Marc, I'll admit to being terribly confused by dell serial console over LAN as well but once configured correctly it can give you full console access over IPMI, from POST, BIOS to bootloader and OS.
I have this configured on 45 R410s with iDRAC Express and have tried it in the past on 50 R210s and a handful of 1950s and I have to say, even once configured it's actually rather frustrating to use and it's no substitute for a cyclades-like serial console server. I initially tried to use this with the ethernet port on my regular switch (even though the ethernet port was dedicated to PXE and IPMI, all normal traffic is using an add-on 10G card) and the management port would simply stop responding to network traffic on a daily basis. I've since moved the ethernet to an isolated switch and it's marginally better, but the serial-over-LAN is still so unresponsive that remote management automation frequently times out while trying to manage the server). The configuration I ended up with, which works for me, but may not be perfect, /admin1-> racadm getconfig -g cfgIpmiSol cfgIpmiSolEnable=1 cfgIpmiSolBaudRate=115200 /admin1-> racadm getconfig -g cfgSerial cfgSerialBaudRate=115200 cfgSerialConsoleEnable=0 cfgSerialCom2RedirEnable=1 cfgSerialSshEnable=1 /admin1-> racadm getconfig -g cfgIpmiSerial cfgIpmiSerialConnectionMode=1 /admin1-> racadm getconfig -g cfgIpmiLan cfgIpmiLanEnable=1 # omreport chassis remoteaccess Attribute : Enable IPMI Over LAN Value : Yes Attribute : SOL Enabled Value : Yes # omreport chassis biossetup Attribute : Dual NIC Setting : Enabled with 1st NIC PXE and 2nd NIC None Serial Communications Attribute : Serial Communications Setting : On with Console Redirection via COM2 Attribute : Console Redirection After Boot Setting : Enabled Attribute : External Serial Connector Setting : Not Connected Attribute : Console Redirection Failsafe BAUD Rate Setting : 115200 Attribute : Serial Address Select Setting : Serial Device1=COM1, Serial Device2=COM2 yymv on the 1950s, I don't have one in front of me to check at the moment. Regards, Case On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 9:14 AM, Marc Moreau <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello list, > > I'm looking to setup Serial over Lan on my cluster of PowerEdge 1950's. > Does anyone have this setup? > > I'm kind of confused on how all the redirection works. From posts that I > have read, we redirect console to a serial port, then tell the BMC to > forward the serial console to the LAN. But my BIOS has a 'Direct Connect' > mode. My IPMI doesn't have any of the Serial redirect. I fear that I am > confusing IPMI and BMC somewhere too. Could some take a stab at explaining > this please. > > One further question. If I do get this setup, does it give me 'full console > access' over serial. In other words, do I get the BIOS POST, or does the > serial console only come up after post? I am aware that I need to setup my > OS (Centos) to spawn a serial tty, and this I have done before, just not > over baseboard LAN. > > Pointers to docs accepted at par. :) > > -- Marc > _______________________________________________ > Linux-PowerEdge mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge > Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq > _______________________________________________ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list [email protected] https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
