Console Server

Using the Console Server for Evaluating Sun Systems
(this corresponds to the project where I had to get some Sun Ultra 10 boxes working)

The Problem:
After hooking the Sun box to the monitor, network, keyboard/mouse, power, and booting the machine up, there was no output to the monitor. Does this mean that the graphics card is bad (assuming that the monitor is fine) or that something isn't hooked up correctly? How can we tell?

The Solution:
We (Aaron and I) patched an ethernet patch cable from the voice data port in the wall in the room where the Sun box is set up to the machine's serial port using a Lantronix 200.2066A network adapter. In the server room, we also had to patch a cable from the corresponding voice data port to the console server, taking note of which device/port number we connect it to. This allows us to remotely log into the console server (ssh cserve) much like when performing the RAID checks (see RAID documentation on the student support website). Once logged in, use listdev to see the available devices and use the same one that the Sun box is patched to. Another useful command is help, as it shows all the available commands. Now you can use direct devicenum (AFTER having already booted up the Sun box) to view the error messages generated when the machine booted up, or you can use listen devicenum BEFORE booting up the Sun box and then booting up the machine will dump any messages to your console.
NOTES:

• if you use the direct command, you can reformat the window by using CTRL-D.
• to get out of direct mode, type ESC followed by SHIFT-A.

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created by Joe Mount 2005-09-01