Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2011 18:12:28 -0500 From: Maxim Khitrov <max@mxcrypt.com> To: Nerius Landys <nlandys@gmail.com> Cc: David Brodbeck <gull@gull.us>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Finish upgrading remote server without physically being there? Message-ID: <AANLkTikj7-wXv3vErm6oOOXvPZEPCaqVEjnHWfycin7z@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <AANLkTi=5YXqgyy_%2BSMdYof3Y3neaatoC7C0sb-tdhxkX@mail.gmail.com> References: <AANLkTin39JjTsts2WwgDUV2QfZL745D0P3DqTkko8TFq@mail.gmail.com> <4D6E6B16.7010508@my.gd> <AANLkTin7sHXsLwBBUmHinDaB3FLOH25_CDy4v82gKFjw@mail.gmail.com> <AANLkTikq1-CKnwHRahTE%2BTa5KLP=8qpUG8WzBrpP=d8n@mail.gmail.com> <AANLkTikFNnV-V82Ucncy_cM0VwiNif6r8DHB9DfMDNvC@mail.gmail.com> <AANLkTi=5YXqgyy_%2BSMdYof3Y3neaatoC7C0sb-tdhxkX@mail.gmail.com>
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On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 5:18 PM, Nerius Landys <nlandys@gmail.com> wrote: >> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 8:24 AM, Nerius Landys <nlandys@gmail.com> 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
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