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Re: Console switching

 
Akies
Respected Contributor

Console switching

Hi,

This may be the most stupid question to ask but I am in urgent need of it..I want to connect my laptop with my HP-UX server. When I coonect the console cable with my laptop and try to use CTRL+ALT, ALT+Fn, ALT+TAB, ALT+left arrow, ALT+right arrow, Ia m not able to take the console..Can anyone help me in this??

Regards,
Akies
9 REPLIES 9
Hein van den Heuvel
Honored Contributor

Re: Console switching

First, with console cable you mean the serial line - db9 connector, not an ILO utp Lan cable, right?

It may also help to know which tool you use on the laptop.
- Hyperterm ?
- PuTTY (V0.59 and better support serial lines) ?
- VTstar ?

>> This may be the most stupid question
Let me try a more stupid question...
What do you expect CTRL+ALT to do?
What do you expect ALT+TAB to do?
For me that is a Windows accelerator which takes me to the LRU active window.

Whatever tool you use, it is likely to have a keyboard mapping function (if it deserves to be called a tool). Checked that?

Hth,
Hein.

Akies
Respected Contributor

Re: Console switching

Hey Hi Hein,

Thanks for reply..Actually I am a BIG zero in all this stuff..I am an openview Service desk consultant and to resolve the previous issues and due to non-availability of any administrator at site, I have to do this job by myself.

See I checked the HP-UX box from back and followed where monitor cable is connected, then I took off the LAN looking cable from the monitor and connected it the port of my laptop where we use to connect our LAN cables. Then I thought then ALT+TAB etc commands will automatically take me to other console.

Do I need to install one of the softwares that you mentioned to take the console after connecting the cable?

Kindly help me on the same.

Regards,
Akies
Akies
Respected Contributor

Re: Console switching

Let me give u more information. I need to reset the password of my HP-UX as server as the customer dont remember the password and to reset it, I need to reboot the server and put it into single-user mode.

Now, if i try to take the GUI console of the HP-UX server (like using xmanager software) then I think I will not be able to switch to single user mode. So What I am trying to do is, I am directly connecting my laptop to the HP-UX server so that while reboot, I may do the settings...

Is there any other way?

Regards,
Akies
Bill Hassell
Honored Contributor

Re: Console switching

This is going to be difficult to troubleshoot until you define the console. The keys you mentioned (CTRL+ALT, ALT+Fn, ALT+TAB, ALT+left arrow, ALT+right arrow) have absolutely no meaning to an HP-UX server. These sound suspiciously like special codes that activate a KVM switch -- which has nothing to do with an HP-UX server. So start with the server model: is this a workstation (ie, one with a big TV screen with a mouse, or a true server? The model of the HP server will be very helpful.

> See I checked the HP-UX box from back and followed where monitor cable is connected, then I took off the LAN looking cable from the monitor and connected it the port of my laptop where we use to connect our LAN cables. Then I thought then ALT+TAB etc commands will automatically take me to other console.

This is sounding more and more like a workstation and not a typical server. While there are a (very) few servers with a built-in video/mouse/keyboard interface, the normal connection to the console is through an RS-232 cable, or with newer servers, a LAN cable connected to the GSP or MP console port.

> Now, if i try to take the GUI console of the HP-UX server (like using xmanager software) then I think I will not be able to switch to single user mode. So What I am trying to do is, I am directly connecting my laptop to the HP-UX server so that while reboot, I may do the settings...

OK, the "GUI" console sounds like this is a workstation or a server with a graphics card. No, your laptop will be worthless is trying to get into single user mode since the network card will be dead. The only access possible is at the real console. The fancy Xwindows GUI comes up automatically when the box is booted up, but for single user mode, the video card has it's own terminal interface through the monitor. You'll see this when you reboot.

You must be physically at the console to boot into single user mode. Note also that you'll need to determine if the system is Trusted, shadow password or standard when you set the new password.


Bill Hassell, sysadmin
Akies
Respected Contributor

Re: Console switching

Thank u all for such useful replies..

Well, I think u are right. I need to use real monitor for all this tuff but I have one more issue. The real monitor's screen resolution settings are not as per required as SO I AM NOT ABLE TO SEE ANYTHING ON IT. is there any way to correct it. I came to know how about some commands to change them but those commands needs to be run on unix server and since i m nt able to use access my hp-ux machine, den how can i set them??

once my issue is resolved, I will definitely give GOOD points to every reply..Pls dont worry for that.

Regards,
Akies
Hein van den Heuvel
Honored Contributor

Re: Console switching

Akies, you speak the language of an end user trained to do a particular, specific job in a nicely pre-esablished environment.

But for the new task you are trying to dive in an bare-metal environment with a pile of unknowns, where folks have trained (hands on or formally) for weeks, if not years, to get efficient control of the situation.

It seems like a big gap to bridge.
I'd recommend to call you local support team for help

Either that or you should commit about a day to find and study a bunch of usermanuals which describe the specific boxes you are trying to deal with, try some new tools, figure out was is OS, Firmware, EFI, Application, Terminal vs screen and so on.


No you probably do not need a real monitor that is one of the 3 completely independend and equaly valid option. You can probably get by with a PC and one of the applications I mentioned and a serial line. Or, and this an entirely different but possibly preferred option, you can use a LAN option assuming the server supports this. What server are we talking about?
For the lan option normally you do NOT directly connect PC and Server (allthough you could with a cross-over cable) but you connect both to the same physical network, often using the same switch/hub and then have both be served a fresh an compatible network address by some willing dhcp service. You may need need a windows 'arp' command to match the HW MAC address (printed on label on server) with an IP address.

Best of luck,
Hein.

Akies
Respected Contributor

Re: Console switching

Hi Hein,

Thanks!!

you are right..I told you that I am a BIG zero in this. anyways, I will surely try to use your suggestions.

Regards,
Akies
Hein van den Heuvel
Honored Contributor

Re: Console switching

I'm not saying a zero. (oops, now I did :-).
You are trying. That's a good start.

It just sounds like this is a whole new area and you need to decide whether to spend the time and dive in, or get help.

If it interests you, and specifically if there is a chance you'll need to do this more often, then it is worth getting familiar with.

Gotta pick you battles.

Cheers,
Hein.

Matti_Kurkela
Honored Contributor

Re: Console switching

Akies, you wrote earlier:

"I checked the HP-UX box from back and followed where monitor cable is connected, then I took off the LAN looking cable from the monitor and connected it the port of my laptop where we use to connect our LAN cables."

This sounds a little odd.

With HP-UX, the "monitor" may be one of two things: it might be a normal VGA (or better) monitor.

Or it may be a serial-port-connected terminal, which is a very strange thing for someone who knows only PC hardware.

The problem is, a normal VGA monitor should not have any LAN-like cables attached to it. So I think you're looking at a terminal, but I'm not sure.

With a normal VGA monitor, the computer has a display controller that is continuously generating a picture for the monitor. So if you turn the monitor off and then back on in mid-session, the picture will still be the same.

With a terminal, this is not true: the computer sends data to the terminal only when something is actually changing on the terminal screen. If you turn a terminal off and then back on, the terminal screen will be blank. Usually, you can press Enter a few times to make the computer send a new prompt to the terminal in this situation.

Many Unix programs have a keystroke that instructs the program to completely refresh the screen: it can be used to restore the display if the terminal is accidentally reset. This keystroke is often, but not always, Ctrl-L.

You can use a laptop as a replacement to a terminal, but the cable must then connect to the laptop's serial port. If your laptop is "legacy-free", it will have no serial port: you will then have to get a USB-to-serial converter and use that. In addition to this, you will need software similar to those Hein already mentioned.

Could you provide us with more information?

It would be nice to know the model of the server, so we could use the pictures in docs.hp.com website to guide you. With the older servers, the model is a letter and some numbers, like D580, A500 or L2000; with the newer ones, it's either "rp" or "rx" and a four-digit number, e.g. rp5470.

Don't bother to say "it's a HP 9000" or "it's a Series 800": those are general designations of the entire HP-UX server series, so they are not specific enough to identify the model.

Look at the connector of the HP-UX box where the "monitor" cable is connected. Is it labelled? If so, what does the label say? If not, is there any other identification (if the connector is in an expansion card, the number of the card slot would be nice to know, it would help to eliminate some possibilities).

MK
MK