[SunHELP] VGA Card, Term Server, and Console Port Question(s)

[Big Endian]

>Hi Listers,
>
>I am responsible for remotely supporting a bunch of Sun servers 
>(varying models).  I was not involved in the physical installation 
>of the servers.  The bottom line is that I have no console port 
>access to these remote servers.  The closest I can get to console 
>port access is ttya access via a term server.  To the best of my 
>knowledge, this is not the "true" console port (ie. I cannot do a 
>stop-a and get the ok prompt, etc.).  According to the person who 
>set this whole deal up, the reason why I can't get console port 
>access is because the server(s) contain vga cards.  This person 
>says: "The only way to make the TTY ports the default console port 
>would be to remove all the VGA cards from the boxes."  Is this true? 
>How do I identify/verify from an online/software standpoint that the 
>server does contain a vga card?
>
>Thanks in advance for any/all information about this.
>
>Ann Waters
>_______________________________________________
>SunHELP maillist  -  SunHELP at sunhelp.org
>http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/sunhelp

If the servers don't detect a keyboard plugged into their keyboard 
port at boot time then they will by default redirect the console to 
ttya.  If you can make sure that there isn't a keyboard on the 
machine (I have NO idea how to do this remotely, I'm not sure if you 
can) and reboot the servers you should see OK prompts on the ttya's 
of the servers.  This works on all the sparc systems I've ever used 
(ultra and non ultra).

Daniel Mayfield
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