This is an odd request but, I have (2) HP DL360p GEN8 servers that currently run VMWare 5.1. Neither seems to allow the physical Serial Port on the server to pass through to a VM anymore (however both Host servers DID work, but just stopped working for some reason).
VMWare is baffled, HP doesn't think the serial port is bad, etc. I want to test the serial port on each of the DL360p GEN8 servers WITHOUT having to wipe the VMWare installation on the server itself. Is there a bootable Linux CD distro or something else I can use that without affecting/reinstalling the actual Host server(s), that allows me to test the Serial Port by connecting the server's serial port directly to one of my HP switches and verifying Console Port access is working from the host.? If I can find a bootable USB/CD distro that has a putty-like or hyperterm-like program, I can at least determine if the problem with the Serial Port is VMWare related or not. JR
