Re: Serial console/remote install discussion

On Sat, Sep 22, 2007 at 12:27:14PM +0200, Achim Patzner wrote:
Am 22.09.2007 um 11:52 schrieb Dag-Erling Smørgrav:
Jeremy Chadwick <koitsu@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
I'd like to open up a discussion regarding FreeBSD serial console and
the aspect of installation via serial console.

how about you go read loader(8) and loader.conf(5) first?

And the documentation of his server's BIOS (if there is one). I've seen
people getting into hip-deep *** using serial console and BIOS
VGA-to-serial replication features at the same time... At different data
rates. Resulting in really cool side effects.

I can imagine the result would be fairly amusing, but it ultimately
depends on how the vendor implements the whole VGA-to-serial aspect of
things. For example, I think Rackable's systems (using the Phantom) do
things quite a bit differently than Supermicro.

The generic walk-through description I gave at the bottom of my mail for
Supermicro servers works reliably on pretty much all models made over
the past 3 years. BIOS-level serial redirection is immediately released
after POST, which means FreeBSD (boot0sio (optional), boot2/loader, and
the kernel) are responsible from that point onwards.

I totally agree that letting the BIOS handle everything (re: VGA-to-serial)
is a questionable solution/idea, which is probably why Supermicro BIOSes
let you configure retaining VGA-to-serial after POST or not.

--
| Jeremy Chadwick jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB |

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