KVM Key Stroke Combination for IBM BladeCenter
January 3rd, 2009 | 
Author: Anyone who runs their Virtual Infrastructure on an IBM BladeCenter has wondered if there is a key stroke combination to switch the keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) focus between Blades. For that matter, if you run any applications or services on IBM Blades you’ve either walked into the data center and pushed the buttons directly on the Blades or you’ve struggled with the remote Java web interface via the Management Module (MM or AMM) when you need direct KVM access to your servers. For those that don’t already know, there is a keyboard shortcut.
Credit goes to Aaron Delp’s post IBM BladeCenter Keyboard Lock Up for informing me on the key strokes, and now I am making sure I have a post to reference here at VM /ETC too. I have searched for this information for years, and for some reason have never found an answer.
Aaron’s post links to an IBM article about a resolution for the BladeCenter keyboard locking up – which really explains the keyboard shortcut process. The rest of this post is a cut and paste from the IBM article.
Keyboard appears to lock up – IBM BladeCenter
The BladeCenter has a Keyboard/Video/Monitor (KVM) switch built in to MM’s and AMM’s. To switch the keyboard, mouse, and monitor between blade servers, press the following key stroke combination
NumLk, NumLk, <blade server number>, Enter from the keyboard attached to the AMM:
Where <blade server number> is the number of the blade server bay where the blade server is installed.
For example, to select the blade server in bay 2, press the NumLk key twice, press the number 2,
and then press the Enter key.There is currently no time out period programmed. Once the process is started by pressing the NumLk key twice, the AMM waits for a blade bay number to be selected followed by the Enter key before the keyboard is returned to normal function.
If the user does not know about this KVM feature, it will appear that the keyboard is locked after just hitting the NumLk key twice.
Once the NumLk key has been pressed twice, the MM will wait for the Enter key to be pressed to terminate this sequence. If a keyboard/mouse/video select button on one of the other blades in the chassis is pressed, the video display and mouse will be switched to that blade. However, the keyboard will remain in this “locked state” until the Enter key is pressed. Unplugging the keyboard from the MM and reinserting it into either the MM or the USB connector, on the media tray, also have no effect. The MM is waiting for the Enter key to terminate this state.
Related Posts
Posted in 
Tags: -
http://www.bladevault.info Aaron Delp
-
http://www.bladevault.info Aaron Delp
