Air Console Reviews

[Patrick McHenry]

Hi,

Has anyone used the Air Console for consoling into devices via wireless?

http://www.get-console.com/airconsole/ 

I was thinking of getting one so I can configure through the console using my ipad wirelssly.

Thank you.

[jjcollaguazo]

Hi Mate,

Actually bought one of this recently and from all my test it look like a great option when working in a Datacentre. i actually have it setup with putty, i've had issues with SecureCRT, i can only see the output, but can't send data.

i've emailed Airconsole, but their support is hasn't gotten back to me in 3 days, so i'm not holding my breath.

I've got it working on Windows 8 (x64), the setup was quite straight forward, but for some reason the com0com GUI setup wasn't visible so i had to use command prompt to relabel my virtual ports.

Cheers,

James

[simon]

Hi James, I could swear i replied to you, but when i searched the outbox there was none

Anyway - with iPad/iPhone we havent had any issues, but the Windows driver for Airconsole posted on our site is having issues with software flow control. If the serial port you are connecting to needs flow control then (unfortunately) you have to kick it off by sending a CTRL-Q. We should be posting a fixed driver in the next week or so.

If you are having issues with Airconsole on PC connecting to a cisco console port that has no flow control enabled then can you please send me the SecureCRT .ini file that you use for launching the Airconsole connection so i can replicate. Also can you confirm that it works ok on Windows 8 with PuTTY (which is what we did most of the testing with).

Thanks

Simon Hope - Airconsole developer

[jjcollaguazo]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for letting me know about CTRL-Q that actually fixed the issues. i also noticed that by default SecureCRT Flow Control option RTS/CTS is ticked and works fine with a standard console cable connection, but caused issues with Airconsole.

I can now confirm putty and SecureCRT works perfectly on Windows 8 (x64).

Cheers,

James

[robinson]

All,

     I have been an AIRconsole user for 2 years, I own a Standard and an XL version. This device is so simple, easy to use and a must have for any network engineering consultant. No need to sit in that cold data center, no need to patch your console cable to a near by office. Bluetooth, wifi, and bridging makes this a true networking swiss army knife.

[roger perkin]

I use mine virtually every day and it has never missed a beat since I got it over year ago.

I have the XL variant and the battery will go all day. 

I connect via bluetooth and have disabled the wireless to save battery life. 

Distance wise it will go at least 30 M in good conditions 

http://www.rogerperkin.co.uk/network-tools/airconsole-2-0-bluetooth-console-cable/

Roger

[Simen Ringstad]

That looks like a sweet gadget, Patrick!

I so tired of usb-dongles with faulty drivers.

[Patrick McHenry]

Simen -

Agreed - I was wondering if the Air-console has the ability to also act as a client to an existing wireless network. Then, we could access the console through the wireless. Do you follow?

For instance;

     If somehow the Air-console was attached to the wireless at a remote site and had an address that we could console into.

This would be real handy for deploying/configuring spare switches at remote sites before being attached to the network -  in addition to a cool solution for console access from an iPad.

[simon]

Hi Patrick,

I think what you are referring to is AP Client mode for Airconsole where you could put in say the existing WIFI preshared key and have it join an existing wifi network as a DHCP client. We actually took that function out of the v1.0 firmware as it was too flakey, but definately something we want to add back in. Its on the roadmap.

That and making a big octopus USB-to-8 Cisco RJ45 Console port cable that you can plug into Airconsole to make it into an 8 port terminal server (like the ol cisco 2509 from 10 years ago..)

Thanks for your interest

Simon Hope

[Alexei Monastyrnyi]

Hi Simon,

Just bought myself one! :-)

Staying on the subject of acting as a simple terminal server. It would be a very handy feature, just to be able to telnet into arbitrary TCP port of AirConsole to get the serial connection. I have tried SecureCRT raw telnet option and it doesn't work. I maybe missing something. USB to Serial octopus can wait. :-)

Cheers

A.

[Patrick McHenry]

I bought one as well a couple of weeks ago. Configured a new 2911 with it via my ipad. Pretty nifty device.

Hey Simon - do you think there might be support for 802.1x auth for the AP client mode in the future?

Thanks

[simon]

If anyone still sees this thread the Airconsole firmware 2.xx now does the AP Client feature so it can join an existing WIFI network as well as concurrently acting as an AP for its own SSID.

[Marvin Rhoads]

Thanks for the update, Simon.

One of these is on my wish list. :)

[Patrick McHenry]

Thanks for the update - I'll have to hit my Boss up for some at remote sites now.