Re: Console access to Sun Fire V880

On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:38:37 -0700 (PDT), Jochen Wiedmann wrote:

Hi,

yesterday we received a Sun Fire V880 server here, which is being used
as a development and test machine. This is the first SPARC we have
since years, because we are usually using i386 machines. The machine
was previously in use by someone else and I have no access to the
previous users. In particular, I have no idea about network
configuration and stuff like that. No problem, I thought, lets start
with a clean installation.

Obviously, I need console access to do the installation. Inspection
showed, that there seem to be two serial lines on the machines back:
One with 25 pins, female, and one with an RJ45 connector. Of course,
nothing was delivered with the machine. Sun admins are most possibly
supposed to have such stuff. I managed to obtain a connector from RJ45
to my laptops 9 pin, male connector, an RJ45 cable and a connector
from RJ45 to 25 pins, female. Nothing crossed, or stuff like that,
AFAIK.

Unfortunately, I was absolutely unable to get a boot prompt from the
machine. I tried both serial connectors, I tried Hyperterminal
(Windows) and picocom (Linux), varying device names (COM1, COM2, ...
or /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, ...) with no success.

First, you need the right cable. See if you can beg, borrow, or steal a
Cisco serial cable... it's a light blue ribbon cable with a molded DB-9F
at one end and an RJ-45 at the other.

Then you need to connect the Sun to a PC. Since you seem to be unsure
about Linux serial ports, I'd use Windows. Hyperterminal or PuTTY.
Google for the port settings, but I'm pretty sure it's 9800-8N1 no flow
control.

--
* John Oliver http://www.john-oliver.net/ *
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Serial Fun
    ... The Sun Server with no graphics card ... I had to shoot off to Maplin to get a male to ... you do not have RJ45. ... that in V.24 a male connector is specified. ...
    (comp.unix.solaris)
  • Re: Sun Ultra 60 - no monitor
    ... RJ45 headshell at the Sun end. ... This may, but most likely not, give you a null modem that you might ... The cisco pinout is mighty popular, having been adopted by Sun, ... connector right side up or upside-down. ...
    (comp.sys.sun.hardware)
  • Re: Annex RA2000 and Sun Netra240 RJ45 pinout Help!
    ... I have several Ultras and Enterprise systems here using a RJ45 to DB9 ... connector to talk to my annex serial port server. ... inherited two Sun Netra240's, but the console port is an RJ45 ... connector so I can talk to the annex serial port server. ...
    (comp.sys.sun.hardware)
  • Re: DEX Standard
    ... All I can find on DB15 is that could ever wire directly to RJ45 is an outdated RS232 connector, ... The RJ45 connector is usually used for Ethernet connections, but may also be used as the RS232-D standard connector, the wiring of which is described here: ... Thus I find it unlikely that these two, while possible to wire, would be the one you are looking for. ...
    (comp.protocols.misc)
  • Re: Sunblade 2000 Booting question (13W3-MALE)
    ... O.K. Do you have a Sun keyboard plugged in? ... Is it possible to boot via the PCI card? ... it is a 40-pin version of the connector. ...
    (comp.sys.sun.hardware)