Index
1. Hot and dusty environments
With its heat and dust resistance, the OpenBlockS can be placed anywhere, not just in the clean and airconditioned environment of the office or the server room. Under the office floor, in the junction box or in an outside cross-connect box, the OpenBlockS shows his unmatched toughness as a server.
Distributed network monitoring
In the junction box
To monitor and control a large network, servers must be placed in a wide range of places in the network infrastructure, be it between the office furniture, in the main distribution frame, or in a cross-connect box outside. A desktop server, with its large form factor, doesn't fit where it is necessary. This is where a small, simple and tough embedded system comes in.
Under the office floor
Offices that don't have a dedicated server room with filtered and cooled air put a big stress on conventional server hardware. Hot summer temperatures and dust shorten the life of mechanical parts.
These conditions call for a server design with low heat emissions, and free of moving parts like fan or HDD. Both the device itself and the power supply pack must be able to withstand these conditions.
Remote control server in a factory environment
The OpenBlockS can be used in rough hot and dusty environments like factory floors. It is well suited as embedded machine component for control and data logging.
2. Fast Open Source system creation
Boot loader, firmware and OS of the OpenBlockS are open source. All sources and specifications are available to our customers on the Web for free. In addition, we offer setup guides for a wide range of popular applications, and precompiled packages for easy installation.
This makes the OpenBlockS a one-stop solution for fast and easy creation of dedicated appliance servers.
Network access control (NAC)
Control access to your network and prevent unauthorized PCs like private laptops of employees from connecting to it.
VPN Server
Preload a dozen OpenBlockS with VPN software to create an appliance solution you can just plug into the remote network and instantly create a VPN.
3. Multifunctional network router
With Gigabit Ethernet ports, USB 2.0 ports, an internal CF card slot and serial ports (RS-232C), the OpenBlockS offers a wide selection of I/O ports. In combination with the right peripherals, the device can be used as a router or embedded appliance with a broad range of additional functionality. Check our installation guides and precompiled packages for ideas.
Router / firewall
Wireless network access point
With a WLAN USB stick, you can turn the OpenBlockS into a compact, durable and reliable wireless LAN access point that you can place anywhere.
Router / firewall for copper line network
With its two Ethernet ports, you can use the OpenBlockS as highly customizable router hardware with all desired network functionality like DHCP server, firewall, and whatever advanced network services you wish to install.
Other suggested Open Source software
| Purpose | Software | Offered by | Filename |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private certification authority (CA) | OpenCA | sourceforge.net OpenCA | openca-0.9.3-rc1.tar.gz |
| PGP key storage | OpenPKSD | Openpksd Package Archives | openpksd-dist-0.2.8.tar.gz |
| Spam filter | spamassassin | SpamAssassin | Mail-SpamAssassin-3.2.0.tar.bz2 |
| Source code management | cvs | Offered as precompiled package | cvs-1.11.22.tar.bz2 |
| subversion | Tigris.org | subversion-1.4.3.tar.bz2 | |
| Video streaming, such as from a usb camera | webcam etc. | included in xawtv | |
| IP telephony | asterisk | http://www.asterisk.org/ | |
| RFID server | |||
Emergency response server with smoke and heat detectors
For home automation, disaster response systems or facility management, data from sensors and security cameras must be collected by a reliable embedded device that can be customized for the purpose. The OpenBlockS is just the tool for the job.
Its high maintenance-free design ensures that you can place the unit near your sensor systems without worries about servicing or malfunctions. With its compact size, it fits into cable trays or wall insulation.
4. Compact embedded system
The compact size of the OpenBlockS allows you to fit the unit into any kind of small space. Need a small terminal? Or what about a time server?
Thin client
Even though the OpenBlockS is designed to work completely as a headless device, for some purposes it is helpful to have a keyboard and a display, such as for native development. With a USB graphics adapter, monitor, keyboard and mouse, you can turn the OpenBlockS into a desktop "PC".
Compact time server
Networks that are connected to the Internet can retrieve their time from many available time servers. But when a network is closed for security reasons, this is not an option. Instead, you can use a GPS or radio time module in combination with the OpenBlockS to create a small, reliable time server that runs ntpd reliably around the clock.
5. Maintenance-free high uptime server
Devices that run your essential network services, like DNS, authentication, system monitoring and similar, need absolutely reliable hardware, especially when just seconds of network downtime cost big money. With the OpenBlockS, you get a reliable, configurable hardware workhorse that will keeps many large networks of our customers going, and your network too.
Zero downtime authentication server
One of the basic network services that should never break down is user and device authentication. Whether as a gateway to your user database, or a full LDAP or radius server, the OpenBlockS won't let you down.
High uptime system monitoring
System monitoring device
A core job of every system administrator is to make sure all systems and services are up and running. Armed with a network and alive monitoring suite like nagios, the OpenBlockS is your untiring watchdog that will bark as soon as any of your systems does not act like it should.
And since your watchdog should be the one system that never goes down, only trust a device that is engineered for reliability, like the OpenBlockS
.
Alive monitoring of network segments by ping
Sometimes, the simple tools are best. With the right automatization tool, like Plat'Home's KANSHI, regular pings to all devices in your network are a quick and simple way to check for systems that don't respond. Together with customizable message notifications, you can concentrate on solving the problem while user information is handled by the system.
6. Low total cost of ownership
For services like system monitoring, where the main cost factor is lost money during system downtime, the reliability of the OpenBlockS is a real money saver. Combine this with low operational cost thanks to low energy consumption and maintenance-free operation, and you'll understand why our customers praise the OpenBlockS for its low total cost of ownership.
Vending machine monitoring server
Networked devices have become ubiquitous. Be it security cameras, announcement displays or vending machines, more and more devices get connected to create an ever-growing network infrastructure around us. These vast networks need reliable data transmitters and monitoring devices. Placed at the local network node, the OpenBlockS can aggregate and transmit data, and check devices for problems and malfunctions.
Network inspection system
IP network inspection and monitoring
To ensure maximum performance of IP networks, they must be constantly monitored for packet loss, delays, fluctuations, overlap, connection loss and other hazards.
For this application the OpenBlockS is the hardware of choice at several major telecommunications companies.
Packet inspection on Gigabit Ethernet
The OpenBlockS is ready for Gigabit Ethernet. It can handle the high transmission speeds, and protocol innovations like jumbo frames and tagged VLAN.
The firmware is prepared for IPv6, and already serves reliably in IPv6 production networks.
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