Console Server on RP5400

[Richard Pople]

Hi. I am trying to connect a Perle CS9000 Console Server to an RP5400 (L class) running HP-UX 11 without success. The CS connects fine to our Sun servers and, although connections to HP are not documented, Perle advise that it should work via a serial connection. I have tried connecting the CS directly onto the Console/UPS/Remote connector on the GSP (rev A) and also via the W cable to the console output cable (ie the connector you normally plug into the back of the console) (using a gender changer) but to no avail. I have tried terminal settings of dumb and VT100. There are no errors, it simply hangs on Escape character is..... Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks. Richard

[Bill Hassell]

Very likely a cabling issue. Always use the W cable since the pinouts for the 3-channel serial port are completely proprietary. The cable from the 9-pin console connector should be a null-modem (aka, swapper, printer, terminal, etc) cable. However, you could spend hours trying things so just get a 9pin null-modem adapter. It is a male-female connector that inserts inline.

Your Console Server may require specific settings regarding handshake and valid signals. RS-232 defines pins 2-3-7 as the actual data channel so if your server can turn off requirements for pins 4-5-6-8-20 and set the Server to XON/XOFF handshake, you should be fine.

[Richard Pople]

Thanks for the tip on the W cable. Have now (I think) eliminated cable issues by using the necessary cables, taking that directly to a console, seeing that work, then removing the cable and connecting it to the Console Server, which doesn't work. I can only assume its down to settings on the CS. Currently set up as speed: 9600 (have also tried 19200), terminal: vt100, flow: soft (have also tried hard / none), bits: 8, parity: none, stop: 1, service: reverse telnet. Does anything look obviously wrong? I don't seem to have an option to turn off requirements for pins. Thanks.

[John Palmer]

The console is a dumb terminal. It sounds as though you've got it configured to use telnet. Do you have a dumb terminal option?

Regards,
John

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

Actually, getting it to work on a standard terminal is only 1/2 the problem. The terminal server could look like a modem or like a terminal connection. If the server looks like a modem, then you need a different cable, hence the recommendation to get a pin-swapper.

If you have a voltmeter, pins 2 and 3 are the transmit/receive pins and the pin with the highest voltage will be data out, while the pin with the lowest voltage (close to zero) will be the data in pin. (the voltages will be about 5 to 12 volts or so). So the correct connection will be high-voltage into low-voltage (transmit goes into receive).

The other problem is with the server. If it requires or uses the control pins (DTR, CTS/RTS, etc) then it may not react until one or more of these pins are active. The manufacturer of the server should provide details about these pins.

[Richard Pople]

Sorry about the delay I hadn't got notification of the new messages. Now resolved, the mistake I made was in assuming that if the cable worked in the console it would work in the console server. In fact it had to be crossed over (pins 2/3). Thanks all for your help.