Damon Getsman <dgetsman@gmail.com> wrote:
> A Sun Enterprise 3500 server has been sitting in our server room for
> some time where I work, and I'm starting to think that it may well
> have the best solution for a problem that we're currently having
> employing a few Sun packages. I won't get into that here, I already
> posted on comp.sys.sun.misc about that. I'm thinking that installing
> them on native Solaris instead of different Linux variants might be a
> bit easier, though, especially with a machine custom configured just
> to run the apps that I need.

Does that mean you're trying to install Solaris on it?

> What I need to find out is how this headless beast can be communicated
> with. It has 4 ethernet ports and a serial port. I have no idea what
> sort of system or configuration was previously on this machine, so I'm
> thinking that it might be best to start with using the serial port as
> a terminal interface, provided the machine has a working OS installed
> on it right now.
>
> I'm not sure of what kinds of settings I'll need to put on the comm
> port to attempt this from a ubuntu linux workstation. Also not sure
> if I should try doing this with a null modem cable or if straight
> serial will give what I need.

Serial port A is (by default) active with the console when no keyboard
is detected at boot time. The serial port is DTE, so you'll need a
null-modem to attach to a PC or other computer. Default settings are
9600, no parity.

> Also, any information about what I can do if this machine does not
> have a valid OS installed would be much appreciated; I'm at a loss due
> to the headlessness of this machine. It does have a CD drive for
> media, so it has that much at least. :P

If you get an OK prompt, insert boot media and type 'boot cdrom'.

It can hold a lot of processors and memory (especially for the time),
but the processors themselves will seem very slow by modern standards.

Good luck.
--
Darren Dunham ddunham@taos.com
Senior Technical Consultant TAOS http://www.taos.com/
Got some Dr Pepper? San Francisco, CA bay area
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