JetKVM is much like nanoKVM but a slightly polised version.
What is JetKVM?
JetKVM is a high-performance, open-source KVM over IP (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) solution designed for efficient remote management of computers, servers, and workstations. Whether you’re dealing with boot failures, installing a new operating system, adjusting BIOS settings, or simply taking control of a machine from afar, JetKVM provides the tools to get it done effectively.
As far as I know, these Jets are not available for retail yet, but can be bought via their kickstarter.
Link to the source code: https://github.com/jetkvm/kvm
Link to their website: https://jetkvm.com/
Link to their kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jetkvm/
Picture of a JetKVM mounted in a homelab, credits to Jeff Gerling.
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I wish it was possible to connect it to VGA servers to 🙁
They’re making a KVM targeted at data centers that doesn’t support VGA?
Yeah it kind of surprised me too. HDMI and USBC is good for modern servers, but we have plenty of 15-year-old servers in production and even a lot of new servers still use VGA.
Yeah VGA is still pretty much gold standard for supportability in my experience. It’s like a console port with baud rate settings, worst case scenario those two should always work.
Cant you just use a dongle?
Yes, I’ll have to buy a 10/15€ cheap Chinese adapter.
Yes they could also redesign the whole product for a few ppl who will plug it into an old PC that still uses vga or an old server that has no IPMI.
You realise how big the VGA connector is relative to the product?
Dude, relax!
It is not just public but Foss as well. It is under the GPLv2 which is even a copyleft license.
Sorry if this question is easily answerable by reading and I’m just missing it. But I genuinely don’t really understand what this product does or what its use case is. Is it a usb stick that gives you kvm access to a computer from a remote location? Like call up someone in another building ‘hey plug the jet into tower X so I can remote in?’ In which case how is this better/worse/just different from a software solution like Barrier? Sorry if I’m being borderline deliberately obtuse but the website gives no info on the home page at all.
Edit: I think I understand better, digging into it more. But if anyone has an ELI5 I would greatly appreciate it.
If I understand correctly, it’s kinda like an add-on IPMI, in the sense that it doesn’t rely on the target computer’s OS to be running to work.
ELI5
Remote KVM lets you access the machine as if you’re in front of it, including pre-boot / BIOS / BSoD’s / Etc (when software isn’t / can’t run) because the device (usually) connects to the computer’s USB/VGA port.
Like call up someone in another building ‘hey plug the jet into tower X so I can remote in?’
The whole idea is you don’t need anyone local. You leave it plugged in 24/7 so that’s it’s accessible remotely, as needed.
@Lemjukes @Sunny It’s a KVM that you access over IP. It’s physically plugged into a machine’s HDMI and USB ports so, unlike software solutions, it can be used to access the BIOS/UEFI and system functions prior to hitting the desktop (like login managers and recovery consoles), and allows you to boot other operating systems and the like. It can also act as a PXE host for loading disk images, issue Wake On LAN to its connected machine, and likely a bunch of other convenience functions.
Ooooooh! Ok that’s really cool. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain that!
As for food functionality it is very comparable to software remote control of a computer. There are 3 key features that stand out:
- It does not rely on the target machine being booted into the OS. This means you can access it even if it crashes or locks up.
- It can “push” the power button on the machine. This requires an accessory that plugs into the motherboard. So you can force a machine off or cold boot a system.
- You can mount a boot ISO. This is like having a bootable flash drive in the target machine so you can install an OS remotely.
Edit: Because this is essentially full access to the machine as if you where physically at it, it should be considered a security risk. Not saying that you need to be scared of it, but you should be aware of the risk and protect it from unauthorized access.
ELI5:
It lets you remotely control a computer.
It’s different (arguably better) than remote connection software because it is a separate device that basically just forwards your keyboard & mouse inputs. This means that you can control the remote device even if it’s powered off or not able to boot properly, and you can configure the BIOS remotely too.
You could call someone on-site to connect the KVM to a server, but KVMs, while expensive by regular person standards, are pretty cheap as enterprise hardware goes. So some organizations just keep separate KVMs plugged into all critical hardware all the time.
Worth noting here that KVMs are potentially a quite high security risk.
Their website is probably light on details because “KVM” is fairly common industry parlance. If you normally work with this stuff then just hearing those 3 letters tells you most of what you need to know.
Edit: high, not Hugh
Worth noting here that KVMs are potentially a quite Hugh security risk.
You can put them behind a VPN and they should be relatively secure. I definitely wouldn’t expose it on the web directly, however.
Sure, as long as the VPN itself is secure. Strong passwords/keys, etc. A VPN itself can be a potential security risk, as if it’s compromised an attacker can tunnel traffic directly into a network straight past a firewall.
The risks can definitely be mitigated, but if someone’s asking for an ELI5 on KVMs, then it may be best to stay away until they have a better understanding of IT infrastructure altogether.
I have a similar project called PiKVM. I can remotely turn on my computer from a full shutdown, navigate the BIOS to select an OS, and log in, after which I typically switch to a software-based Remote Desktop which is more performant. But you can’t power on a computer and navigate a BIOS with a software solution.
For me, they’re also useful because a lot of my jobs don’t allow remote software to be installed on laptops, so I use something like this to be able to remote in still.
KVM also allows access if the machine isn’t booted up, so like mounting remote recovery images, re-installing an OS, and changing BIOS settings and that kind of thing.
I love this. I have a box I’ve been wanting to move to a family members place because they have fiber and I don’t. They’re heavy users of the plex server I have on there, so they’re happy to host it, but if I ever had issues around anything boot related I’d be down until I could physically get there.
This would also be awesome for troubleshooting some RasPi stuff where I kind of want the DE every now and then but mostly let it run headless.
Yeah it’s great for that kind of thing!
Enterprise servers often have it built in, but for everything else this is priced really well.
What sort of open source
Gpl Fuck yeah. Thats awsome
You lost me at a touchscreen
Primary use case is through terminal/web interface.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the touchscreen was a similar cost to a non-touchscreen at that size and they figured “might as well”.
It’s a touchscreen for a smart watch that they reused to save money. Would have been more expensive to design a custom screen when something like this already exists
Perfect use case
Oh no, what a dealbreaker
Backed this on Kickstarter. Seems honestly too good to be true, so I am antsy to get my hands on it.
I backed it as well. Got my shipping notice a week ago and am looking forward to playing with it.
Poor souls
Why? At worst I’m out a few bucks but I really do expect them to show up. Jeff Gerling has already been playing with them.
Yeah this is what sold me as well.
What’s your backer number? I filled in the survey right as they sent out the link to it and still nothing despite being one of the first 500 people to back this project
I’m popping by to let you know that I received mine today. I won’t have time to play with them until tonight but I did unbox one and they look just as advertised.
- I happened to be in my email when the survey link came through so I had it filled out within 2-3 minutes. BTW I goofed, I got the “reward shipped” email two days ago and not last week. So it’s with China shipping but hasn’t hit a domestic carrier yet.
Did you receive it? How is it?
Me and a coworker got a couple. Going to try to use these on a couple of Dell machines without idracs at work.
Did you receive it? How is it?
It’s quite cool and works like a charm.
My only beef (and it’s a small thing) with the thing is the virtual media. It has the ability to create a virtual CD from an ISO on its local storage. It works great but because the network interface is only 100mbit it does take FOREVER to load something like a 4gb Debian iso into its local storage. So it’s better to do a smaller boot iso and do a network install if you want to use it that way. I’m using NetBoot.xyz. But like I said other than that it’s great. The build quality is astounding. It’s a lot heavier than you think it’s gonna be, which is a very good thing.
We have some machines at work that either aren’t enterprise level machines ( eg. we have a rack mounted Mac Studio) or weren’t ordered with iDRACs (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller). That’s Dell’s version of basically what this thing does. When they start selling this in bulk, like not a kickstarter, we’re going to buy like 5 or so and 3D print a rack mount from Jeff Geerling. Maybe even put a RPi in there to act like a serial terminal server for some of our lab equipment.
These guys seriously delivered on this piece of tech and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Veeeery nice! I want one! (Well…maybe 2, or 3, or… 😁)
Edit: Do you know about other KVM maybe under those 69$ without screen? Personally I wouldn’t need it.
There’s the nanokvm, similar idea but cheaper. I have one and it’s okay but a bit sore, I’m hoping the jet is faster
Their FAQ says that they haven’t tested this with KVM switches but that it should work. PiKVM doesn’t always work well with switches, hoping this will be better. Because off-the-shelf IPKVM switches all seem rubbish, overpriced or both.
Would you need one of these per physical server, or can they connect to multiple ?
It’s for one , but you can use a normal kvm that supports switching with the keyboard
I don’t know if the JetKVM supports it, but PiKVM and BliKVM support adding a multi-port KVM switch to it (see: https://docs.pikvm.org/multiport/).
It’s a bit finicky depending on the device you use (some will require custom cables).
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Aw neat! Thanks for sharing 😊
Well I know why it opened up today: H264 patents expired
Wow, install Tailscale or Wireguard and you’ve got a killer remote support solution.
Weird people would downvote this. I usually don’t care (still don’t, lol) but someone downvoted the idea of installing a mesh VPN on this KVM, yet it’s already been done.
Unless it doesn’t boot.
If the machine doesn’t boot then you can use this to access the bios and boot a recovery environment of your choice remotely using pxeboot.
Unless what doesn’t boot, the KVM? Isn’t the point that this should work even if the host is not working?
As long as the host posts it should work. If it’s a hardware issue then it won’t help though.
No, the OS that would be running Tailscale or Wireguard. If the OS doesn’t boot, those remote access options don’t work, which is where a KVM comes in handy, rather than having to hook up a monitor and keyboard.
That would be the KVM OS.
Tailscale/Wireguard are installed on the KVM itself, not the server you are trying to access. It’s just a Linux machine after all.
But can it run it though? Does it have enough power?
Ah, now I understand, thank you.
Which is why adding Tailscale to this KVM is a killer solution
Excellent, thanks for the link!
No mention of what their actual target hardware platform is, so must be custom. Wonder what solutions their newly opened code can run on. Doesn’t look like ESP code.
Yes, it’s the OS for their custom KVM board. Released open source so it can be inspected or altered by the users of their board
What is an “actual target hardware platform”?
I don’t exactly know what you mean but here is the OS and CPU they use.
- Operating System: Linux 5.10 with Buildroot
- CPU: RockChip RV1106G3, Cortex A7 1.0GHz, H264 & H265 hardware encoder
Are you looking for the reference manual?
If you’re open sourcing something built to be deployed on an embedded device as pictured, there is a target platform (ARM, Arduino…etc) or reference board. They don’t mention specifically what that is, so it’s a custom board based on a RockChip. You wouldn’t be able to just take this and flash it to a board that doesn’t expect their customizations, is the point.
Is there a link to the code? I know I could probably search for it, but if you’re going post about the code being public you could at least include a link to it.
you could at least
Note: here “it would be nice if” is more polite, since the least one could have done is always
Ah my bad! Had originally added it but it got overwritte by the image url - whops! Added it now.
Source code: https://github.com/jetkvm/kvm
