[Gllug] Changing machine's IP address

[tet at accucard.com]

>Pardon my ignorance, but why can't you just use the monitor and
>keyboard? I'm assuming this is because its in a rack and you  don't
>have a monitor in the rack as well. 

Because you can't do it remotely. All of our servers have a serial
line going into a terminal server, which I can telnet to and get
console access to all our machines. Plus, of course, most of our
servers not only don't have a keyboard or monitor attached, but
they don't even have connectors to plug them in even if they were
available. Just a power socket, network ports, serial ports and
an external SCSI connector.

>> oooo, which ones?  i've been wondering how long it's going to take PC
>> mobo makers to enter the iron age.

Newer Intel server motherboard support serial consoles:

	http://developer.intel.com/design/servers/buildingblocks/boards.htm

Alternatively you can go for a solution like the weasel:

	http://www.realweasel.com

Works well, but it's hideously overpriced, and pretty useless for a 1U
server (which typically only have one PCI slot, and on our servers,
that's already used).

>When you say true serial console  functionality, what exactly do you
>mean by  that? Whats the difference between true serial console and
>false serial console modes? What can you achieve in one which you cannot
>achieve in the other?

BIOS-level access. I can remotely access the PROM on all our SPARCs
(equivalent to the BIOS on a PC). I can also remotely power the machine
on or off.

Tet

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