Messages in this thread |  | | From | "Scott J. Ellentuch" <> | Subject | Re: Q: Serial Console Patch? | Date | Thu, 23 Jan 1997 08:30:23 -0500 (EST) |
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In alex@judy.tetro.muc.de.ti.com' own words (And I ">_") : > > Hi there, > > I just read the notes about the serial console patch ... and I've a few more > questions: > Well, I have a little I'd like to say on it too :
I'm currently setting up remote servers at sites that I don't have easy access to nor intelligent life forms nearby. To make matters worse, I only get a small amount of space and am using a special rack mount computer, power cycling device and terminal server. I'm supposed to do alot of administration remotely.
Making kernel changes is the scariest thing in the world for me. I'm afraid some day I'll make a bad mistake on a kernel that will prevent the system from booting. When this happens, I'll be in BAD shape. So, what I'm looking for is the following. Please forgive references to other UN*Xs and hardware.
On IBM A*X systems, when it boots it broadcasts a message "Press <F1> on the console". If you press it on any device, the console or any serially attached device, the system changes that to the console. If nothing is pressed, it remains with serial0.
I would LOVE that ability. This way, if something failed, the next time the system booted (I'd have to cycle power), I could use the terminal server to reverse telnet to the port and when I saw the message pop up before the warm/fuzzy LILO one, I could gain control and fall back to another kernel.
Now, a friend of mine came up with another scenerio. Lets say LILO gets a "fallback" kernel and parameter name/list (This could be just another entry). When LILO runs, it checks to see if the last boot was ok. If so, it continues normal operation. If not, it does a "fallback" entry. After the system totally boots, we could then mark something to say "boot done". This again could save my skin.
What I don't want to see, and what I think the serial console patch is, is that the serial port is ALWAYS the console.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone else, especially ISP minded, that thinks this is something worth while. I've CC'd the author of LILO, and I hope he doesn't mind, to see what his take on it is. Please see if he replies before cc'ing him again, unless you have a better idea!
Thanks, Tuc -- Scott J. Ellentuch, The Telecom Security Group/TTSG, Newburgh, NY Visit our Web Site at http://www.ttsg.com/
"Over the UUCP link, out the ethernet, through the media converter, down the fiber, off a router, down the 56K, past my ISP...nothing but Net" - with poetic license from Dave Owen of IBM
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