Out-of-band infrastructure
Encyclopedia
The concept of out-of-band infrastructure (OOBI) has been used throughout the telecom industry for voice communication since the mid-1950s. Having a critical requirement to always provide dial-tone for health and safety reasons, the telecom industry created elaborate mechanisms which allowed quick service restoration using alternative communication pathways which were physically and logically separate from the voice traffic itself. This early concept of a distinct 'control path' is considered the foundation of out-of-band infrastructures and simply put, refers to the ability to establish distinct remedial control paths adjacent to production communications pathways.
Out-of-band, indiciating that the control signals are sent separately from the data, is in contrast to in-band signalling where the control is sent as special forms of data communications. An example of in-band signalling would be Escape sequence
coding.
is the adaptation of OOBI for the management of computer servers
and data networking hardware, typically over Ethernet
and cost-effective wide area network
s.
Out-of-band, indiciating that the control signals are sent separately from the data, is in contrast to in-band signalling where the control is sent as special forms of data communications. An example of in-band signalling would be Escape sequence
Escape sequence
An escape sequence is a series of characters used to change the state of computers and their attached peripheral devices. These are also known as control sequences, reflecting their use in device control. Some control sequences are special characters that always have the same meaning...
coding.
Computer systems management
Out-of-band managementOut-of-band management
In computing, out-of-band management involves the use of a dedicated management channel for device maintenance...
is the adaptation of OOBI for the management of computer servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
and data networking hardware, typically over Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
and cost-effective wide area network
Wide area network
A wide area network is a telecommunication network that covers a broad area . Business and government entities utilize WANs to relay data among employees, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations...
s.