[PLUG] Headless servers

[Galen Seitz]

> Hey,
> 
> I remeber someone mentioning a while back about not having a server
> complete until it had a serial connection (I believe it was Mr.
> Heinlein) and I was wondering how this worked out exactly?  What is the
> serial connection for?  And, is it supposed to take the place of a
> mouse, keyboard and monitor, or something else?
> 

All of the above.  Or is that none of the above?  By running a serial 
console, there is no need for a keyboard, monitor, mouse, or video card.
Most management of the system is done via ssh.  For things that can't be
handled over the network, there is a serial connection which allows
access via getty/login.  The other end of the serial connection could
be a simple as a plain old ascii terminal connected to a mechanical
switch that allows selecting among multiple systems.  A fancier setup
might use some sort of serial port concentrator.

It should be noted that the BIOS of typical PC motherboards is lacking
in this department.  Usually server/high end motherboards are the only
ones that support BIOS interaction via a serial port.  If anyone knows
of inexpensive exceptions to this rule, I'd like to hear about them.

galen