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GCS>Sun Microsystems>Servers>Midrange V and Netra Servers
 
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Applies to:

Goal

Solution

The first connection made to the system controllers at installation time utilizes the serial port on the system controller PCBs. Connecting to the ASCII terminal ports requires either a tip session from another Sun Solaris[TM] system, an ASCII terminal connection utilizing either a dumb terminal, a laptop running a terminal emulator or a terminal server.

The initial system setup requires an ASCII terminal connected to the primary TTYA serial port of the system controller or the patch panel if one is supplied (Sun Fire[TM] 6800 server).

Most Sun Fire[TM] servers have two redundant system controllers. When permanent connections are being made, two separate connections are needed. The first step in initial console connection is to determine and note what kind of cable end is needed to connect to the customer-owned terminal equipment.

Common connections utilize either RS232C-DB25, RS423-DB9, DB8 or RJ45 ports. The ports may be a receiver (female) or plug (male) type connector. The system controller connection will utilize a standard RS232C-DB25 male plug.

With this information in hand, the easiest method would be to purchase the appropriate cable. The cable type is "NULL MODEM" which is a standard, commonly available configuration. A "STRAIGHT THROUGH" cable WILL NOT WORK, and connecting it will result in no input or output from the connection.

If a cable is not available, or the cable must be custom-made, it is necessary to switch the transmit and receive pins in the cable to provide proper operation. Since the connection is XON/XOFF, no other wires are needed besides transit-receive and ground. Below is a basic chart with pin/wire configurations of most popular connector types needed to make the proper cable.

     SYSTEM
CONTROLLER end to   DB25   or to   DB9   or to   RJ45   or to   DIN8
7(grd) ------------7(grd)---------5(grd)--------45(grd)-------D(grd)
2(rcv) -----------3(xmit)--------3(xmit)-------3(xmit)-------C(xmit)
3(xmit)------------2(rcv)---------2(rcv)--------6(rcv)--------E(rcv)

Also reference technical instruction <Document 1008702.1>
Serial Cable Connections

1. Install and cable the hardware.
2. Connect a terminal to the system using the serial port.
3. When you set up the terminal, the ASCII port settings should be:

9600 baud
8 data bits
No parity
1 stop bit
XON/XOFF protocol 

If terminal emulation is used, use VT100 emulation if available, which works well to format data. There are other emulations that also work as well. Using the wrong emulation with the above settings will not prevent operation, but may change the way output is delivered to the screen, and affect the interpretation of certain keystrokes from the keyboard.

Because this is the platform console connection, console log messages will be displayed. Since the log buffer on the system controller is limited in size and can be lost altogether if power is cutoff from the frame, it is important to set up a loghost utilizing the system controllers serial or ethernet ports to facilitate troubleshooting should the need arise.

Refer to the Sun Fire Midrange Systems Platform Administration Manual at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19095-01/sf6800.srvr/819-5088-10/819-5088-10.pdf for instructions on setting up ASCII terminal connections as an administrative console. It can be used as a reference to complete console installation of the system.

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