Editing KVM switch (section)

====Implementation====

In comparison to conventional methods of remote administration (for example [[Out-of-band management|in-band]] [[Virtual Network Computing]] or [[Terminal Services]]), a KVM switch has the advantage that it doesn't depend on a software component running on the remote computer, thus allowing remote interaction with base level [[BIOS]] settings and monitoring of the entire booting process before, during, and after the operating system loads. Modern KVM over IP appliances or switches typically use at least 128-bit data encryption securing the KVM configuration over a WAN or LAN (using [[Secure Sockets Layer|SSL]]).

KVM over IP extenders can be implemented in different ways. With regards to video, [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]] KVM over IP cards use a form of [[screen scraping]] where the PCI [[bus master]] KVM over IP card would access and copy out the screen directly from the graphics memory buffer, and as a result it must know which graphics chip it is working with, and what graphics mode this chip is currently in so that the contents of the buffer can be interpreted correctly as picture data. Newer techniques in [[OPMA]] management subsystem cards and other implementations get the video data directly using the [[Digital Visual Interface|DVI]] bus. Implementations can emulate either [[PS/2 connector|PS/2]] or [[USB]] based keyboards and mice. An embedded [[Virtual Network Computing|VNC]] server is typically used for the video protocol in [[Intelligent Platform Management Interface|IPMI]] and [[Intel Active Management Technology|Intel AMT]] implementations.