System and method for recording and monitoring user interactions with a server

A system for recording and monitoring user interactions with a server, comprising:

• at least one keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) switch connected to a network, the KVM switch including:
• a network interface section for communicating data over the network;
• a switching section coupled to the network interface section;
• and
• a plurality of server ports coupled to the switching section each adapted for connecting to a server, wherein the switching section forwards data between the network interface section and selected ones of the server ports;
• a recording system connected to the network;
• wherein the KVM switch receives, via the network, keyboard data and mouse data from a user console connected to the network, forwards the keyboard data and mouse data to a selected server port, receives video data representative of desktop images from the selected server port, and processes the video data and transmits it via the network to the user console;
• wherein the KVM switch further transmits the keyboard data and mouse data received from the user console and the video data received from the selected server port to the recording system via the network;
• wherein the recording system records the keyboard data, mouse data and video data received from the KVM switch to generate a record of a login session between the user console and a server connected to the selected server port, detects predefined trigger events based on at least one of the received keyboard data, mouse data and video data, wherein the trigger events are detected by comparing the received keyboard data, mouse data and video data with pre-stored trigger events in an editable database, and wherein when a trigger event is detected, the recording system automatically transmits monitoring information to an administrative console which is different from the user console, via the network without passing through the KVM switch,
• wherein the recording system includes a master recording server and one or more slave recording servers connected to each other, wherein the master recording server dynamically assigns one slave recording server to record data from the KVM switch by transmitting a session ID to the assigned slave recording server and the KVM switch, and
• wherein the assigned slave recording server and the KVM switch use the session ID to authenticate each other via the network, and thereafter, without further participation of the master recording server, the KVM switch transmits the keyboard data, mouse data and video data to the assigned slave recording server and the assigned slave recording server records the keyboard data, mouse data and video data.