From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 9 11:27:46 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C9A9C16A4CE for ; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 11:27:46 -0800 (PST) Received: from rwcrmhc12.comcast.net (rwcrmhc12.comcast.net [216.148.227.85]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A0F1843D4C for ; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 11:27:46 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from underway@comcast.net) Received: from localhost.localdomain (c-24-17-47-224.client.comcast.net[24.17.47.224]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc12) with ESMTP id <20040309192638014007umo8e>; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 19:26:38 +0000 Received: from localhost.localdomain (localhost [127.0.0.1]) i29JRf94048398; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 11:27:41 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from underway@comcast.net) Received: (from jojo@localhost) by localhost.localdomain (8.12.11/8.12.11/Submit) id i29JRaQo048397; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 11:27:36 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from underway@comcast.net) To: Matthew Seaman References: <20040308214054.GD8114@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> From: underway@comcast.net (Gary W. Swearingen) Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 11:27:35 -0800 In-Reply-To: <20040308214054.GD8114@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> (Matthew Seaman's message of "Mon, 8 Mar 2004 21:40:54 +0000") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.1002 (Gnus v5.10.2) XEmacs/21.4 (Reasonable Discussion, berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: network type console and /etc/ttys X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 19:27:46 -0000 Matthew Seaman writes: > On Mon, Mar 08, 2004 at 01:07:09PM -0800, Gary W. Swearingen wrote: >> Seems like basic stuff, but I've never seen mention of it before. > > Actually this comes up on this list quite regularly. Search for > 'remote console access' in the list archives. The trick, basically, > is to tell the system to use Serial A as it's console -- how to do > that is described in the Handbook: Thanks, but as you noted, it's not hard to find info about remote serial port consoles. My question was about doing a similar thing over Ethernet. That is, with a single Ethernet cable between the local NIC and the remote NIC, not necessarily on a real, many-port network, and definitely without telnet, ssh, and other network services running -- so that it works from single-user mode, working just like a serial console. I'm sure the Ethernet support is mostly there in the kernel, but maybe something fairly simple is missing from whatever reads /etc/ttys; eg, to know which NIC is to be the console port), and maybe there needs to be an ethernet-getty (similar to telnet, but which needn't even use IP addresses). And maybe a "ethconsole" addition to "comconsole" and "vidconsole" in "/boot/loader.conf". Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like this would be a often- used feature, especially as RS-232 serial ports will probably be disappearing from new motherboards in the next few years.