KVM Help and Recommendations for FC3

Tue Nov 15 20:44:49 UTC 2005

List members,

I am experiencing compatibility problems with a Belkin OmniView PRO 
8-Port KVM switch and Fedora Core 3.  Any help you could provide 
resolving these problems without purchasing a new KVM would be greatly 
appreciated.  From reading this list and the related Bugzilla bugs, I 
find that improbable, so I'd also be grateful for any recommendations 
for a new KVM switch.  I apologize for this being a bit of a repost, but 
I must justify the new purchase to my management.  Any suggestions will 
be run past Dell technical support as well.  Once I have implemented the 
solution, I will post it back to the list.  KVM problems seem to be 
somewhat common, so I hope it is a significant contribution to the 
community.

Some of the problems I am experiencing under Fedora Core 3 follow:

- Without switching between computers, the monitor flickers and the 
keyboard and/or mouse connection is dropped.
- Without switching between computers, the monitor stops updating the 
display.  This deadlocks any programs attempting to print to the display 
until the situation is resolved.
- After switching to a computer, the keyboard and/or mouse connection is 
dropped or extremely erratic (ie. Keystrokes being interpreted as 
function keys.  Keystrokes being generated when the keyboard is not in 
use.  The mouse pointer moving all over the screen, opening and closing 
windows.)

There is also a SUSE machine attached to the KVM that experiences 
similar problems.  The Windows machines seem to be fine.

One of the FC3 machines is connected to the KVM via a PS/2-to-USB Y-adapter.

I attempted to resolve these problems as described in prior posts to 
this list, but I didn't have any success.  The steps I took follow:

- Disabling console mouse services by preventing gpm from starting at boot.
- Disabling DPMS (Energy Star) features by editing xorg.conf.
- Disabling PS/2 mouse protocol extensions by editing xorg.conf and 
setting the psmouse.proto kernel parameter to bare (psmouse.proto=bare).
- Disabling APM functionality in the BIOS and by setting the apm kernel 
parameter to off (apm=off).
- Disabling the screen saver's awareness of power management via KDE's 
Control Center.
- Disabling display power management via KDE's Control Center.

There was only one ACPI event configured on the FC3 machines, mapping 
the power button to the "/sbin/shutdown -h now" command, so I left that 
alone.

After performing these steps, I rebooted.  Within five minutes, the 
monitor flickered and the keyboard became unresponsive.  I was at a text 
console at the time and kernel messages similar to the following began 
to appear periodically:

- psmouse.c: bad data from KBC - timeout
- psmouse.c: Mouse at isa0060/serio1/input0 lost synchronization, 
throwing 2 bytes away.
- atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x7f on 
isa0060/serio0).
- atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes 7f <keycode>' to make it known.

If these problems cannot be resolved through software or other means, we 
are considering purchasing the following KVM switches.  As mentioned 
previously, any feedback regarding these or other KVMs would be appreciated:

- APC AP5201
  - http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=AP5201
- Belkin F1DA108T
  - 
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=122885
- IOGEAR GCS1758 or ATEN CS-1758 (these appear to be the same hardware)
  - http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GCS1758
  - 
http://www.aten.com/products/productItem.php?pcid=20050103163647001&psid=20050107104913001&pid=20050224093143008

My personal preference is the APC because a) it's not a Belkin and b) 
the IOGEAR and ATEN KVMs require a USB keyboard and mouse but our 
existing rackmount keyboard/mouse combos have PS/2 interfaces.  Below 
you will find a detailed hardware/OS description of our current (broken) 
KVM setup.  If you need any more information, please request it.

Thank you very much,

Matthew Roth
InterMedia Marketing Solutions
Software Engineer and Systems Developer

============================================================

KVM Switch: Belkin OmniView PRO 8-Port (F1D108-OSD)
- 
http://www.belkin.com/support/download.asp?download=F1D108-OSD&lang=1&mode=
  - Interfaces: K: PS/2
                V: HDDB15 female
                M: PS/2

Keyboard/Mouse: Compaq Internal Keyboard with Trackball (185152-001)
- 
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/options/rackacces/cpqrakopt1.html
  - Interfaces: K: PS/2
                M: PS/2

Video: Compaq V710 17" Monitor (187896-001)
- http://www.ridgetechnologies.com/hardware/hardware/monitors.htm
  - Interfaces: V: HDDB15 male

Computer on Port 1: Dell PowerEdge 6850
- 
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_6850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
  - Interfaces: K: USB *
                V: HDDB15 female
                M: USB *
    * Both are connected to a single USB port via a PS/2-to-USB Y-adapter.
  - OS: Fedora Core 3 (Kernel: 2.6.12-1.1376_FC3smp x86_64)

Computer on Port 2: Dell PowerEdge 1850
- 
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_1850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
  - Interfaces: K: PS/2
                V: HDDB15 female
                M: PS/2
  - OS: Fedora Core 3 (Kernel: 2.6.12-1.1376_FC3smp x86_64)

Computer on Port 3: Dell PowerEdge 1850
- 
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_1850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
  - Interfaces: K: PS/2
                V: HDDB15 female
                M: PS/2
  - OS: Fedora Core 3 (Kernel: 2.6.12-1.1376_FC3smp x86_64)

Computer on Port 4: Dell PowerEdge 2850
- 
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_2850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
  - Interfaces: K: PS/2
                V: HDDB15 female
                M: PS/2
  - OS: SUSE 9.1 (Kernel: 2.6.4-52-smp x86_64)

Computer on Port 5: Dell PowerEdge 850
- 
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
  - Interfaces: K: PS/2
                V: HDDB15 female
                M: PS/2
  - OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Computer on Port 6: None

Computer on Port 7: None

Computer on Port 8: Compaq ProLiant ML750 - Rack Model
- http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/10633_na/10633_na.html
  - Interfaces: K: PS/2
                V: HDDB15 female
                M: PS/2
  - OS: Microsoft Windows Advanced Server 2000