On 2008-04-02, 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.

Probably so.

> 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.

No experience with the machine you mentioned, but that sounds
reasonable.

> 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.

Well ... the default for most Sun unix serial ports is
ttya-mode=9600,8,n,1,- (cut and pasted off the output from eeprom),
but there is typically a second serial port on most sun systems -- ttyb,
with both having the same settings by default, but ttya being the one
which is the console in the absence of a keyboard and monitor.

However, from readings here, apparently some enterprise servers
have the console on serial ports using RJ-45 connectors, which can
easily be mistaken for ethernet ports. You should not need four
ethernet ports unless the machine was working as a firewall or router
between subnets. If the connectors are marked with "< . . . >", they
are ethernet. Without that, they may be serial ports. A DB-25 which is
being used as a parallel port will typically be marked "//".

And is the connector (I presume a DB-25 or perhaps a DA-9) male
or female? Male is common on serial ports on Intel boxes, but Sun
tends to use female ones for serial ports -- and for parallel as well,
so your DB-25 may be a parallel and some of the RJ-45 connectors may be
serial ports. The necessary adaptor cable is supposed to be the same as
that used for the console port on a CISCO router.

> Also not sure
> if I should try doing this with a null modem cable or if straight
> serial will give what I need.

I would expect a null modem (or at least a subset of a full null
modem) would be the one to use. However, the easiest way to be sure
would be if you have a serial port breakout box which can have LEDs
indicating which pin each is trying to send on.

> 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

CD or DVD? Assuming that it is an Ultra-based machine, the
latest OS tends to come on either one DVD or four CDs, plus another DVD
containing the "Software Companion" set of net sourced software, which
might be up to two CD-ROMs by now or more.

> Much thanks for helping me communicate with this beautiful piece of
> hardware!

Hopefully you will get other answers from those who are more
familiar with this machine to correct anything which I may have gotten
wrong.

Good Luck,
DoN.

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