Patent ID: 7689675

Claim:
In a console server having a user interface and one or more ports, a method of out-of-band access to devices connected to the ports for control and configuration of the devices, the method comprising: providing a plurality of applications for execution on the console server, wherein the applications are for communicating with devices connected to the console server and wherein the plurality of applications include a first and a second application, wherein the first application is used by the console server to communicate with a first device when the first device is executing a first operating system and the second application is used by the console server to communicate with the first device when the first device is executing a second operating system; recognizing a device communicatively connected to one of the ports, wherein recognizing includes: recording in a port log information received from the device through a port on the console server that is connected to a console port of the device, wherein the console port is handled by the operating system of the device; and executing instructions that read the information in the port log and determine an operating system that is running on the device as a result of processing the information in the port log; automatically selecting an application from the plurality of applications as a function of the operating system of the recognized device, wherein automatically selecting an application includes selecting the first application when the console server determines that the operating system of the recognized device is the first operating system and selecting the second application when the console server determines that the operating system of the recognized device is the second operating system; and communicating with the operating system of the recognized device using the selected application.