Serial console/remote install discussion

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Sat, Sep 22, 2007 at 12:27:14PM +0200, Achim Patzner wrote:
> Am 22.09.2007 um 11:52 schrieb Dag-Erling Smørgrav:
>> Jeremy Chadwick <koitsu at FreeBSD.org> writes:
>>> I'd like to open up a discussion regarding FreeBSD serial console and
>>> the aspect of installation via serial console.
>>
>> how about you go read loader(8) and loader.conf(5) first?
>
> And the documentation of his server's BIOS (if there is one). I've seen
> people getting into hip-deep shit using serial console and BIOS 
> VGA-to-serial replication features at the same time... At different data
> rates. Resulting in really cool side effects.

I can imagine the result would be fairly amusing, but it ultimately
depends on how the vendor implements the whole VGA-to-serial aspect of
things.  For example, I think Rackable's systems (using the Phantom) do
things quite a bit differently than Supermicro.

The generic walk-through description I gave at the bottom of my mail for
Supermicro servers works reliably on pretty much all models made over
the past 3 years.  BIOS-level serial redirection is immediately released
after POST, which means FreeBSD (boot0sio (optional), boot2/loader, and
the kernel) are responsible from that point onwards.

I totally agree that letting the BIOS handle everything (re: VGA-to-serial)
is a questionable solution/idea, which is probably why Supermicro BIOSes
let you configure retaining VGA-to-serial after POST or not.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                    jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                           http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                      Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.                  PGP: 4BD6C0CB |