How do I connect my Oracle Sun Server via the serial port?’.

We here at Greentec Systems get the question alot!

We thought we would provide some tips for connecting the serial port of a UNIX Server (Sun SPARC / Linux) to the serial port (console) of a Sun Server. This is often helpful and even necessary when performing routine administrative tasks or initiating critical and/or long running processes. Access to the serial console for many Sun servers is the only way to perform administrative tasks given these servers do not come with a frame buffer (i.e. video card).

There are times when we need to initiate a long running job but cannot remain connected to the network for the duration of its execution. In cases like this, we can connect to the serial console of the Sun server, initiate the job and disconnect. The job will remain running even when we drop my connection to the serial port. we can, at a later time, reconnect to the serial console to determine the results.

The first two sections of this article explain the applications (programs) used from a Sun SPARC server and then a Linux server for obtaining a serial console connection. The remainder of this article attempts to describe the details (cables, connections, adapters) of obtaining a serial console connection to/from different Sun SPARC servers.
Connect From Sun SPARC Serial Port

From a Sun server, if you wanted to access the serial console of another computer (ie. Linux, Sun, etc.), you would use the tip command. The configuration file for tip is /etc/remote. In most cases, you will be concerned with the hardwire entry in this file. First, connect the two machines by their serial ports (null modem if required), and from the Sun SPARC (Solaris) machine, type the following at the command-line to connect to the serial console of the other machine (Solaris / Linux):
# tip hardwire
Below is an example /etc/remote file from the Sun SPARC (Solaris) machine that contains the hardwire entry to go through serial port B (/dev/term/b). If you wanted to change this entry to go out through serial port A instead, change “/dev/term/b” to “/dev/term/a”.

cuab:dv=/dev/cua/b:br#2400 dialup1|Dial-up system:\ :pn=2015551212:tc=UNIX-2400: hardwire:\ :dv=/dev/term/b:br#9600:el=^C^S^Q^U^D:ie=%$:oe=^D: tip300:tc=UNIX-300: tip1200:tc=UNIX-1200: tip0|tip2400:tc=UNIX-2400: tip9600:tc=UNIX-9600: tip19200:tc=UNIX-19200: UNIX-300:\ :el=^D^U^C^S^Q^O@:du:at=hayes:ie=#$%:oe=^D:br#300:tc=dialers: UNIX-1200:\ :el=^D^U^C^S^Q^O@:du:at=hayes:ie=#$%:oe=^D:br#1200:tc=dialers: UNIX-2400:\ :el=^D^U^C^S^Q^O@:du:at=hayes:ie=#$%:oe=^D:br#2400:tc=dialers: UNIX-9600:\ :el=^D^U^C^S^Q^O@:du:at=hayes:ie=#$%:oe=^D:br#9600:tc=dialers: UNIX-19200:\ :el=^D^U^C^S^Q^O@:du:at=hayes:ie=#$%:oe=^D:br#19200:tc=dialers: VMS-300|TOPS20-300:\ :el=^Z^U^C^S^Q^O:du:at=hayes:ie=$@:oe=^Z:br#300:tc=dialers: VMS-1200|TOPS20-1200:\ :el=^Z^U^C^S^Q^O:du:at=hayes:ie=$@:oe=^Z:br#1200:tc=dialers: dialers:\ :dv=/dev/cua/b: -------------------------------------------------------------------- The attributes are: dv device to use for the tty el EOL marks (default is NULL) du make a call flag (dial up) pn phone numbers (@ =>'s search phones file; possibly taken from PHONES environment variable) at ACU type ie input EOF marks (default is NULL) oe output EOF string (default is NULL) cu call unit (default is dv) br baud rate (defaults to 300) fs frame size (default is BUFSIZ) -- used in buffering writes on receive operations tc to continue a capability

Hope this helps, please feel free to contact us with any other questions regarding Oracle Sun Servers!