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Phil Mayers | 14 May 18:02

micro-linux servers powered over ethernet?

All,

We've got a possible application for a tiny linux server. The form 
factor would be small, USB-key sized, and they'd need to have an 
ethernet port and draw their power from a PoE socket.

(The specific application is plugging them into old ethernet switches, 
and the devices would emit LLDP packets, thus allowing us to 
topology-discover our network)

Anyone know of such a thing?
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Tom "spot" Callaway | 14 May 18:25
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Re: micro-linux servers powered over ethernet?

On Wed, 2008-05-14 at 17:03 +0100, Phil Mayers wrote:
> All,
> 
> We've got a possible application for a tiny linux server. The form 
> factor would be small, USB-key sized, and they'd need to have an 
> ethernet port and draw their power from a PoE socket.
> 
> (The specific application is plugging them into old ethernet switches, 
> and the devices would emit LLDP packets, thus allowing us to 
> topology-discover our network)
> 
> Anyone know of such a thing?

The closest thing I am aware of is:

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5081452397.html

~spot
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Rob Funk | 14 May 18:30
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Re: micro-linux servers powered over ethernet?

Phil Mayers wrote:
> We've got a possible application for a tiny linux server. The form
> factor would be small, USB-key sized, and they'd need to have an
> ethernet port and draw their power from a PoE socket.
>
> (The specific application is plugging them into old ethernet switches,
> and the devices would emit LLDP packets, thus allowing us to
> topology-discover our network)

Are you talking about old ethernet switches *known* to support PoE?
Because in the general case you can't assume that PoE is there, even in 
new ones, but especially old ones.

--

-- 
==============================|   "A microscope locked in on one point
 Rob Funk <rfunk <at> funknet.net> |Never sees what kind of room that it's in"
 http://www.funknet.net/rfunk |    -- Chris Mars, "Stuck in Rewind"
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Karsten M. Self | 14 May 20:58
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Re: micro-linux servers powered over ethernet?

on Wed, May 14, 2008 at 05:03:56PM +0100, Phil Mayers (p.mayers <at> imperial.ac.uk) wrote:
> All,
> 
> We've got a possible application for a tiny linux server. The form 
> factor would be small, USB-key sized, and they'd need to have an 
> ethernet port and draw their power from a PoE socket.
> 
> (The specific application is plugging them into old ethernet switches, 
> and the devices would emit LLDP packets, thus allowing us to 
> topology-discover our network)
> 
> Anyone know of such a thing?

For size, probably Gumstix:

    http://www.gumstix.com/

I don't know about PoE, it's not discussed in anything I can find on the
product.  I've got grand schemes to have a cluster of these puppies with
some sort of low-voltage bus serving them rather than a companion
cluster of wall-warts.

Otherwise you're looking at 3"-4" form-factors for anything that turns
up in a search on "SBC (PoE|power over ethernet)".

Peace.

--

-- 
Karsten M. Self <karsten <at> linuxmafia.com>        http://linuxmafia.com/~karsten
    Ceterum censeo, Caldera delenda est.
(Continue reading)

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Tony Godshall | 15 May 19:46

Re: micro-linux servers powered over ethernet?

On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 9:03 AM, Phil Mayers <p.mayers <at> imperial.ac.uk> wrote:
> All,
>
> We've got a possible application for a tiny linux server. The form
> factor would be small, USB-key sized, and they'd need to have an
> ethernet port and draw their power from a PoE socket.
>
> (The specific application is plugging them into old ethernet switches,
> and the devices would emit LLDP packets, thus allowing us to
> topology-discover our network)
>
> Anyone know of such a thing?

Some of the AlamedaWireless guys like
Mikrotik Routerboards (to put them on
top of a pole on top of a roof).  This one
uses Debian as the reference Linux OS:

http://www.routerboard.com/rb500.html

The lower end ones run OpenWRT well,
too, but you probably won't be running
Apache etc. on that kind of Linux distro.

Not as small as a gumstix etc. but
multiple integrated ethernet and miniPCI
(for wifi etc)

--

-- 
Best Regards.
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