HP9000 console cable probs

[Avatar Ben]

Hi,

I know this question has been asked lots of times but I can't seem to figure it out... the more early posts with attachments & links don't seem to work anymore.

I have a blackbox usb --> db9 male converter.
To this cable I attach my cisco cable (db9 female to RJ45).

This cable works on :
- all sun machines
- all cisco devices

The cable doesn't work in more recent HP blades where you have this ILO RJ45.

When I put a nullmodem db9 female --> db9 female on my db9 blackbox usb cable it doesn't work either on the HP9000 series.

So on the HP9000 series I noticed sometimes there's the well known 'W' cable with UPS,REMOTE & CONSOLE and sometimse they seem to be on the chassis.
When there's the 'W' cable I connect the follwing cable on the CONSOLE connector :
usb to db9male --> db9 female - null modem - db9 female --> chassis Console or W console.

I can't seem to get any output ...

any help/attachments/pin-layout would be appreciated.

thx

[Jozef_Novak]

Hello,

I have noticed the same problem when using a PCMCIA card with a serial port on it (for some reason they omitted serial ports on some HP laptop series). When I used an USB to serial DB9 converter, it worked just fine. The setup was identical to yours (USB->DB9->NULL MODEM->W CABLE).

I would suggest to start with checking your serial interface settings according to HP9000 series documentation.

J.

[TTr]

> To this cable I attach my cisco cable (db9 female to RJ45).
> The cable doesn't work in more recent HP blades where you have this ILO RJ45.

This is wrong from a cabling/interface perspective. You are connecting serial cables to a LAN interface. The RJ45 on an iLO is a LAN interface. The RJ45 on the SUN and CISCO machins is actually a serial interface.

> When there's the 'W' cable I connect the follwing cable on the CONSOLE connector :usb to db9male --> db9 female - null modem - db9 female --> chassis Console or W console.

This is ok from a cabling perspective.
Use USB-to-serial or USB-to-LAN converters as indicated by Josef not simple cable adapters.

[Bill Hassell]

Welcome to the world of trashed standards. A serial connection is (and has been for more than 30 years) defined by EIA RS-232C. That's where you find the DB25 connector defined and the concept of a DCE (modem) and DTE (terminal or computer). Along comes IBM and to save space, defines a pseudo standard with the DB9 connector. And in the late 80's, the ubiquitous RJ45 connector (borrowed form the telephone industry) became the LAN standard -- and then the completely unstandardized replacement for the DB9.

For the DB9, the PC standardized the pin outs for printers and modems. But alas, Brocade came along and the standard null-modem cable won't work -- Brocade wires it's management port to look like a modem.

So for serial connections, you need a straight through 9pin-to-9pin female cable, plus a 9pin-25pin adapter, a null modem 9pin adapter and a pair of 9pin M-M and F-F gender changers.

For HP servers, the famous W cable (3 9pin connectors) supplies a standard 9pin computer connection on the "console" connector. Use a null-modem adapter to connect to a laptop or terminal.

Now when you see a managemnent port with an RJ45 connector, you can't assume anything. Cisco uses a serial interface with their own pin outs, Cyclades has yet another pin outs, and then several companies supply DB9-RJ45 adapters, only compatible on a few systems. The only hope is go to the mfr's website and order their special cable.

Finally, almost no PC or laptop comes with a serial (or even a Centronics printer) port. You must buy a USB-to-serial and if needed, a USB-to-Centronics converter to use these old interfaces. You'll have to verify which COM port on the PC corresponds to the adapter. Unlike other USB devices, the serial and Centronics adapter drivers will assign a different COM name to each USB port. Some terminal emulators are nice enough to tell you when a COM port is not connected. Others just don't do anything which makes figuring out the COM port a big guessing game. (SecureCRT and WRQ Reflection will tell you)