From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 4 16:48:26 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E9A1F1065670 for ; Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:48:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jonathan+freebsd-questions@hst.org.za) Received: from hermes.hst.org.za (onix.hst.org.za [209.203.2.133]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 070128FC18 for ; Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:48:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jonathan+freebsd-questions@hst.org.za) Received: from [10.1.11.1] ([10.1.11.1]) (authenticated bits=0) by hermes.hst.org.za (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id m24GdZ7G058993 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Tue, 4 Mar 2008 18:39:36 +0200 (SAST) (envelope-from jonathan+freebsd-questions@hst.org.za) From: Jonathan McKeown To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 18:48:39 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.4 References: <20080304153700.GA26045@panix.com> In-Reply-To: <20080304153700.GA26045@panix.com> X-Face: $@VrUx^RHy/}yu]jKf/<4T%/d|F+$j-Ol2"2J$q+%OK1]&/G_S9(=?iso-8859-1?q?HkaQ*=60!=3FYOK=3FY!=27M=60C=0A=09aP=5C9nVPF8Q=7DCilHH8l?= =?iso-8859-1?q?=3B=7E!42HK6=273lg4J=7Daz?=@1Dqqh:J]M^"YPn*2IWrZON$1+G?oX3@ =?iso-8859-1?q?k=230=0A=0954XDRg=3DYn=5FF-etwot4U=24b?=dTS{i X-Spam-Score: -4.365 () ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.61 on 209.203.2.133 Cc: Jesse Sheidlower Subject: Re: Installing FreeBSD remotely via serial console X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:48:27 -0000 On Tuesday 04 March 2008 17:37, Jesse Sheidlower wrote: > I'm getting a new Dell server delivered to our corporate > datacenter. There is a serial console available there. > > What is the process for installing FreeBSD remotely by logging > in to the serial console? I'm assuming that I can get a tech > in the datacenter to put a FreeBSD install disc into the CD > drive, and take it from there, but I've never used a serial > console and don't know what the process is. Not sure whether Dell hardware has any special management features, but on generic server hardware, I always make sure BIOS console redirection is enabled (gives you BIOS access), and that it's set to stop redirecting once the OS boots. Generally you will have network access (ssh or so) to a console server in the datacentre which presents the FreeBSD system's console. It's much easier to make sure you have an install CD which has the serial console enabled - download an ISO image, unpack it, add console="comconsole" to loader.conf and rebuild the ISO image, making it bootable. There was a thread about this a few months ago when Martin McCormick asked the question - there are a couple of tricky issues with getting the ISO unpacked and rebuilt without it doubling in size. If you do this, you'll see the boot process from the Beastie menu onwards (from which you can drop back to the loader if you need to), and it'll boot into sysinstall. Do the install normally. At the end, before exiting, I normally go to the config menu to edit /etc/ttys - to make sure I get a login on the serial console even if networking is stuffed for some reason. Feel free to give me a shout if you want more details. Jonathan