>We're seeing hosts that accept connections, but the daemon on the port
>can't do anything, even if the daemon is mlockall'd into memory, never
>forks, never execs, and never hits the disk. Is such a card likely to
>help in such a situation?
>

The basic principle is that a daemon posts to the watchdog card at a
user-configured interval. If the daemon doesn't post to the card
regularly, the card reboots the system. You could insert the watchdog
post code into the daemon that's hanging. These boards are usually
for process control systems, but I've used them for email and web
servers with no problems - "high availability on low budget" 8-)>

Mike-

--
If you can keep your head while those around you are losing theirs...
You may have a great career as a network administrator ahead!
--
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Dan Stromberg wrote:

>
> Is there some sort of common or uncommon BIOS feature that will allow you
> to totally reset a computer remotely, even after it's crashed?
>
> Maybe there's some sort of ISA/PCI/PCI-X card you can get, or a special
> kind of powerstrip, or... some sort of standard BIOS feature, or maybe
> one of the free BIOS implementations can do this?

May be a wake on LAN card ethernet card/mboard can do that?