[SunRescue] Re: SS2 running headless

[Eli Bottrell]

It really depends on the mission of the box. I have mail servers that while they
have secondary (and equal prefrence) mx, I still could have mail that is in the
queue, and it needs to get delivered. Only problem is that the machines are in
San Jose and Boston, so it's not so easy. And anyone who has ever tried to get an
Exodus NOC monkey to log into your box and tell you what is happening knows as
well as I do that it's just a headache.

Basically, if you care about your box being up 24/7, a serial console will do you
a world of good. Period. It's just one less step you have to go through to see
what's wrong with the box.

By the way, what do people use for network accessable serial terminals? We use
DEC terminal servers in our data centers, and I'm messing with a Port Master 2
for the server room in this building.

Also, anyone ever used a WizCon before? Basically a 386 w/4mb of ram and 8 serial
ports, and a display that fits in a 4u rackmount. *VERY* cool to say the least.
While you can't get to them over the network, at least you can locally, and they
buffer a certain amount of the console so you can see what the last messages a
box spewed were on it's way down.

    - Eli


David Cantrell wrote:

> "Ken Hansen" <n2vip at bellatlantic.net> wrote:
>
> > >From what you say, they had consoles, but not dedicated consoles. The
> > original poster was talking about a machine with no user I/O, just ethernet
> > access. That is nice, but acces to the machine over another port (serial
> > console, dedicated tube/keys/mouse, or other) is, at the least, *suggested*
> > isn't it?
>
> This is only a home machine, and all the important stuff on it - my mail
> and DNS - has off-site secondaries.  You're right though, it is certainly
> a good idea to have something other than ethernet available, especially if
> you're relying on the machine, but that's simply not an option - and neither
> is it important - at the moment.
>
> > Every machine doesn't need a dedicated console, I am 100% with everyone on
> > that, but a console connected to a KVM, a serial console connected to a
> > smart serial switch, or other is a reasonable minimum.
>
> My primary concern right now is freeing up some desk space.  Getting rid of
> the Sun monitor and keyboard will give me room to shuffle a few things around
> and bring my Indy back in to service.  I'll worry about getting a serial
> cable when I need one :-)
>
> --
> David Cantrell | root at alphacomplex.org | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/
>
>    Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced
>
> ** I read encrypted mail first, so encrypt if your message is important **
>
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