Serial console/remote install discussion

[Eugene Grosbein]

On Fri, Sep 21, 2007 at 09:19:17AM -0700, Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
> I'd like to open up a discussion regarding FreeBSD serial console and

> the aspect of installation via serial console.
> 
> There seem to be quite a few surprises in regards to installing (or even
> using!) FreeBSD this way.  I thought I'd mention some of them, in hopes
> that by bringing them to light we can work towards making the
> installation process easier, or at least more headless-friendly.
> 
> 1) Administrators are required to "build their own installation disks"
> (the Handbook goes over this with regards to floppy disks) if they want
> FreeBSD installs to support serial console.  Based on what I've read,
> the procedure is required because the stock installation disks lack a
> /boot.config that contains -h.
> 
> Has anyone ever proposed including a /boot.config on all the
> installation mediums that contains -P by default?  I don't know how
> reliable -P is, but I've used it for years on numerous servers (all
> different hardware) without any issues; others may have different
> experiences.

See also: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=bin/58951

> Which brings me to the next item...
> 
> 2) FreeBSD's serial vs. VGA concept (keyword: versus) is disheartening.
> The whole "one or the other" concept is unrealistic in this day and age,
> and this was more or less admitted by the Dragonfly folks when they
> re-wrote whatever code to get simultaneous dual console (VGA+serial)
> working.

This seems to be wrong: FreeBSD has dual console support for quite long time.

Eugene Grosbein