iLO2 serial access NT cmd shell - strangeness

[bigdaddy68]

Hi,

I have a serial connector into my rx2660 and when i access it from NT command prompt (cmd shell) the Enter key always adds an extra return or linefeed making it impossible to use.

Eg when I hit return at Login isimmediately skips over passwd and goes to Login: again ...

As a workaround I am hitting Control-J and that seems to be working OK right now.

Does anyone know why this might happen ?

This same serial setup doesn't cause any issues with my rx2800's

thanks
bigdaddy68

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

Unix systems use a single LF character as an end-of-line marker. Windows uses a CR + LF combination instead.

You should use a proper terminal emulator program that allows you to choose the end-of-line characters you're sending.
For example, the free PuTTY 0.60 supports direct serial port connections in addition to network connections over SSH, telnet and rlogin protocols.

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/0.60/htmldoc/Chapter3.html#using-serial

If you absolutely must use the cmd shell for your connections, you can work around the problem by telling the Unix TTY driver to ignore the CR characters. This can be done with a single command:

stty igncr

Of course, you must first login before you can enter this command. The TTY driver will usually be reset to default settings each time you log out.

> This same serial setup doesn't cause any issues with my rx2800's

Perhaps the rx2800s have a different version of iLO that detects this problem and automatically removes the extra CR characters. Hmm... have you checked your iLO firmware versions? Maybe the same functionality would be available to the rx2660 with a iLO firmware update.

MK

[Torsten.]

>> You should use a proper terminal emulator program


I have seen this with hyperterminal in ANSi mode - putty usually works fine.

The rx2660 has iLO2, the rx2800 has iLO3 - this could be the reason for the difference.


However, set the terminal emulator to vt100 or xterm, this should work.



How do you use the serial connection directly from cmd shell?

[bigdaddy68]

Thanks the both of you.

I am using a terminal server like this:

C:\> telnet termsvr.lab 2033

where i am the 33rd serial port ..

I am not sure which kind of termsvr it is ? I will check on which model.

Also My rx2660 is up to date F/W for that system. So this must either be a native iLO2 vs iLO3 strangeness unique to rx2660 or its the line settings on my 'unknown' termsvr.

FYI my rx2600 at home doesn't behave this way and its FW is also up to date.. though I can say I use an 8 port Bay Networks Term Svr(micro Annex XL).

Thanks again
bigdaddy68

[Torsten.]

"... or its the line settings on my 'unknown' termsvr. "


Most likely.