Networks

Use that form, then you will get better answers

You will need to have access to the physical server for that. Or have some sort of device that emulates the KVM.

http://www.raritan.com/products/kvm-over-ip/KX-II-101/

http://www.raritan.com/products/kvm-over-ip/ericg4/

Even if you can get the server's video output onto the laptop, you'll still need a keyboard on the server.

I think you're stuck borrowing a monitor for a couple of hours.

a Baseboard Management Control card may help!

If this were possible, you would see far more hacks using discarded desktop LCDs as desktop monitors.

I think G-Man is right. There are all kinds of enterprise solutions that will allow you to remotely control a server, including getting remote control during the POST and BIOS startup routines in order to make hardware level changes remotely - but most of these soltuions require additional hardware on your servers or your KVM switches.

Specifically, it sounds like what you want to achieve is possibly prohibitive for your organization to implement.

We have Avocent KVMs rebranded as Dell that allow the functionality you describe. Avocent KVMs are accesisble through a web-based application. In a typical scenario, you would VPN into your organization, open a connection to the internal web app for the Avocent, log into the KVM, and then you can browse, select, reboot, and manage any machine on that KVM as if you were at console, including doing BIOS level configuration (including, for example, managing a SCSI or RAID controller BIOS, or a Ethernet boot configuration menu, or anything else that happens before the OS loads).