From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 12 16:29:20 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 489B8106566B for ; Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:29:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from michal@ionic.co.uk) Received: from mail1.sharescope.co.uk (pm1.ionic.co.uk [85.159.80.19]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 06DD58FC16 for ; Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:29:19 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by mail1.sharescope.co.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 06A49FC0C6 for ; Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:29:20 +0000 (UTC) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at sharescope.co.uk Received: from mail1.sharescope.co.uk ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (mail1.sharescope.co.uk [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 7XdFnZxKY3yt for ; Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:29:05 +0000 (GMT) Received: from [192.168.2.37] (office.ionic.co.uk [85.159.85.2]) (Authenticated sender: chris@sharescope.co.uk) by mail1.sharescope.co.uk (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 48B1BFC0C5 for ; Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:29:05 +0000 (GMT) Message-ID: <4B4CA34F.1070508@ionic.co.uk> Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:29:03 +0000 From: Michal User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20091204 Thunderbird/3.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org References: <717f7a3e1001120714m37aada69gfaa35f0f9b17f435@mail.gmail.com> <20100112160816.GA99549@icarus.home.lan> In-Reply-To: <20100112160816.GA99549@icarus.home.lan> X-Enigmail-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Multiple serial consoles via null modem cable X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:29:20 -0000 On 12/01/2010 16:08, Jeremy Chadwick wrote: > On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 05:14:44PM +0200, Marin Atanasov wrote: >> Hello there, >> >> I'd like to ask you about the following - is it possible to have multiple >> serial consoles coming from a single host? >> >> What I am talking about is connecting multiple machines using a null modem >> cable - I know it is possible only to connect two machines and they need to >> be connected on sio0 (COM1). >> >> I'm thinking about the following situation - 1 system acting like a host >> with a serial port hub, each port of the hub is connected to a different >> machine on sio0, using null modem cables. >> >> This would make the first machine something like a cheaper kind of a >> terminal concentrator :) >> >> What do you think, have someone tried this and is it possible at all? > > What you're describing is basically the concept of a serial console > server, where a FreeBSD box contains a multi-port serial card that's > connected to multiple other servers. An individual would get on the > FreeBSD box with a multiport serial card (see below) and attach to the > serial port associated (wired to) whatever other box they want to log on > to. > > Yes this is possible with FreeBSD -- but you'll need to purchase a > multiport serial card that's supported natively by FreeBSD. The two I'm > familiar with are Cyclades and DigiBoard, but this would've been back in > the day of FreeBSD 2.2.x and I've no idea what people use present-day. > I'm certain others here can recommend stuff that works. You've actually mentioned one here, Digi. They make console devices and I've used, with great success. Ours had modems as well so we had a normal TCP and a phone line for DR. There is a range of sizes, SSH2 and some have 2 psu's. They have American as well as European providers, though I can't remember where we purchased ours from. We didn't use ours on servers however, they where just for switches, routers, load balancers et al so I can't comment on how well they worked with those, but I can't see it being any different. http://www.digi.com/products/consoleservers/digicm.jsp