IBM Power 710 Express setup help 1

[edwardr86]

Hi,

I'm trying to get information on how to get started setting up one of these machines. One problem I'm facing is how do I get a KVM setup so that I could see what I'm doing when trying to get an OS installed on this machine. According to the documentation, it states this:

Cabling the server with keyboard, video, and mouse
Before booting the system, you might need to connect the keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) to the
system, if a graphics card is present.

To connect the KVM, complete the following steps:
1. Locate the graphics card and USB ports at the rear of the system. You may need a connector
converter.
2. Connect the monitor cable to the graphics card.
3. Connect a keyboard and mouse to the USB ports.
4. Power on the console.
5. Connect the power cables for the server and wait for the green light on the operator panel to start
flashing. For more information, see “Connecting the power cables to the system.”
6. Install an operating system and update the operating system, if required

Found here:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER7/p7ed9/p7ed9.pdf

However the documentation is lacking in some context since it does not provide pictures, only instructions. They need to be more specific about this "connector converter" within step 1. What kind of converter? VGA to USB? Or something else?

If the machine does not have a graphics card it mentions other things like connecting an ASCII terminal but again what do they mean by this? Sounds like they're talking about outdated hardware but since they're not providing pictures I do not know what they mean exactly and do not know where could I get one. Even so, it also states this is only useful if the system is in standby state, I can not do this while the system is running.

They also mention cabling to an HMC (Hardware Management Console) but again not sure what that is. At least there's a crude picture of one in the docs but still not sure where to get one or what it even does or if it will help me in what I'm attempting to do.

If anyone could clear some things up who is familiar with these type of machines, and know how I might be able to get started doing something to this machine, let me know!

Thanks

 

[rclarke250]

well, seems pretty clear to me. You need an optional video adapter to hook up a kvm, does the machine have a video card? if not, don't worry about the converter cables, that is if you have an older PS2 style keyboard or mouse, you need to convert them to USB. Now, it is correct that you can run an ASCII terminal to this machine for basic setup. A laptop, with a null modem cable, hooked into serial port 1, and running terminal software like netterm, or hyperterm, emulating VT100, or IBM 3151 would work, also if you could locate an ascii terminal like an IBM 3151 like this would also work. As for an HMC, it is just an intel server with special software to act as console but this is usually for controlling several nodes as it's cost is prohibitive to run just one server. Did you purchase it with IBM i or AIX OS, or are you going to run an enterprise version of Linux? If you know what you are doing in CLi you can run the server this way, If not, well, you can purchase an approved graphics adapter, or pay someone with the knowledge to set it up for you.

 

[edwardr86]

Thanks. That clears things up a little bit more. I'm assuming this machine is just bare metal and has no OS but if it does it's likely AIX OS. I wasn't the one involved in purchasing this thing so I'm not 100% sure what's already on it or what it's equipped with. Regardless we're trying to get ESXi installed on it so that we might be able to host VMs with it so it sounds like we're going to need to get a graphics card installed if it doesn't have one. Do you happen to know what would be the easiest way besides opening the thing up? Looking at the back of it there's like two USB ports, some HMC connectors, and other things. It might be that this particular machine uses the USBs for graphics purposes but other than that nothing really implies to me that it has one and I'm just guessing here.

Anyway, thanks for the input!

 

[rclarke250]

If it has a graphics adapter it will look like this

 

[edwardr86]

Ah I see. I was afraid of that. Then it most certainly doesn't have one. Thanks again!

 

[chgwhat]

It will only run Aix , Linux for power, or IVM. It will not run ESXi, or Windows.


Tony ... aka chgwhat

When in doubt,,, Power out...

 

[edwardr86]

Yeah, that could be a problem. In that case, if AIX is not already installed on there I may go this route. Hopefully at least that will work. Since that Gfx card sounds expensive and difficult to find (via legitimate means) I'm going to *try* and set it up via the ASMI terminal w/0 the card once I find the adapters. Found some neat videos which outlines mostly what I need to do. What they leave out, unfortunately, is how to manage the OS once it's already on there. I saw in one place someone was using a VNC client to complete the rest of the OS install but I'm not sure if that way is best for every day administrative tasks. What's the most common way for this sort of thing?