PiKVM is a feature-rich, production grade, open-source, Raspberry Pi based KVM over IP device.
It will help you to manage servers or workstations remotely, whatever the state of the operating system or whether one is installed.
PiKVM allows you to turn on/off or restart your computer, configure the UEFI/BIOS, and even reinstall the OS using the Virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive. You can use your remote keyboard and mouse or PiKVM can simulate a keyboard, mouse, and a monitor, which are then presented in a web browser as if you were working on a remote system directly. It’s a true hardware-level access with no dependency on any remote ports, protocols or services!
- HDMI Full HD capture based on the TC358743 chip (extra low latency ~100ms and many features like compression control).
- OTG Keyboard & mouse; Mass Storage Drive emulation.
- Ability to simulate "removal and insertion" for USB.
- Onboard ATX power control.
- Onboard fan controller.
- A real-time clock.
- RJ-45 and USB serial console port (to manage PiKVM OS or to connect with the server).
- No need for soldering or breadboarding. It's a ready-made, reliable board which you can use yourself or provide to your clients.
- Continued use of PiKVM OS - all the software will be fully open.
Fully-featured and modern IP-KVM
- Easy to build - A ready-to-use OS images and friendly build environment. The hardware can be made in half an hour and without soldering.
- Very low video latency - ~100 milliseconds of video latency. This is the smallest delay of all existing solutions.
- Extra lightweight Web UI and VNC - No weird proprietary clients. No ugly applets. Just use your favorite browser to connect to the PiKVM. No flash plugins either! Ah, and VNC is also supported.
- Keyboard & mouse - Mouse usage works directly in the browser. The keyboard emulator supports displaying the state of the keyboard LEDs.
- Mass Storage Drive - On the Raspberry Pi 4 and ZeroW, PiKVM can emulate a virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive. A live image can be uploaded to boot the attached server.
- ATX power management - With a very simple circuit that can be assembled on a breadboard, the power button of the attached server can be controlled using the ATX button headers on the motherboard.
- Security - PiKVM can be opened to the Internet and no one will get access without the authorization. SSL is used to protect traffic from being intercepted by third parties.
- Local monitoring - PiKVM monitors the health of the Raspberry Pi board and will warn you if it's too hot or is not receiving enough power.
- GPIO management - You can control GPIO and USB relays via the web interface. The extensible interface allows you to make anything out of it.
Production-ready
- Linux-based embedded OS - The PiKVM OS is based on Arch Linux ARM and can be customized for any needs. Thousands of pre-built binary packages are at your service and can be updated with a single command!
- Read-only filesystem - By default the OS runs in read-only mode, as an embedded system should. This prevents damage to the memory card due to a sudden power outage.
- VNC server - The managed server and its BIOS can be accessed using a regular VNC client which supports JPEG compression.
- IPMI BMC/SoL and Redfish - Use ipmitool, ipmiutil or any existing network infrastructure that supports IPMI to manage the server's power and access to serial port via LAN. Redfish and redfishtool supported too.
- Wake-on-LAN - PiKVM can be configured to power up a managed server using WoL. This will be available in the Web menu.
- Extensible authorization methods - Multiple PiKVMs can be configured to use a common authorization service. PAM and its rich authorization mechanisms can also be used to integrate PiKVM into your existing authentication infrastructure.
- Macro scripts - If repetitive actions must be performed on the attached server (or on several different servers), a macro can be recorded with keyboard & mouse actions and can be played back multiple times.
Open Source
- Open & free - PiKVM is Free and Open Source Software released under the GPLv3.
- Community & support - PiKVM has a large community. Join the Discord chat if you have any questions.
- Extensible - PiKVM was designed as a set of microservices with a plug-in architecture. It's very easy to modify and maintain.
- Comprehensive API - Everything that can be done via the user interface can also be done via a powerful HTTP API.
- Know-how - PiKVM created thei very own MJPG video server written in C with multi-threading support and GPU video encoding - the fastest streaming solution available to provide the best video quality for PiKVM. They also tested a lot of hardware configurations so that you can be sure devices you assemble will work reliably.
PiKVM started a few years ago as a small pet project to develop a Do-It-Yourself KVM over IP. They wanted it inexpensive and better than existing commercial units. To reach this goal, they gathered a large community of IT experts with a lot of experience in DIY solutions, and used their ideas, suggestions and feedback to create the first PiKVM HAT for Raspberry Pi. It successfully transformed Raspberry Pi into a reliable and convenient KVM over IP.