It’s been a long week. Not just because we’re rapidly racing toward the end of the year and holiday slowdowns, but because I keep getting asked for product comparisons—how are other products like Uplogix, how is Uplogix different from other products… It’s a tough request.
The first was a request from a federal partner to help provide some information for the government on a contract vehicle that lists Uplogix products. “What are some similar products we can give them as comps?” read the email along with a list of Uplogix part numbers. Fun!
Which one is not like the other
What distinguishes Uplogix from the rest of the console server market isn’t really the hardware. Sure we have some fairly unique features like a modular slot that lets you choose the right out-of-band option for your location (take your pick from v.92, cellular modems from various carriers, fiber, RS232. You can even hook up an Iridium satellite connection or use a secondary Ethernet for whatever ol’ network link you happen to have nearby), then there is solid state storage, FIPS-140-2 Level 2 certification, and even expansion modules to deploy the number of serial console ports you need or dedicated Ethernet connections. Alright, the hardware is pretty cool.
But the software that runs the Uplogix out-of-band platform is really the key. By deploying intelligent software into the traditionally dumb hardware space of a console server, we’re able to monitor devices and take automated actions directly over the console port, like an onsite technician plugging in a laptop. We go far beyond the traditional console server that sits plugged in and waiting to be useful should there be a crisis. Automated responses to network situations can be implemented in seconds or monitored over time until a threshold is met before taking actions and/or notifying the NOC.
We also play nice in the existing ecosystem. All configuration and features for managing devices are governed by powerful and granular authorization controls with every activity and change logged and archived to the NOC.
It’s hard to be humble
The second product comparison request this week was a little easier — how does Uplogix compare in functionality to a traditional console server? Answer? Great! Pretty much we do everything a console server does and much, much more! It writes itself like an old Veg-o-matic commercial. Does Uplogix slice and dice and julienne? Well no, but we encrypt and authorize and automate! But wait there’s more! Too much to list in a 30 second commercial, I’ll just drop in a handy table Consumer Reports-style.
The good news is that unlike that Flowbee or food dehydrator, Uplogix has features you can actually use. And we’ll throw in a Mini-USB port absolutely free!
The Infomercial
Complete | Partial | Missing |
![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() |
Uplogix | Traditional Console Server | |
Secure Operations | ||
Session Management: Returns managed device to a base non-logged-in state during an idle time out | ![]() | ![]() |
FIPS 140-2 Certification | ![]() | ![]() |
Closed appliance – i.e. not completely configurable | ![]() | ![]() |
SSD on-board storage with AES 256-bit data encryption for management information | ![]() | ![]() |
Encrypt all data transferred to centralized management server | ![]() | ![]() |
Support local and AAA server authentication (TACACS, RADIUS AD/LDAP) | ![]() | ![]() |
Support local and AAA server authorization (TACACS, RADIUS) | ![]() | ![]() |
Support specification of preferred and allowed ciphers, hashing, compression and key exchange algorithms for SSH | ![]() | ![]() |
Support a robust granular authorization model that uses granular permissions assigned to roles that can then be assigned to users or groups of users on a hierarchical basis to control visibility, access and command execution for users based on inventory groups, local managers, device management ports and custom labels. | ![]() | ![]() |
IP Filtering | ![]() | ![]() |
SSH certificate authentication | ![]() | ![]() |
Local Connectivity Options | ||
RS-232 | ![]() | ![]() |
Virtual Port to Device or Console Server Serial Port | ![]() | ![]() |
TCP Port Forwarding | ![]() | ![]() |
HTTP(S) for Monitoring and Automated Action | ![]() | ![]() |
Out-Of-Band Connectivity Options | ||
V.92 Modem | ![]() | ![]() |
Cellular Modem (2G/3G/LTE) | ![]() | ![]() |
Iridium Modem | ![]() | ![]() |
Ethernet | ![]() | ![]() |
Serial Connection to External Modem | ![]() | ![]() |
Local Configuration Management | ||
Automatically retrieve and store device OS | ![]() | ![]() |
Automatically retrieve and store device startup configuration | ![]() | ![]() |
Automatically retrieve and store device running configuration files | ![]() | ![]() |
Support scheduled recurring jobs that automatically retrieve the current OS, startup and running configuration files per managed device | ![]() | ![]() |
Support scheduling a job to update a startup or running configuration file for one or multiple devices across the network | ![]() | ![]() |
Support scheduling a job to upgrade the operating system for one or multiple managed devices across the network | ![]() | ![]() |
Display configuration changes made during a user session to a managed device when the session is complete | ![]() | ![]() |
Automatic rollback of configuration changes made during a user terminal session to a managed device if the session times out and user does not commit changes | ![]() | ![]() |
Display configuration changes made during a user terminal session to a managed device and enable the user to automatically rollback the changes | ![]() | ![]() |
Support bare metal restore on a replacement device by automatically installing OS and configuration files | ![]() | ![]() |
Support the ability to independently recover a configuration on a managed device for the case where the configuration is corrupted | ![]() | ![]() |
Device Monitoring | ||
Regularly monitor a device and automatically restore the startup configuration and standard/certified OS for the device if the device is replaced (due to RMA) or found without its configuration | ![]() | ![]() |
Regularly monitor a device and automatically recover the device if the OS is missing or corrupted | ![]() | ![]() |
Monitor and save device CPU and memory utilization | ![]() | ![]() |
Monitor and save device interface status and statistics | ![]() | ![]() |
Monitor and save device log messages | ![]() | ![]() |
Use and device CLI command to monitor a device on a regular basis | ![]() | ![]() |
Monitor and save power on self test (POST) messages when managed device powers up | ![]() | ![]() |
Monitor commands typed by user in a terminal session | ![]() | ![]() |
Monitor device connectivity to other devices using ICMP Ping | ![]() | ![]() |
Service Level Monitoring | ||
Generate service validation traffic on any VLAN, test same network path as end user devices | ![]() | ![]() |
Schedule tests to regularly monitor network performance and SLAs | ![]() | ![]() |
Automatically evaluate SLV test results, perform customizable actions based on test results | ![]() | ![]() |
Execute tests ad-hoc for troubleshooting | ![]() | ![]() |
VoIP Service Validation | ![]() | ![]() |
HTTP(S) Service Validation | ![]() | ![]() |
TCP Service Validation | ![]() | ![]() |
Flexible Automation | ||
Support a customizable rules engine that takes action when collected data meets specified conditions, allowing users to use a GUI or CLI to create specialized, automated operations based on their run book and best practices | ![]() | ![]() |
Execute any CLI command on device | ![]() | ![]() |
Generate alarms | ![]() | ![]() |
Generate events | ![]() | ![]() |
Power on/off/cycle device | ![]() | ![]() |
Initiate out-of-band connection | ![]() | ![]() |
Push configuration file to device | ![]() | ![]() |
Pull configuration file from device | ![]() | ![]() |
Reboot device | ![]() | ![]() |
Issue “show tech” on device, store and archive output | ![]() | ![]() |
Send email alerts for device and system alarms | ![]() | ![]() |
Environmental monitoring | ![]() | ![]() |
Out-of-Band Management | ||
WAN Traffic Failover (backup cellular WAN connectivity) | ![]() | ![]() |
VPN Support for out-of-band connections | ![]() | ![]() |
With a secure out-of-band connection back to the NOC, administrators can connect to remote managed devices during the network outage where alarms, events, alerts and SYSLOG messages are forwarded during the outage | ![]() | ![]() |
Monitor primary network connectivity during an outage and automatically tear down the out-of-band network connection when primary network connectivity is restored. | ![]() | ![]() |
Support encrypted dial-in access with caller-ID filtering | ![]() | ![]() |
Logging | ||
Log every keystroke type by a user connected to the local manager/console server | ![]() | ![]() |
Send SYSLOG message for all Local Manager alarms and events to a designated SYSLOG server | ![]() | ![]() |
Forward log messages collected from a managed device to a SYSLOG server on behalf of the managed device | ![]() | ![]() |