Re: [RndTbl] Need help with serial connection
Usually it's the other way 'round, as the mgmt port is used for remote "lights-out" installs. You can connect to a virtual console port through the sun mgmt port, so you should never need both. Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
No frame buffer is present. I just want to manage the machine via serial port for now. You can't use the management port until you've installed the OS and configured it, is my understanding.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 2:28 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net>wrote:
Not if there's a frame buffer installed. And that sound like you're in the host serial port, not the management port. Which do you want to be connected to?
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
Do I have the wrong cable? I think it's one of those ones used to attach to Cisco equipment, 9-pin RS-232 to RJ-45.
I had it working, briefly, but it stopped again. I think it had booted from the CD, and was pouring out messages about a buffer overflow plus a language-selection menu (repeatedly) as fast as 9600 bps would allow. Then I removed the CD and rebooted and now nothing. With a Sun Fire, shouldn't I be able to turn the front-panel switch to "Normal" and press the power button? I did that, and I'm getting nothing on the serial interface. I should be getting POST messages at least.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Turn off hardware flow control (RTS/CTS or DTS/DSR) and use software flow control (XON/XOFF) instead. Also, if you don't want to use minicom, (the modem AT initialization is a pain to turn off completely) just use screen instead: "screen /dev ttys0 9600" -Adam
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
This is driving me nuts, since it was working and now it isn't and I have no idea what has changed. I hope someone can help.
I have a SunFire V490 at work. I also have a HP ProLiant server in the same rack, which is running Ubuntu Server 10.04. I've got the weird cyan serial cable plugged in to the lone serial port on the ProLiant and the other end plugged into the V490 port ("SERIAL"). I've got minicom running on the Linux box configured for 9600, 8N1 on /dev/ttyS0. minicom's status line reports "OFFLINE", and I get no response to any keyboard input.
What's wrong? I can freely power off/on the SunFire and anything else I want to do with it. I have the keys for the front panel, too. Do I have to switch it to diagnostics mode or something? We had it working before, and it was quite easy.
Help!
Kevin
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Makes sense. I'll try it on Monday. On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 4:01 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net>wrote:
Usually it's the other way 'round, as the mgmt port is used for remote "lights-out" installs. You can connect to a virtual console port through the sun mgmt port, so you should never need both.
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
No frame buffer is present. I just want to manage the machine via serial port for now. You can't use the management port until you've installed the OS and configured it, is my understanding.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 2:28 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Not if there's a frame buffer installed. And that sound like you're in the host serial port, not the management port. Which do you want to be connected to?
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
Do I have the wrong cable? I think it's one of those ones used to attach to Cisco equipment, 9-pin RS-232 to RJ-45.
I had it working, briefly, but it stopped again. I think it had booted from the CD, and was pouring out messages about a buffer overflow plus a language-selection menu (repeatedly) as fast as 9600 bps would allow. Then I removed the CD and rebooted and now nothing. With a Sun Fire, shouldn't I be able to turn the front-panel switch to "Normal" and press the power button? I did that, and I'm getting nothing on the serial interface. I should be getting POST messages at least.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Turn off hardware flow control (RTS/CTS or DTS/DSR) and use software flow control (XON/XOFF) instead. Also, if you don't want to use minicom, (the modem AT initialization is a pain to turn off completely) just use screen instead: "screen /dev ttys0 9600" -Adam
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
This is driving me nuts, since it was working and now it isn't and I have no idea what has changed. I hope someone can help.
I have a SunFire V490 at work. I also have a HP ProLiant server in the same rack, which is running Ubuntu Server 10.04. I've got the weird cyan serial cable plugged in to the lone serial port on the ProLiant and the other end plugged into the V490 port ("SERIAL"). I've got minicom running on the Linux box configured for 9600, 8N1 on /dev/ttyS0. minicom's status line reports "OFFLINE", and I get no response to any keyboard input.
What's wrong? I can freely power off/on the SunFire and anything else I want to do with it. I have the keys for the front panel, too. Do I have to switch it to diagnostics mode or something? We had it working before, and it was quite easy.
Help!
Kevin
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On Fri, 27 May 2011, Kevin McGregor wrote:
Makes sense. I'll try it on Monday.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 4:01 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net>wrote:
Usually it's the other way 'round, as the mgmt port is used for remote "lights-out" installs. You can connect to a virtual console port through the sun mgmt port, so you should never need both.
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
No frame buffer is present. I just want to manage the machine via serial port for now. You can't use the management port until you've installed the OS and configured it, is my understanding.
An installed OS is not needed to use a Remote System Control card (RSC) that runs the LOM firmware. It is a complete "computer" of its own with RAM/CPU/etc completely separated from the SPARC system itself. Note this a card. If you do have one the jacks will be in the card slots, not on the chassis of the server itself. If you think you do have an RSC, rscadm(1M) can be used from the Solaris host to manipulate it. An RSC is not affected by rebooting the server through software or the hardware. It runs even when the server is powered off. A/C power must be removed on all chassis power supplies for at least 30 seconds to make it reset. rscadm can also reset it if you Solaris running. The serial port is a different critter altogether. The boot PROM uses it during boot initialisation right up to the point where the loaded OS is given control. What happens then depends on the boot PROM settings. It may direct the console to the serial port or the framebuffer. Any chance someone changed the boot PROM settings from factory default? It sounds like they've changed them to redirect the console to the framebuffer even if there isn't one installed. In that case you only see the hardware diagnostics, then when the loader passes control to the booting OS the console output may shifted to the framebuffer if the factory default has been changed.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 2:28 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Not if there's a frame buffer installed. And that sound like you're in
the
host serial port, not the management port. Which do you want to be connected to?
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
Do I have the wrong cable? I think it's one of those ones used to attach to Cisco equipment, 9-pin RS-232 to RJ-45.
I had it working, briefly, but it stopped again. I think it had booted from the CD, and was pouring out messages about a buffer overflow plus a language-selection menu (repeatedly) as fast as 9600 bps would allow. Then I removed the CD and rebooted and now nothing. With a Sun Fire, shouldn't I be able to turn the front-panel switch to "Normal" and press the power button? I did that, and I'm getting nothing on the serial interface. I should be getting POST messages at least.
Cyan-colored Cisco cables don't work. The signal wires are not the same. They work for a bit but the first time the sending rate from the server gets too high the serial connection hangs. You need a DB9-to-RJ45 adapter and a plain RJ-45 ribbon cable (not twisted pair -- it freaks out RS-232). I have a ton of them at work if you need one. Oracle (nee Sun) ships one with each server but we use only the network management port these days.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Turn off hardware flow control (RTS/CTS or DTS/DSR) and use software flow control (XON/XOFF) instead. Also, if you don't want to use minicom, (the modem AT initialization is a pain to turn off completely) just use screen instead: "screen /dev ttys0 9600" -Adam
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
> This is driving me nuts, since it was working and now it isn't and I have no > idea what has changed. I hope someone can help. > > I have a SunFire V490 at work. I also have a HP ProLiant server in the same > rack, which is running Ubuntu Server 10.04. I've got the weird cyan serial > cable plugged in to the lone serial port on the ProLiant and the other end > plugged into the V490 port ("SERIAL"). I've got minicom running on the Linux > box configured for 9600, 8N1 on /dev/ttyS0. minicom's status line reports > "OFFLINE", and I get no response to any keyboard input. > > What's wrong? I can freely power off/on the SunFire and anything else I want > to do with it. I have the keys for the front panel, too. Do I have to switch > it to diagnostics mode or something? We had it working before, and it was > quite easy.
Switching the key to diagnostics mode will only get you more diagnostics. Never run a production server in diagnostics mode. It greatly slows down system recovery in the event of a power outage/restoral. That assumes auto-boot? is set True in the boot PROM as it should be in a production server. HTH, -Daryl
According to http://www.sun.com/servers/rsc.html, "You must install and configure RSC on the supported platforms prior to using RSC." This machine was not bought new from Sun, so I don't know how the boot PROM is configured. I booted the machine with one (or more) of my cable combinations and only got some output once, with the cyan Cisco cable! I tried all of the port and cable combinations I could think of, but I still seem to get no response. I have what looks like a Sun cable (labelled 530-3623-01 Rev.53 MEI 0803) with an adapter (RJ-45 to RS-232 25-pin), but I only have 9-pin ports available. I have a RJ-45 to 9-pin adapter, but it may not have the required pins connected. So, yeah, if you have a real Sun cable and it has a 9-pin connector, I would love to try that! Just to be clear, I haven't even seen any boot diagnostic output ever on this machine, and there is no framebuffer installed. If I was even getting the diagnostic output, I'd be thrilled. Kevin On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Daryl F <wyatt@prairieturtle.ca> wrote:
On Fri, 27 May 2011, Kevin McGregor wrote:
Makes sense. I'll try it on Monday.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 4:01 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net
wrote:
Usually it's the other way 'round, as the mgmt port is used for remote
"lights-out" installs. You can connect to a virtual console port through the sun mgmt port, so you should never need both.
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
No frame buffer is present. I just want to manage the machine via serial
port for now. You can't use the management port until you've installed the OS and configured it, is my understanding.
An installed OS is not needed to use a Remote System Control card (RSC) that runs the LOM firmware. It is a complete "computer" of its own with RAM/CPU/etc completely separated from the SPARC system itself. Note this a card. If you do have one the jacks will be in the card slots, not on the chassis of the server itself. If you think you do have an RSC, rscadm(1M) can be used from the Solaris host to manipulate it.
An RSC is not affected by rebooting the server through software or the hardware. It runs even when the server is powered off. A/C power must be removed on all chassis power supplies for at least 30 seconds to make it reset. rscadm can also reset it if you Solaris running.
The serial port is a different critter altogether. The boot PROM uses it during boot initialisation right up to the point where the loaded OS is given control. What happens then depends on the boot PROM settings. It may direct the console to the serial port or the framebuffer.
Any chance someone changed the boot PROM settings from factory default? It sounds like they've changed them to redirect the console to the framebuffer even if there isn't one installed. In that case you only see the hardware diagnostics, then when the loader passes control to the booting OS the console output may shifted to the framebuffer if the factory default has been changed.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 2:28 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Not if there's a frame buffer installed. And that sound like you're in
the
host serial port, not the management port. Which do you want to be
connected to?
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
Do I have the wrong cable? I think it's one of those ones used to
attach
to
Cisco equipment, 9-pin RS-232 to RJ-45.
I had it working, briefly, but it stopped again. I think it had booted
from
the CD, and was pouring out messages about a buffer overflow plus a language-selection menu (repeatedly) as fast as 9600 bps would allow.
Then
I
removed the CD and rebooted and now nothing. With a Sun Fire, shouldn't
I
be
able to turn the front-panel switch to "Normal" and press the power
button?
I did that, and I'm getting nothing on the serial interface. I should
be
getting POST messages at least.
Cyan-colored Cisco cables don't work. The signal wires are not the same. They work for a bit but the first time the sending rate from the server gets too high the serial connection hangs.
You need a DB9-to-RJ45 adapter and a plain RJ-45 ribbon cable (not twisted pair -- it freaks out RS-232). I have a ton of them at work if you need one. Oracle (nee Sun) ships one with each server but we use only the network management port these days.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net
wrote:
Turn off hardware flow control (RTS/CTS or DTS/DSR) and use software > flow
control (XON/XOFF) instead. > Also, if you don't want to use minicom, (the modem AT initialization > is
a
pain to turn off completely) just use screen instead: > "screen /dev ttys0 9600" > -Adam > > > Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote: > > This is driving me nuts, since it was working and now it isn't and I >> > have
no > >> idea what has changed. I hope someone can help. >> >> I have a SunFire V490 at work. I also have a HP ProLiant server in >> > the
same
> >> rack, which is running Ubuntu Server 10.04. I've got the weird cyan >> > serial
cable plugged in to the lone serial port on the ProLiant and the >> > other
end
plugged into the V490 port ("SERIAL"). I've got minicom running on >> > the
Linux
> >> box configured for 9600, 8N1 on /dev/ttyS0. minicom's status line >> > reports
"OFFLINE", and I get no response to any keyboard input. >> >> What's wrong? I can freely power off/on the SunFire and anything >> > else I
want
> >> to do with it. I have the keys for the front panel, too. Do I have >> > to
switch
> >> it to diagnostics mode or something? We had it working before, and >> > it
was
quite easy. >> >
Switching the key to diagnostics mode will only get you more diagnostics. Never run a production server in diagnostics mode. It greatly slows down system recovery in the event of a power outage/restoral. That assumes auto-boot? is set True in the boot PROM as it should be in a production server.
HTH, -Daryl
Hi Kevin. Robert and I created our own cable to interface our sun boxes. You want to borrow that? I live in royalwood if u want to pick it up tonight. It's very basic but works. Dan. This address is a catchall for odd things :-) On May 30, 2011, at 10:49 AM, Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
According to http://www.sun.com/servers/rsc.html, "You must install and configure RSC on the supported platforms prior to using RSC."
This machine was not bought new from Sun, so I don't know how the boot PROM is configured.
I booted the machine with one (or more) of my cable combinations and only got some output once, with the cyan Cisco cable!
I tried all of the port and cable combinations I could think of, but I still seem to get no response. I have what looks like a Sun cable (labelled 530-3623-01 Rev.53 MEI 0803) with an adapter (RJ-45 to RS-232 25-pin), but I only have 9-pin ports available. I have a RJ-45 to 9-pin adapter, but it may not have the required pins connected.
So, yeah, if you have a real Sun cable and it has a 9-pin connector, I would love to try that!
Just to be clear, I haven't even seen any boot diagnostic output ever on this machine, and there is no framebuffer installed. If I was even getting the diagnostic output, I'd be thrilled.
Kevin
On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Daryl F <wyatt@prairieturtle.ca> wrote: On Fri, 27 May 2011, Kevin McGregor wrote:
Makes sense. I'll try it on Monday.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 4:01 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net>wrote:
Usually it's the other way 'round, as the mgmt port is used for remote "lights-out" installs. You can connect to a virtual console port through the sun mgmt port, so you should never need both.
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
No frame buffer is present. I just want to manage the machine via serial port for now. You can't use the management port until you've installed the OS and configured it, is my understanding.
An installed OS is not needed to use a Remote System Control card (RSC) that runs the LOM firmware. It is a complete "computer" of its own with RAM/CPU/etc completely separated from the SPARC system itself. Note this a card. If you do have one the jacks will be in the card slots, not on the chassis of the server itself. If you think you do have an RSC, rscadm(1M) can be used from the Solaris host to manipulate it.
An RSC is not affected by rebooting the server through software or the hardware. It runs even when the server is powered off. A/C power must be removed on all chassis power supplies for at least 30 seconds to make it reset. rscadm can also reset it if you Solaris running.
The serial port is a different critter altogether. The boot PROM uses it during boot initialisation right up to the point where the loaded OS is given control. What happens then depends on the boot PROM settings. It may direct the console to the serial port or the framebuffer.
Any chance someone changed the boot PROM settings from factory default? It sounds like they've changed them to redirect the console to the framebuffer even if there isn't one installed. In that case you only see the hardware diagnostics, then when the loader passes control to the booting OS the console output may shifted to the framebuffer if the factory default has been changed.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 2:28 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Not if there's a frame buffer installed. And that sound like you're in the host serial port, not the management port. Which do you want to be connected to?
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
Do I have the wrong cable? I think it's one of those ones used to attach to Cisco equipment, 9-pin RS-232 to RJ-45.
I had it working, briefly, but it stopped again. I think it had booted from the CD, and was pouring out messages about a buffer overflow plus a language-selection menu (repeatedly) as fast as 9600 bps would allow. Then I removed the CD and rebooted and now nothing. With a Sun Fire, shouldn't I be able to turn the front-panel switch to "Normal" and press the power button? I did that, and I'm getting nothing on the serial interface. I should be getting POST messages at least.
Cyan-colored Cisco cables don't work. The signal wires are not the same. They work for a bit but the first time the sending rate from the server gets too high the serial connection hangs.
You need a DB9-to-RJ45 adapter and a plain RJ-45 ribbon cable (not twisted pair -- it freaks out RS-232). I have a ton of them at work if you need one. Oracle (nee Sun) ships one with each server but we use only the network management port these days.
On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Turn off hardware flow control (RTS/CTS or DTS/DSR) and use software flow control (XON/XOFF) instead. Also, if you don't want to use minicom, (the modem AT initialization is a pain to turn off completely) just use screen instead: "screen /dev ttys0 9600" -Adam
Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
This is driving me nuts, since it was working and now it isn't and I have no idea what has changed. I hope someone can help.
I have a SunFire V490 at work. I also have a HP ProLiant server in the same rack, which is running Ubuntu Server 10.04. I've got the weird cyan serial cable plugged in to the lone serial port on the ProLiant and the other end plugged into the V490 port ("SERIAL"). I've got minicom running on the Linux box configured for 9600, 8N1 on /dev/ttyS0. minicom's status line reports "OFFLINE", and I get no response to any keyboard input.
What's wrong? I can freely power off/on the SunFire and anything else I want to do with it. I have the keys for the front panel, too. Do I have to switch it to diagnostics mode or something? We had it working before, and it was quite easy.
Switching the key to diagnostics mode will only get you more diagnostics. Never run a production server in diagnostics mode. It greatly slows down system recovery in the event of a power outage/restoral. That assumes auto-boot? is set True in the boot PROM as it should be in a production server.
HTH, -Daryl
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participants (4)
-
Adam Thompson -
Catchall Keizer.ca -
Daryl F -
Kevin McGregor