Cruel and unusual problems with Proliant ML350

[Clayton Milos]

Same for me Greg.

Everything I use runs on serial console including my *BSD servers, SUN, 
DSLAMs etc.
I would say any server worth it's weight has serial redirection in it's 
BIOS.
Most of the servers I admin are international and I use the sesrial console 
to fix problems if and when they arise.
The majority are SUN which supports lights out management even.
Then again when you're paying for SUN and running Oracle in clussters you 
kind of expect these kind of features.

Saying that my 2 servers at home are Tyan motherboards with SMP. Both of 
them support serial redirection in in the BIOS and they are not particularly 
fancy motherboards.

I use mainly WTI serial console management boxes. They have a few models 
which fit every need I've ever had.

VPN into customer private LAN then telnetting into the console server sure 
as hell beats flying 4000 miles to sort something out.
It's cheaper and faster. And besides that I have console access to the 
servers wherever I happen to be that and an internet connection.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Byshenk" <freebsd at byshenk.net>
To: <freebsd-stable at FreeBSD.ORG>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 9:22 PM
Subject: Re: Cruel and unusual problems with Proliant ML350


> On Mon, Nov 13, 2006 at 09:19:45AM -0800, Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
>
>> I'll agree with this (re: webservers not needing USB), except in
>> regards to one item: keyboards.
>>
>> More and more x86 PCs these days are expecting keyboards to be
>> USB-based.  Yes, PS/2 ports are still present on most (but not all)
>> motherboards, but eventually that will be phased out.
>>
>> I like the idea of being able to go to my co-location facility and
>> plug in a USB keyboard to begin working on a server, and when
>> finished remove the keyboard and leave.
>
> Don't you really need to have a monitor, as well?  I _have_ worked
> "blind" before, but I didn't enjoy it.  I can imagine having a
> keyboard with me when wandering around, but wouldn't normally have
> a monitor.  I had always thought that the preferred solution for
> this sort of case was to use a serial console.
>
> And what seems to be becoming common on servers is a BIOS that allows
> you to fully redirect to serial, including BIOS configuration.  The
> servers that I have recently purchased have had a keyboard and monitor
> plugged into them _once_ -- for the first BIOS setup -- and then never
> again.
>
>
> -- 
> greg byshenk  -  gbyshenk at byshenk.net  -  Leiden, NL
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