[ale] Linux as a Terminal Server?

[Stephan Uphoff]

> Ok,
>   I'm going crazy right now trying to find a "system" I can use as a
> terminal/console server. I need something that I can connect ttya from
> my Servers (SUN) to the serial of some machine and use it to remotly 
> access the physical console of my server.  This way I can login as 
> root remotely in an emergency (NIS  is down) or send a STOP-A/break
> to hardbood the machine.  Does anyone know if I can do this with a
> Linux box with a serial port multiplier?  Has anyone done it?  Any
> suggestions?

Take a look at "cu" . 

	cu -l /dev/cua0 

should do the trick (I hope) - and yes it can send breaks. 

You can also use "minicom" (more user friendly - can also send breaks)

I bought a cheap (~125$) 8 Port serial card named TC800 from 
www.byterunner.com
because I needed two extra serial lines. All the two port cards needed two
slots for the connection. The 8 Port card came with a special octopus cable
and only occupies one slot.
It does not need a special kernel because it uses normal uarts
just some configuration on startup using setserial. 

I bough the card with ST16C550s chips because it looked like they are better 
supported
by the serial driver then the more expensive chips (ST16C650s).
I think the fifo is disabled on ST16C650s.

I would not use it to hook up a modem pool - but it should handle enough
reboots per second :-)


Stephan




> 
> Robert
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Robert L. Harris                |   You mean you paid
> Senior System Administrator II  |        MONEY for 
>   at Great West Life.           \_    Service Pack '98???
> 
> http://www.orci.com/~nomad
> 
> DISCLAIMER:
>       These are MY OPINIONS ALONE.  I speak for no-one else.
> 
> FYI:
>  perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
>