From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 2 23:12:59 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9FF2B106566C for ; Wed, 2 Mar 2011 23:12:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from max@mxcrypt.com) Received: from mail-vx0-f182.google.com (mail-vx0-f182.google.com [209.85.220.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5B62A8FC16 for ; Wed, 2 Mar 2011 23:12:59 +0000 (UTC) Received: by vxc34 with SMTP id 34so571759vxc.13 for ; Wed, 02 Mar 2011 15:12:58 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.52.97.233 with SMTP id ed9mr632060vdb.269.1299107578437; Wed, 02 Mar 2011 15:12:58 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.220.42.67 with HTTP; Wed, 2 Mar 2011 15:12:28 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: <4D6E6B16.7010508@my.gd> From: Maxim Khitrov Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2011 18:12:28 -0500 Message-ID: To: Nerius Landys Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Cc: David Brodbeck , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Finish upgrading remote server without physically being there? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:12:59 -0000 On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 5:18 PM, Nerius Landys wrote: >> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 8:24 AM, Nerius Landys wrote: >>> Another way to do this, but is quite rare, is to log in via serial >>> console. =C2=A0This requires you to configure serial logins to your ser= ver >>> (quite easy, but you should test it first) and it requires the data >>> center to somehow make it possible to log in via serial console. =C2=A0= That >>> is that part that is quite rare. >> >> It's become less rare as more and more servers are coming with IPMI >> devices. =C2=A0Serial-over-LAN can be tough to set up properly, but once >> set up it works quite well. > > Actually the guy who hosts my servers at m5hosting.com was showing and > telling be about some BIOS-over-lan or something like that. =C2=A0I can't > remember exactly what the feature was, but certain motherboards (some > Supermicro models in particular) let you access "something" over LAN. > Maybe that something was BIOS or serial console, or video console, I > can't remember. =C2=A0IIRC when you access that stuff over lan it is like= a > mini HTTP server and sends you some Java applet or something. =C2=A0Prett= y > neat. I just got a new Supermicro Atom board a few days ago (X7SPA-HF-D525). It has a Nuvoton BMC chip that is attached to LAN1 and provides IPMI and KVM-over-IP functionality. The chip gets its own IP address (separate from em0 in FreeBSD) and is powered whenever the power cord is plugged-in. As a result, you have some really useful functionality such as power control (turn the server on/off remotely), access to sensors (MB & CPU temperatures, voltages, chassis intrusion), text console, and KVM console. KVM console is accessed using a Java application that has to be installed on the client. It's pretty much identical to having a physical monitor and keyboard attached, in that you can control the system from the moment that it turns on, including going into BIOS. The only glitch I found so far is that the connection freezes for a few seconds while FreeBSD initializes em0 during boot. After that everything is fine. - Max