topic servers without consoles in Operating System - HP-UX

servers without consoles

sam wang — Wed, 06 Sep 2000 14:24:55 GMT

i would like to know what are the common problems if a K370 server running HP-UX 10 does not have a console (terminal or GUI) attached, and assuming Central Web Console is not implemented.

Re: servers without consoles

Mark Mitchell — Wed, 06 Sep 2000 14:29:54 GMT

If the server has a problem, the console will sometimes keep the error message up. That can make all the difference from finding the problem and haveing to research it.

Re: servers without consoles

Stefan Farrelly — Wed, 06 Sep 2000 14:31:32 GMT

No console shouldnt present a problem unless a situation arises where you will need to plug one in, eg;
firmware upgrade
change to boot option (single user mode, lvm maintenancemode)
booting off a different device
changing console options, modem connection, bootpaths,etc.
boot problems.

Re: servers without consoles

Tracey — Wed, 06 Sep 2000 14:33:10 GMT

In addition to the error messages going to the console, rebooting could be tricky if it requires user input. Ie not set for auto-boot or the system requires you to do a manual fsck. I personally would not want one of my system to NOT have a console.

Re: servers without consoles

George LaSalle — Fri, 08 Sep 2000 16:19:29 GMT

I am a bit short on floor/table space so have two test systems connected to a switch box which is then connected to a console terminal. I can switch to system that is most important at the time. The only drawback, as Mark said, is that I would miss seeing any messages sent to the console of the system that I'm not switched to.

Re: servers without consoles

Patrick Wallek — Fri, 08 Sep 2000 19:50:58 GMT

We have about 30 unix servers in our data center and we have 3 vt terminals connected to a KVM switch that we run all of the machines consoles to. The beauty of this KVM switch is that it has a buffer of some size (probably a few KB) that it keeps any activity to the console in the buffer so you can go back and view the console history. That is very nice.

I don't know what brand of KVM switch it is, I can find out if there is interest.

Re: servers without consoles

Duncan Edmonstone — Sun, 10 Sep 2000 08:27:14 GMT

A warning to any D Class users! The D Class WON'T BOOT without a console of some sort attched. I haven't seen the same problem on any other class of HP9000s.

Have you looked at HP's Secure Web Console?
Take a look at :
http://eproducts.hp.com/servers/secure_web_console.html

Re: servers without consoles

Anthony Goonetilleke — Sun, 10 Sep 2000 21:39:11 GMT

The only problems if you dont have a console is if the server goes down and does'nt bring the networking back up then you cannot reach it to try and fix the problem or change boot paths etc. But if you have a laptop handy on an old VT terminal just plug it into the back and you have your emergency terminal.