Lantronix SecureLinx Spider Review: Tiny, powerful IP KVM

In Use

Once you know the device's IP address, it is easy to access. Both IE and Mozilla worked fine: simply go to the device’s IP address using either a secure (https://) or insecure (http://) connection. If you choose to use the secure https option, you may have to tweak the security options in your browser, as neither Microsoft nor Mozilla recognized the security certificate used by Lantronix (SLS). Figure 6 is the message presented by Mozilla. IE presents similar warnings.

Figure 6: The security warning about an invalid certificate

Clicking OK for the numerous security warnings allows you to access the device, and these warnings can be eliminated by properly configuring your browser as directed. You can also avoid all these security warning by accessing the device using the less secure http connection. Upon access, the device immediately prompts you to change the default password—a good security option.

The menu itself is pretty clean and straightforward (Figure 7), but don’t let that fool you. The configurable options are considerable; there are 23 different submenus for adjusting parameters and viewing logs and statistics.

Figure 7: The main screen of the Spider

With the host server powered on, the Spider should be accessible via a browser. Simply log in, and you’re presented with the above GUI. You’ll see a picture of the host desktop, and can now interact with that machine. From the main window, selecting Click to open (or choosing Remote Control, KVM Console) will launch the desktop of your host server.  Lantronix uses a Java applet for displaying the remote desktop; you may receive a security warning such as Figure 8 as your workstation loads the applet.

Figure 8: A warning about the Java Applet's certificate

Clicking Run brings up the SLS Remote Console, which essentially places you at the desktop of the target server, equivalent to being at a keyboard, mouse, and monitor physically connected. You may need to adjust the resolution on the host desktop to match the machine you’re using, to optimize the display.

For example, my server desktop is set at 1280x1024, but my laptop runs at 1024x768. Via the SLS Remote Console, you can easily change the resolution on the server to whatever setting you prefer. I find having to use the side and bottom scroll boxes to scroll up/down and left/right tedious, so it was handy to be able to adjust the server’s resolution.