Viewing startup from console port

[Brian_Foulks]

Hello. Sorry if this has been posted already, I couldn't find any listing related to my problem.

We have a Cisco 2821 router acting as an access server. We log into the router then do a connect to our HP=UX server, running 11.11. In that session, we log in as root and do a shutdown -ry 0. We can see the shutdown process on the server, but we then get disconnect and can not see the start up. We need this functionality.

If we hook up a laptop with hyper terminal directly to the server, we can see the whole process.

What configuration does the server need to not have router's connection terminated?

Thank you,

Brian

[Torsten.]

I think you don't connect to the console, right?

But you need console access to see the startup.

What server model do you have?

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

The only way to see the whole process is to directly connect to the router console.

Certain router functions require a router reboot, which terminates all external connections.

SEP

[Brian_Foulks]

We are connected to the console port via one of the Cisco ASYNC octal cables.

We need the server from disconnecting the session establish so that we can see the restart of the server.

The server model is Hp-9000 rp3440 server. It is running HP-UX B11.11i V1.

[Brian_Foulks]

@SEP, the router is doing a reverse telnet into the HP-UX box. It is the HP-UX box that we want to see the whole reload process.

[Torsten.]

You are connected to the MP port, but not to the built-in serial port, right?

[Brian_Foulks]

@torsten. It is connected to the MP's DB25 port.

[Tor-Arne Nostdal]

I would rather turn the question upside down...

What configuration does the router need to not have server connection terminated?

As you stated yourself... you do not have the same problem if you hook up a laptop... so apparently your problem is related to the cable (unlikely) and the cisco port.

It seemed as this cable was a special branched cable, where you have one wide connector to the router and several for connecting serial ports.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk801/tk36/technologies_tech_note09186a00801c9a10.shtml
Could be that you could avoid the error with ignoring some of the signals/pins... (as we did in the old simplified 0-modem cables)

I however believe that this has something with the port configuration on the Cisco box to do...

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk801/tk36/technologies_configuration_example09186a008014f8e7.shtml

I'm not sure if there is thrown some kind of signal/characters to the console port whenever the system goes down (perhaps a reset), but this seems to terminate your session. It could be that the reset comes from the server when it scan for an attached console.

When you hook up a PC or an old terminal ;) you simply do not loose connection as it's 'hardwired' - and a reset will simply not jerk off your session...

/2r

[Brian_Foulks]

@tor-Arne. That is the cable. here is the configuration on the router for those ports

line 1/0 1/15
modem InOut
session-timeout 15
exec-timeout 15 0
no exec
transport input telnet
transport output none

[Tor-Arne Nostdal]

Sorry Brian - it's years since I configured cisco routers and serial ports, and I'm not familiare with this particulare setup...
Anyway, I also posted a link with configuration example... perhaps you could play with the flow control...
I assume you do not want to destroy your cable ;), but if you place an cable-checker between your cable and the console port, you might see what's going on. Some such devices can also be used to 'strap' the various pins in your debugging...
But - you should direct the question to Cisco guys first...

If you do not get an answer, try to create a 25-pin 0-modem cable in between... it ignores a lot of handshaking and only give you what you need...

/2r