FreeBSD, Intel Motherboards and Portmaster Serial Console - How?

[Samuel Clements]

The RJ-45 should be pinned exactly like the cisco RJ-45's. If you can get a 
console to a cisco router off of one of your PM ports, you should be able to 
plug it into the serial B be header on the server and be able to talk to it. 
The second problem of management (watching POST and kernel messages) should 
be easily remedied by telling the machine to redirect POST messages to 
Serial B as well as do ACPI re-direction to Serial B (done in the BIOS). 
This should get you all the way through kernel messages, then if you want to 
allow logins on Serial B, you should just be able to 'turn on' ttyd1 in 
/etc/ttys.
  -Sam

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marc G. Fournier" <scrappy at hub.org>
To: <freebsd-questions at freebsd.org>
Cc: <freebsd-hardware at freebsd.org>
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 1:03 PM
Subject: FreeBSD, Intel Motherboards and Portmaster Serial Console - How?


>
> I just picked up a PM25 for our colo facility, so that I can do remote 
> admin on the FreeBSD boxes ... our two Tyan servers are a piece of cake, 
> as they have DB9 Serial, like I'd expect ... but the Intel motherboards 
> have "External RJ45 serial, internal serial header" on all of there 
> boards, from what I can tell ... but what I can't figure out is how to 
> make use of them ...
>
> The servers are remote, so adding a 9pin serial port onto the 'internal 
> header' is a bit difficult, so am wondering about using the 'external 
> RJ45'.  The PM25 cables end in an RJ45 jack, and we had to purchase 
> adapters to go from RJ45->9pin ... can those RJ45 adapters be used to plug 
> into the RJ45 serial directly?
>
> Also, from what I've been able to read so far, the RJ45 == Serial B, not 
> Serial A ... so, I'd need to change how FreeBSD works as far as serial 
> console is concerned, to look at Serial B, no?
>
> Help?
>
> Thanks ...
>
>
> ----
> Marc G. Fournier           Hub.Org Networking Services 
> (http://www.hub.org)
> Email: scrappy at hub.org           Yahoo!: yscrappy              ICQ: 
> 7615664
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