console/serial port in rx1620

[avik]

I was wondering if can I use the serial port in BMC, lets say to take the serial console of another machine using kermit/cu ?

[Hoff]

So you want to connect into the Baseboard Management Console (BMC) or the Management Processor (MP) serial port from another box? That certainly works with OpenVMS and with EFI; that serial port is how OpenVMS itself was originally ported to Integrity Itanium systems, and how it was and can be accessed.

The MP option makes the task easier, as that implicitly includes remote network-level console access. If you don't have an MP, then a DECserver or other serial terminal server can be a common connection choice, and yes, you can connect directly into it from another host, and from there into the serial console.

If you are looking to communicate with EFI, I'd probably use the serial port for user commands and general management and would fire up FTP to load stuff at the EFI level. (Where that's documented by HP.) I'd not tend to transfer stuff up the serial line if I had a network, and EFI itself has rather decent FTP file transfer and network capabilities.

If you're looking to communicate with a particular operating system through the BMC port, you'll want to identify that operating system. OpenVMS I64 can certainly communicate that way through that serial port, but as it's fully privileged I'd not tend to open the BMC or MP for unrestricted remote access. As for other operating systems, I'd certainly expect Linux and HP-UX Unix to be capable of using that serial port. (Though I don't know that.)

Stephen Hoffman
HoffmanLabs