From owner-freebsd-stable Mon May 14 12:40:23 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from raven.ravenbrook.com (raven.ravenbrook.com [193.82.131.18]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 46BA837B42C for ; Mon, 14 May 2001 12:40:18 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from nb@ravenbrook.com) Received: from thrush.ravenbrook.com (thrush.ravenbrook.com [193.112.141.249]) by raven.ravenbrook.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA18265 for ; Mon, 14 May 2001 20:40:14 +0100 (BST) Received: from thrush.ravenbrook.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by thrush.ravenbrook.com (8.11.3/8.11.2) with ESMTP id f4EJe9659177 for ; Mon, 14 May 2001 20:40:09 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from nb@thrush.ravenbrook.com) From: Nick Barnes To: stable@freebsd.org Subject: serial console Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 20:40:09 +0100 Message-ID: <59175.989869209@thrush.ravenbrook.com> Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG I have received several individual replies to this message, asking for more details of setting up a serial console. I haven't actually done this myself since 2.2.5 (or maybe 2.2.8), and the procedure has changed a little since then. I refer people to the relevant section of the handbook: It's easy, and I strongly recommend it for remote FreeBSD machines, assuming you can get at least _some_ other hardware colocated. For instance, you can get a terminal server: a little black box which converts a number of serial lines into TCP/IP connections. That lets you drive serial console for a number of boxes at once, without having to remember that console on foo is cuaa0 on bar, etc. I have used a 16-port "Digiboard Portserver" (now gathering dust) for this purpose in the past. It goes without saying that you should choose good-quality kit for remote located machines. For instance, don't use anything which doesn't come up reliably first time from a power cycle. Nick B > From: Nick Barnes > To: "stable@freebsd.org" > Subject: Re: Running Stable on remote production server > Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 09:48:46 +0100 > Message-ID: <12552.989830126@thrush.ravenbrook.com> > > If you have more than one machine at the same remote site, then I > recommend setting up each as the serial console for the other. That > way you can go single-user, drive fsck, etc etc. > > Nick B > > At 2001-05-13 20:36:40+0000, Juha Saarinen writes: > > On Sun, 13 May 2001, Mike Smith wrote: > > > > > It's entirely unnecessary to go single-user when updating a machine; just > > > rebuild the world, optionally run mergemaster, and reboot. > > > > > > Exceptions to this rule do occur, but they're *extremely* rare. > > > > Having rebuilt a number of machines remotely in the last couple of weeks, > > I have to concur... > > > > The most important thing is to pay attention to mergemaster, PLUS doing a > > final check of vital rc and other conf files in /etc BEFORE rebooting. > > > > On one site I had the local "admin" unplug the network cable after the box > > was shifted into the server room -- I was trying to figure out what I had > > done wrong until it occured to me to ask if the system was connected to > > the LAN. His answer was priceless... "why do you have to have a network > > connection? Can't you get at the box remotely?" ;-D > > > > -- > > Regards, > > > > > > Juha > > > > PGP fingerprint: > > B7E1 CC52 5FCA 9756 B502 10C8 4CD8 B066 12F3 9544 > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message