Terminal Server (Annex)

[harris79]

I have a number of machines connected to a terminal server (annex).
Most work properly except one.
When the machine is in multi-user mode there is no output via the annex. When I connect to
the annex port, i see the message "connected" then nothing.
If I telnet to the box and halt it, the telnet session dies and then I see all the remaining
output via the annex as far as the OK prompt.

When I reboot the server through the annex, I see it come up, FSCK the disks, bind to the
NIS server, syslog starts,
print services start and volume manager starts - then nothing, the terminal hangs.
I can then telnet in normally.

I have tried swapping the annex ports with another machine and using a terminal instead of
the annex. But in all cases, output via the serial port stops when the machine is in multi-user
mode.

As this is only happening on one machine, it must be something wrong with that machines
configuration.

But what? Does anyone know of this problem or seen it before?

Thanks

Steve

 

[bigscouse]

I had a similar problem, in the end Sun had to replace the system board as there was a hardware fault on the serial port.

Ged Jones

Top man

 

[chiunixguy]

There are actually four things that could be wrong:

1. The entry that is supposed to start up the ttymon on /dev/console is missing from the /etc/inittab file.
2. The entry in /etc/inittab is wrong.
3. The /dev/console device file is pointing to the wrong /devices entry.
4. The /etc/ioctl.syscon file in has invalid settings in it for the console, like "Carrier detect must be active"

1 & 2:
co:234:respawn:/usr/lib/saf/ttymon -g -h -p "`uname -n` console login: " -T vt100 -d /dev/console -l console -m ldterm,ttcompat

The above is what the line for "co" in /etc/inittab should look like. Read the man page for inittab to see what all of the fields mean.

3. Remove /dev/console and reboot with the "boot -r" option or "touch /reconfigure ;shutdown -g0 -y -i6". This should recreate the /dev/console file pointing to the
right place which is probably /dev/term/a or the /devices entry that it points to.

4. Remove /etc/ioctl.syscon and reboot or start up admintool and check that the baud rate is correct and that the "service enable" and "software carrier" are on (darker).

You could make sure that "software carrier" is off (lighter) and that the cable
has pin 8 connected to pin 20 of the Annex, that the Annex provides DTR
on a telnet connection to that port. You would also have to make sure that
this line is active when the system boots, or it will not. Admintool sets the
eeprom value "ttya-ignore-cd=false" which will prevent a boot unless there is
something connected. Not knowing that cost me money!

Michael Beirne