[PLUG] Headless servers
david
yrn4dsl at attbi.com
Thu Nov 21 03:28:01 UTC 2002
On Wed, 20 Nov 2002 18:36:54 -0800
Galen Seitz <galens at seitzassoc.com> wrote:
> > 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
>
This review mentions the tyan mpx board has a bios setting to redirect video output to the serial port.
http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2002q4/mpx-boards/index.x?pg=2
I hear it's about $200, more expensive than your basic board, but it sounds great for a 'nix box. Anybody have one? Opinions?
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