[SunHELP] RE: Running Sun servers headless with a terminal

[Dave Gargan]

I have found that terminal servers are a great solution for managing
servers, headless or not.  You can get to the console of any connected
machine using telnet (or maybe ssh depending on the capabilities of the
unit).

Another good idea if you have more than one terminal server, is to connect
them together.  Connect one serial port from annexA to the console of
annexB, and visa-versa.  That way if you have trouble with annexA, you can
log into annexB, then connect to the console of the annexA to troubleshoot
or reboot it.

Dave

>
> Message: 13
> From: "Simoncini, Matthew" <Matthew.Simoncini at bsci.com>
> To: "'sunhelp at sunhelp.org'" <sunhelp at sunhelp.org>
> Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2002 11:09:00 -0500
> Subject: [SunHELP] Running Sun servers headless with a terminal server?
>
> Hi gurus,
>
> I work in a decent size Sun environment with mostly Enterprise class
> servers (E450 up to E10K) with a smattering of SunFire servers (V880 to
> 4800). All of our servers are connected to KVM switches for console
> access and it drives me batty that every time we need to do maintenance,
> we have to walk down to the data center and work from there. I've been
> trying to convince my Team Leader that some sort of remote management
> mechanism would be better for supporting these servers .
>
> I guess what I'm looking for is some experiences others have had with
> running Enterprise Class Sun hardware "headless" and what type of
> mechanism they used for remote management.
>
> ** We have several Micro Annex Terminal Servers that we could use for
> remote management, but I've heard there are potential problems with that
> solution if the terminal server loses power or is disconnected while the
> servers are "up" (i.e. sending CTRL-BRK through Serial port A).
>
> Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Matthew Simoncini
> Boston Scientific / Accenture
> Natick, MA.