Hey gurus,
Our datacenter has no infrastructure at all and they are brand new to
the Unix world. I am trying to find ways to establish serial
connection with the V240 ,V490 and E2900 servers so that I could go in
and do my installation work.
The question I had in mind is that since the V240, V490 and E2900 have
USB ports; can I use USB mouse and keyboard? If yes ; than how or
where to transmit video signals?
Do I have to have a crossover cable with DB9 connectors for all the
environments to install the OS in order to connect to a Terminal?
Any help would be great.
thanks

learner <Zabaloch@gmail.com> wrote:
> Our datacenter has no infrastructure at all and they are brand new to
> the Unix world. I am trying to find ways to establish serial
> connection with the V240 ,V490 and E2900 servers so that I could go in
> and do my installation work.

Use a cable like you would use to program your Cisco Switch or Router.

Alternatively use the adapter provided by Sun, and a straight CAT5 cable.

Best would be to install a serial console switch (Lantronix, Perle,
Cyclades, ...) and permanently connect the Suns with CAT5 cables.


> The question I had in mind is that since the V240, V490 and E2900 have
> USB ports; can I use USB mouse and keyboard? If yes ; than how or
> where to transmit video signals?

You really don't want to do this.
These boxes are servers, not workstations.


> Do I have to have a crossover cable with DB9 connectors for all the
> environments to install the OS in order to connect to a Terminal?

The DB9 connector on these Suns is ttyb, not the console.
The console is on the CAT5 connector (ttya).


Regards
Andreas

On 2007-02-22 22:47:00 +0000, "learner" <Zabaloch@gmail.com> said:
> The question I had in mind is that since the V240, V490 and E2900 have
> USB ports; can I use USB mouse and keyboard? If yes ; than how or
> where to transmit video signals?

I very much doubt this will work, certainly not on the 2900, and I'm
almost sure not on the other machines. You really, really need a
serial connection to do initial configuration machines like this.

--tim

On Feb 22, 5:27 pm, Tim Bradshaw <t...@tfeb.org> wrote:
> On 2007-02-22 22:47:00 +0000, "learner" <Zabal...@gmail.com> said:
>
> > The question I had in mind is that since the V240, V490 and E2900 have
> > USB ports; can I use USB mouse and keyboard? If yes ; than how or
> > where to transmit video signals?
>
> I very much doubt this will work, certainly not on the 2900, and I'm
> almost sure not on the other machines. You really, really need a
> serial connection to do initial configuration machines like this.
>
> --tim

Hey folks,
thanks for the help.
I just got notified from the Data Center folks that they will be using
some KVM over IP technology for console connection or something.
Honestly, I am not an expert, but these guys are worst than me.
I have worked on KVM switches in Windows environment, but I am not
sure about UNXI KVM over IP switches.
Anyways I am still worried about E2900 ?
Does any one know if I can install Solaris 10 on E2900 without a
jumpstart for example stright from a CD?

learner wrote:
> On Feb 22, 5:27 pm, Tim Bradshaw <t...@tfeb.org> wrote:
>
>>On 2007-02-22 22:47:00 +0000, "learner" <Zabal...@gmail.com> said:
>>
>>
>>>The question I had in mind is that since the V240, V490 and E2900 have
>>>USB ports; can I use USB mouse and keyboard? If yes ; than how or
>>>where to transmit video signals?
>>
>>I very much doubt this will work, certainly not on the 2900, and I'm
>>almost sure not on the other machines. You really, really need a
>>serial connection to do initial configuration machines like this.
>>
>>--tim
>
>
> Hey folks,
> thanks for the help.
> I just got notified from the Data Center folks that they will be using
> some KVM over IP technology for console connection or something.
> Honestly, I am not an expert, but these guys are worst than me.
> I have worked on KVM switches in Windows environment, but I am not
> sure about UNXI KVM over IP switches.
> Anyways I am still worried about E2900 ?
> Does any one know if I can install Solaris 10 on E2900 without a
> jumpstart for example stright from a CD?
>

If you have a CD drive and the install CDs I see no reason why you
can't! If you need to install more than one system or you will need to
re-install the O/S it's probably worth the effort to create a Jumpstart
server. If, OTOH, you have only one install to do, it's not worth the
effort to use Jumpstart.

A Sun system (SPARC based) needs a KVM designed for Sun! Professionals
tend to avoid them in favor of a serial console. I have three Ultra 10
workstations at home and I find a KVM quite handy!

On Feb 23, 2:12 am, "learner" <Zabal...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hey folks,
> thanks for the help.
> I just got notified from the Data Center folks that they will be using
> some KVM over IP technology for console connection or something.
> Honestly, I am not an expert, but these guys are worst than me.
> I have worked on KVM switches in Windows environment, but I am not
> sure about UNXI KVM over IP switches.

I think you need to establish exactly what the configuration of these
boxes is & beat the DC people over the head to provide you appropriate
console connectivity. You will almost certainly need some kind of
serial connection for initial configuration at least. Depending on the
machine you then either continue to need a serial connection for the
console, or may be able to set the system controller / LOM to provide
a ssh/telnet connection to the console.

It is unlikely that a PC-style IPKVM will be useful to you: you need a
terminal server to multiplex serial consoles. (Some smaller machines
(and perhaps all the x86/x64 boxes) could be used with a KVM, though
for anything recent you would need one that will do USB keyboard/
mouse, and for older ones you'll want the old Sun keyboard/mouse
connection. I don't think any of your boxes are in this category
though.)

> Anyways I am still worried about E2900 ?
> Does any one know if I can install Solaris 10 on E2900 without a
> jumpstart for example stright from a CD?

If it has a CD/DVD drive (which I think they do as standard), then
yes, you can.

--tim