Somewhat related: For some of my headless machines I use the console on a serial port feature of the kernel. It allows you to login to a machine even if there's no network connection. The only limitation is that you need a second machine to ssh into and then run minicom or your serial term package. This is useful when doing remote upgrades that could leave the network inoperative.
Another option may be to use one of those Ethernet/VideoCard devices that put the machine on the network from bios init to OS init and on.
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