Best smartphone for sysadmins?

Question

I need a cell phone that will help me keep an eye on my servers and services when I am away from my computer/desk/workplace.

Which smart phone would you recommend for sysadmins?

• An SSH client is a must.
• I haven't used an iPhone, but I guess having a keyboard would be better.

Currently I'm looking at this alternatives:

• iPhone would be the "default" smartphone.
• Nokia E71 has got good recommendations, including from Joel Spolky's.
• The Android platform looks good, but I'm not sure the few models (HTC G1 / HTC Magic / HTC Dream) are mature enough.
• I'm not sure about Blackberry.
• WinCE / Windows Mobile phones?
• Any Nokia phone better than an E71?

Which choice did you make? What would you recommend?

Solution 1

I like my iPhone. There are some nice sysadmin apps. But besides the obvious email/calendar/contacts clients with Exchange integration, I primarily use it for note taking (EverNote), which is also very important in our job. The web browsing experience is great if you had to research something and last, but not least for my personal education: reading RSS feeds, listening to podcasts etc.

This question here on ServerFault.com contains lists of nice tools for the iPhone: What are some “must have” iPhone/iTouch apps for IT people?

This is the "Tools Page" on my iPhone:

alt text http://img53.yfrog.com/img53/9003/fj8.jpg

Solution 2

I like my Nokia N810. Not really a phone, but has

• big screen (800x480)
• linux inside
• SSH, RDP client, VNC
• network tools like nmap and tcpdump
• cut-down firefox browser
• comms like skype, gtalk, SIP phone
• wifi or you can connect through a bluetooth onto a 3G cellphone.
• good battery life - couple of days from a charge
• fits in your pocket
• good sized slide-out keyboard.

The standard keyboard lacks some keys you'd want, like tab, pipe etc. You can remap the keys anyway you want. Edit /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr/rx-44 to remap the keys, e.g. this remaps Fn modifier for m and ; keys (pound and Euro) and adds to the + and ' keys

   key <AB07> { [ m,          M,        Escape,  Escape   ]  };
   key <AC10> { [ semicolon,  colon,    bar,     bar      ]  };
   key <AE12> { [ plus,       equal,    Tab,     Tab      ]  };
   key <AC11> { [ apostrophe, question, grave,   grave    ]  };

Solution 3

Are you in a hurry?

Google says at least 18 Android phones will be on the market by the end of the year, and most US carriers have announced they will carry one or more.

There is a good market for apps, the current one (T-Mobile G1) has a nice keyboard, my wife is fairly happy with it, but I don't know how well it fits into what you need.

I would be inclined to sit tight for a few months.

Solution 4

Considering a sysadmin's level of access, there's very little attention paid here to security other than SSL as a minimum standard. The device is far more likely to be compromised than the data path. Phones get misplaced and stolen. A 4-digit pin is pretty weak security, and even that is sometimes not used.

Are the data encrypted on the device, and can the device be erased from the server if it goes missing? Yes for a managed WM6 device attached to an Exchange server, yes for a Blackberry attached to a BES, but NO for most iPhones (3G S now supports hardware encryption, but remote wipe from Exchange servers is still inconsistent). In a healthcare environment where users (including admins) are likely to receive Protected Health Information (PHI), encryption is required by law (HIPAA).

Sysadmins have the keys to the realm, and security should be the first consideration. Humans lose phones.

Solution 5

I use the iPhone.

TouchTerm is a great SSH app. It supports both password and key authentication.

Most monitoring programs can be tweaked to display an iPhone friendly web interface. I've also written a couple of web interfaces to our bandwidth graphs. No reason to use an app for it - the web browser is easy to write for.

The keyboard is OK for typing - I mean even with a small keyboard on one of the other phones (Like my HTC TyTn) you still can not type fast, but it is good for the instance when you are out and about and there is an emergency with a server.

View more solutions

Comments

[elcuco]

Joel kicks ass, so he should be right about E71 (besides the landscape window which is funky, and the fact that the voice recognition for E65 works better on my case).

[Rob Allen]

+1 for the iPhone. It works nicely with Exchange, the app store gets new toys all the time and fewer people laugh at you versus having the ubiquitous BlackBerry Brick stapled to your belt.

[pQd]

good one, i use it as well. there is one problem... you have to use touch screen to get tab...

[splattne]

An hour ago Apple announced the new iPhone model: "iPhone 3G S" with many new features. The current 3G model is still available for $99.

[codebyren]

I agree with you, since our email infrastructure is Exchange, nothing beats it for corporate email. I have the Rove Mobile Admin ssh and it's really only usable if you have to and only for line-based usage (i.e. you're not going to use it with vi).

[3dinfluence]

My experience with the iPhone has been much better than my blackberry. I've found that in general the apps on the iPhone are higher quality than those found on the blackberry. For instance TouchTerm is much nicer than midpSSH.

[kentchen]

definitely go with the iPhone. have been using iPhone almost a year. couldn't be happier. It meets all my needs, both work and personal entertaining. I refuse even looking at any other options.

[Andrew Dunkman]

@pQd added key remapping to the answer

[Dana the Sane]

Agreed on the typing point, you can always make yourself a set of short-form aliases for common commands/paths/etc though.

[Kyle]

I see no mention of the wonderful (and free) RDP clients as well as the rich UNIX client selection. I've at least once fixed a problem on a SQL Server on the "Mocha Remote Desktop" client while in a movie theater during the movie. My wife wasn't pleased, but the client was...

[Andrew Dunkman]

If you have a TouchTerm or RDP session going, then go to another app, e.g. consult an email or look up an evernote, are the TouchTerm/RDP sessions still open when you come back?

[Dan]

I'm sorry, I have to retract my vote for the iPhone with the current shenanigans that my carrier are doing. The hardware itself is super but make sure your carrier doesn't screw you on upgrade

[Logan]

Perhaps consider using an SMS gateway. I'm uncer the impression the iPhone will alert you to an incoming text message. You should be able to email your alerts to [email protected] or something along those lines. Perhaps send two emails, one to the SMS saying "Hey, bad server issues, see email for more details" and a more detailed description going to the email box the user can then check. Not a perfect solution, but it might help.

[Logan]

exactly. I love my touch, and being able to control my home PC with it is even better. I find that I'm rarely somewhere without Wifi, and if I am...I'm probably not going to be able to actually do anything anyways (ie, I'm driving).

[Govindarajulu]

Got an N800 myself, but apart from the keyboard (which makes the N810 superior for admins, I guess), it's the same idea. Good device, useful for admining from time to time...

[Bratch]

Too bad it's tied to the AT&T dongle.

[zappan]

hi.. could you name exact applications you're using for these services.. i have the BB bold, but haven't found decent apps for ssh and FTP, and remote desktop and VNC i haven't even tried..

[Andrew Moore]

MidpSSH [SSH], PaderSyncFM [FTP], TSMobiles [RDP without File Access, their RDM+ solution has file access, but requires a custom application to provide that], VNC+ [VNC]

[Sam]

How do you get into your network? That's the problem for me. We have to use citrix and then you're limited to the browser.

[Sam]

That's my gripe with the iphone as well. Notifications are not loud enough. I need it to wake me up. So I still have a pager :(

[Sam]

Also, iPhone sucks for a pager. Way to quiet and you can't pick SMS tones. You also cannot configure different rings/behaviors for senders. You cannot configure email to notify based on sender. These functions are not replaceable by apps, since they are 'core' functions. It was actually the biggest let down for me when I got it - just couldn't believe it.

[Marie Fischer]

You are right about tethering, but I find a USB 3G modem to be much easier to use than phone tethering. Plus you can use your phone for talking and still have your laptop connected to the internet.

[Tim Post]

Thanks for this, I was looking for something that is not an iphone :)

[Bill Weiss]

I had a Sidekick for a while (original color, then a Sidekick 2), and it was great. The SSH client was pretty good, though the data rates at the time made it kind of painful.

[Argalatyr]

iPhone has some serious security limitations, though - no hardware encryption (prior to 3G S), no remote-erase function from MS Exchange server. SSH is great, but losing a device may be just as big a risk as a compromised data stream. Unencrypted data can even get you into legal trouble (e.g. in a healthcare environment). Device loss is a MAJOR weakness of portables; therefore, loss needs to be a primary target of security measures.

[Magnetic_dud]

you can jailbreak the iphone and replace the audio notification files via SSH

[Roqetman]

Agreed, that's why I use a blackberry. I work for one of the biggest companies on the planet, and their security restrictions make using any less secure device for work impossible.

[Dan]

or you could plug the iPhone into a speaker that you leave on the bed, the ringer then comes through there as well as vibrating. Woken me up a few times that way after listening to music.

[KevinRae]

I love my G1. I need a real keyboard and I didn't like the virtual iPhone keyboard.

[KevinRae]

I like the G1. Better than an iPhone IMHO.

[Olof Åkesson]

There's things like decent SSH clients available for Android too (for free) which are a pleasure to use and really very useful for certain types of job that need doing quickly and remotely.

[Hamish Downer]

+1 for not making yourself more available than you have to.

[iconoclast]

I actually switched from iPhone to Android (got fed up with AT&T, back before Verizon was an option), and it must have been the third biggest mistake of my life. Android is horrible in comparison. Attention to detail in the UI does not compare at all, and the apps (when available) are generally of a much poorer quality. I strongly recommend staying away from Android. The whole hype about "openness" is b.s. The OS is so locked down you can't do anything useful in the shell. The only positive thing I can think of is that the Amazon App store gives away a free app every day.