Old Bomgar B200 (was Network Streaming) Teardown

Teardown

Teardown

Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.

User-Contributed Guide

User-Contributed Guide

This guide is not managed by iFixit staff.

  • Add Note x

I bought this machine used on E-bay, hoping for a bargain (the low-end B100 is normally $2000, I believe the B200 is around $8-10,000) What I found was that used Bomgar machines are likely to be unusable.

(Which is probably why you rarely see them on Ebay.)

This also means that when you buy this machine new, it has zero resale value.

Tools
first image

Add Note Edit Step 1 — Old Bomgar B200 (was Network Streaming) Teardown  ¶ 

  • You will need a special set of security hex-bit screw-driver tips to get the cover off this baby. (I think I got mine at Microcenter, but I've seen them elsewhere for under $10 for 32 bits.)

  • There are a number of these screws on the sides, and back. Then the top slides back and up & away.

  • We are looking at the marketing side of the box. Its in a 1U format to be rack-mounted.

first image

Add Note Edit Step 2  ¶ 

  • Here is a close-up of the ports on the front. You usually hook this up inside your company firewall.

  • I did not see the console port documented. It uses a RJ-45 connector (more properly called an 8P8C connector.) I don't know what the pin-out on it is, but as you'll see, its connected to the serial port.

  • In background, you can see the huge fan which blows across the motherboard. I think this is the one making most of the noise.

first image

Add Note Edit Step 3  ¶ 

  • Walking around to the back of the box, you'll notice that inside the Bomgar is just a regular PC motherboard with its back panel jacks buried behind the back of the enclosing box.

  • Its an MSI MS-7005 Ver. 2 motherboard, phoenix D888 BIOS, 256MB PC2700 RAM, w/ a 40GB WD drive, and a MPW-6200F 185 watt power supply.

  • The HDD is dated July 2004, so this box is six years old. I'm sure they are using more up to date hardware now.

first image

Add Note Edit Step 4  ¶ 

  • A better look at the motherboard.

first image

Add Note Edit Step 5  ¶ 

  • Here is the power supply. Its a slim one to fit in the 1U box.

  • It has its own fan. Along with the CPU fan, and four fans up front by the HDD, and a big honking fan blowing across the motherboard, this thing will never overheat. On the other hand, it puts out a prodigious amount of noise when turned on. You would not want to have this in an office or home. Into the closet!

first image

Add Note Edit Step 6  ¶ 

  • You can see two of the four fans up front in this photo.

first image

Add Note Edit Step 7  ¶ 

  • 256 MB of PC2700 memory.

first image

Add Note Edit Step 8  ¶ 

  • Now we can see the hidden ports from motherboard better. You can see how the ethernet cable is brought around front, and likewise the serial port.

  • The video connector actually works, (onboard graphics on this board.) This allowed me to see the system boot Mandrake Linux.

first image

Add Note Edit Step 9  ¶ 

  • Here is the Grub boot loader screen. I did log in to this machine in single user mode. If you manage to find a used Bomgar, with no password, possession does not mean you can get it to work. There is no way to reset the box to factory defaults without already knowing the password.

  • Woe behold the owner who forgets their password, and has stopped paying Bomgar for maintenance. You will need to re-up your maintenance contract to get into your machine.

  • Since the management of this box is only intended to be done through the web interface, logging into this machine from the console gave me no traction.

first image

Add Note Edit Step 10  ¶ 

  • Mandrake 10.0 boot screen.

    • (Note from Bomgar: Current Bomgar systems include both newer hardware and different Operating System software. Newer versions have gone through significant quality and performance improvements since our early days. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!)

  • Bomgar apparently creates a special boot image for every customer, with the customer's domain name cooked in.

  • Not much point in this, other than preventing your customers from reselling their Bomgar boxes. Essentially when you buy one of these, its resale value is zero the instant you sign for it.

  • This is why you do not see them on Ebay often, and why you should be leery of trying to buy one used. You need to acquire the domain name the box was registered with at the same time.

  • Failing that, the Bomgar company may take you in. Apparently they would have been willing to re-acivate this box for around $2,000 per seat (thats how many technicians can use at a time.) Plus 10% of total per year for maintenence. Since this box goes for $8-10K with a five-seat license, you are getting an old used machine for more than the new one goes for.

Comments Add Note Comments are offturn on