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

[Magnus Abrante]

On Wed, May 23, 2001 at 06:46:46AM -0700, Ann Waters wrote:
> 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?

The ttya port will be the "true" console if the machine is booted up without
a keyboard, if its booted up with a keyboard it will assume it have a monitor
and use it as a console.  Alt. you can specify the "input-device" and
"output-device" in the OBP to "ttya", but that would make the 
keyboard/monitor quite useless.. :)

        //Magnus Abrante
/* This is my opinion and not the one of my employer */