Re: Cannot install using serial console

On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 05:18:00PM +0200, Jeremie Le Hen wrote:
On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 04:27:26AM -0700, Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
As far as I know you need also to enable a serial terminal in /etc/ttys.

Yeah, this came to my mind too but I check on the installation CD, there
is no /etc/ttys.

This is normal.

Can you try hacking up a solution for yourself based on what I've
documented with regards to PXE booting? There will be pieces which
obviously don't apply to you because you're booting from physical media,
but some of the adjustments (to the bootloader, etc.) you can try.

http://jdc.parodius.com/freebsd/pxeboot_serial_install_8.html

But as far as I understand the handbook, this is not required to perform
the installation through sysinstall(8) on a serial console. Modifying
/boot/loader.conf on the installation media is enough according to
chapter 2.12.1. Am I wrong?

Nah you're not wrong -- I'm just not sure what the VM might be doing
with/to the serial port. I don't know what KVM you're using on Linux,
but does the VM machine have a BIOS? If so, does it offer something
like serial console redirect capability? If so, and it's enabled, it
could/might be conflicting with the OS.

The reason I mention this: on some x86 systems that offer BIOS-level
console redirection capability, the kernel (confirmed on both FreeBSD
and Linux) can, depending on circumstances I'm not sure of, lock up the
OS hard.

If the VM offers such a feature and you're not using it, try it (and
remove the comconsole stuff from your loader.conf). You might end up
with VGA-over-serial that way, and it might suffice.

I imagine some form of getty(8) must be in use under the FreeBSD
installation environment, because you can switch virtual consoles via
Alt-<F1/F2...> as I'm sure you know.

One thing worth pointing out is that you stated the system that you're
trying to use serial console on is actually running under a VM on Linux:

I tried to install FreeBSD (201008 -CURRENT snapshot, but I don't think
it's important here) in a KVM-backed virtual machine on a headless Linux
host, following section 2.12.1 of the handbook.

Can you provide a full dmesg prior to the "/stand/sysinstal" output
happening? You don't need to boot verbose (yet), but it would help with
regards to determining what the kernel is seeing device-wise. Yes it
matters.

Yes, I've actually already posted it in my original message:
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2010-September/058703.html

Thanks much -- for some reason that part of the Email is missing for me.

uart0: <Non-standard ns8250 class UART with FIFOs> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
uart0: [FILTER]
uart0: console (9600,n,8,1)

It sure looks like it's console, but I'm not sure if there are
implications/bugs that might stop serial I/O from working past a certain
point for this type of chip, especially when under a VM.

Only other things I can think of trying, one at a time:

- Explicitly set a serial port speed using comconsole_speed in
loader.conf
- Adding boot_serial="yes" to loader.conf
- Try booting with ACPI disabled. I'm not sure this will work under a
VM, but worth a shot I guess

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

_______________________________________________
freebsd-stable@xxxxxxxxxxx mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable
To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-stable-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx"

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Cannot install using serial console
    ... Yeah, this came to my mind too but I check on the installation CD, there ... the installation through sysinstallon a serial console. ... the kernel (confirmed on both FreeBSD ...
    (freebsd-stable)
  • Re: Linux 10.0 and 10.0 will only install in text mode
    ... I am new to Linux and am getting used to the open source ... > After the installation I try and ... > console with the localhost login and it won't go farther than that. ...
    (comp.os.linux.setup)
  • Re: Rationalise number of consoles
    ... unix serversand currently each has a console ... For serial console servers you can use a serial ... For your Linux computers, you have two options. ... In the case of the Serial console servers, they connect to the network ...
    (comp.unix.aix)
  • Re: Rationalise number of consoles
    ... We would like to reduce the number of console screens? ... For serial console servers you can use a serial ... For your Linux computers, you have two options. ... In the case of the Serial console servers, they connect to the network ...
    (comp.unix.aix)
  • Re: graphic card for j6000
    ... Only VisEG works reliable with Linux. ... especially when considering how old and slow the VisualizeEG is. ... As a console for installation it's probably ok, ...
    (comp.sys.hp.hpux)