iLO2 keyboard corrupt - special characters

[Sandndan]

Hi,

we have some trouble with iLO2 and special characters.

If I press ... -->   the following character is written

SHIFT + 1                  --> !

SHIFT + 2                  --> Ä

SHIFT + 4                  --> $

SHIFT + 5                  --> %

SHIFT + 6                  --> /

SHIFT + 7                  --> -

SHIFT + 8                  --> )

SHIFT + 9                  --> =

SHIFT + 0                  --> '

ALT + STRG + Q       --> "

Last shortcut should write "@". I tried to set hot keys in iLO, but it's the same fault.

iLO2 Fw version 2.15 (01/17/2013)

Does s.o. know this problem?

regards

Danny

[Matti_Kurkela]

As far as I've understood, iLO2 remote console functionality inserts the remote keyboard input into the server's PS2 keyboard controller data path.

On your workstation, a PS2 keyboard produces scan codes, which are basically keyboard layout independent (they just identify the location of the physical key on the standard PS2 keyboard). The scan codes are then translated into characters by the OS (USB keyboards use a different terminology and a more complex protocol). Because of this, the OS must be configured with the correct keyboard layout or the output won't match what is printed on the top of the keys.

When the iLO2 console is used, iLO2 receives already-mapped characters over the network. It needs to "reverse-map" these characters back into PS2 scan codes in order to successfully insert them into the data path of the local keyboard. That's why iLO2 has a keyboard layout setting: if it does not match the keyboard layout settings of the remote workstation, the character-to-scancode mapping will be wrong and you will get unexpected characters. Then there is still the matter of scancode-to-character translation in the server OS: if that is not configured as you expect, it can add even more confusion.

So, there are three pieces of information you will need in order to resolve this issue:

• the keyboard layout setting of your workstation OS
• the keyboard layout setting of iLO2 (this is probably the primary cause of your problems)
• the keyboard layout setting of the server OS

In an ideal situation, all three should be in agreement. But I think iLO2 had a somewhat restricted selection of keyboard layouts: if you are using some national keyboard layout that is not included in the iLO2's list, you may have to study the various keyboard layouts (try Wikipedia, or google for keyboard layout descriptions) and find one that is the closest match to what you're using.

[Utkarsh_Rai]

Hi Danny,

iLO 2 has two consoles - Integarted Remote Console and Remote console. Could you please specify which console were you using when you saw this issue?

Thanks

Utkarsh

[Sandndan]

sorry for this late response:

We are using Remote Console (JAVA App), 'cause the integrated Remote Console (.Net Frameswork) does not work (iLO 2).

@ Matti Kurkela

There are no changes if I set UC characters or Latin characters @iLO2. The special character failures are the same.

OS language is English US, Keyboard is German.

/Danny

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

In the old iLO (version 1), there was a "Remote Keyboard Type" setting in the iLO Global Settings, and that had to be set correctly or else keyboard corruption did happen, pretty much exactly as you're experiencing.

On iLO2, the same setting does not seem to exist any more, at least not in the iLO web GUI.

But the actual Java Remote Console window should have a Locale drop-down menu. Make sure it is set correctly.

HP actually has published a document with quite detailed instructions on iLO2 keyboard troubleshooting:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01153837&prodSeriesId=1146658

[Sandndan]

Thanks for the informations.