From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 15 06:45:13 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 3831A106568D for ; Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:45:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jdc@koitsu.dyndns.org) Received: from qmta07.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net (qmta07.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net [76.96.62.64]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D59BA8FC1C for ; Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:45:12 +0000 (UTC) Received: from omta03.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net ([76.96.62.27]) by qmta07.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id ViiJ1d00V0bG4ec57ilCSB; Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:45:12 +0000 Received: from koitsu.dyndns.org ([98.248.46.159]) by omta03.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id VilC1d0013S48mS3PilCMl; Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:45:12 +0000 Received: by icarus.home.lan (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 9CCF91E301C; Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:45:10 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:45:10 -0800 From: Jeremy Chadwick To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20100115064510.GA81400@icarus.home.lan> References: <717f7a3e1001120714m37aada69gfaa35f0f9b17f435@mail.gmail.com> <44678539@bb.ipt.ru> <717f7a3e1001142234y1de7ae15x6853e3ddcab4add9@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <717f7a3e1001142234y1de7ae15x6853e3ddcab4add9@mail.gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.20 (2009-06-14) 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: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:45:13 -0000 On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 08:34:17AM +0200, Marin Atanasov wrote: > Thank you a lot for your feedback! > > Now to the real question again, because I'm a little confused now - can I > still get a usb-to-serial port converter having let's say 8 serial ports and > then connect each machine to the usb-to-serial hub and manage them remotely > from a single location (the host having the usb-to-serial hub)? That way I > just specify a serial port number and I get to a specific machine? > > The model provided by Boris looks nice, and that was my initial idea, but > I'm not sure if I could get it working under FreeBSD. Is conserver or > conserver-com able to handle this? I know that cu uses COM1 only, but will > conserver able to handle serial consoles on different ports, since the > usb-to-serial port would appear as multiple serial ports. I'm referencing the product Charles showed, but the topology would look like this: +------------------------+ | USB to serial hub | | U1---- FreeBSD box running conserver | | | | +-P1---P2---P3---P4---..-+ | | | | | | | | | | | `-- box #4 | | `------- box #3 | `------------ box #2 `----------------- box #1 "U1" is the uplink port, which has to connect to something -- in this case the FreeBSD box where conserver would run. The uplink port would connect to a single USB port on the FreeBSD box. The cabling between a port (Px) and a box would be serial (probably DB9). What you end up with on the FreeBSD box is a series of /dev entries which are associated with all of the ports on the USB to serial hub, using ucom(4). For example: /dev/ttyU0 = P1 = box #1 /dev/ttyU1 = P2 = box #2 ... You'd then tell conserver using its configuration file that "box name foo is attached to /dev/ttyU0, box name bar is attached to /dev/ttyU1" and so on. Then to get access to the serial console of either foo or bar, you'd SSH to the FreeBSD machine and type "console foo" or "console bar". Voila. Make sense? -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc@parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB |