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Re: console for Linux



Ariel Biener wrote:

> 1). a "boot" console, I mean, something that transfers tty i/o to a serial
> console at boot time, i.e., the minute the kernel started loading. This
[...]
> 2). If the computer gets stuck, for any reason whatsoever, you can send it
> via a serial cable an escape sequence or signal that will generate a
> system cold boot (it is a bios option, I heard it exists, I haven't seen
> any yet).

AFAIK, PCs lack this latter functionality. There is simply nothing you
can
say to a serial port that'll make the machine reboot (unless, of course,
you have some software listening).

Your first note is misaimed as well: the "boot console" other PC unices
may have will always be of limited functionality compared to Sun's, for
instance, since those are hardware (and can be induced through serial)
and support useful stuff - such as a kernel debugger and device probing
- and do (almost) always work. The best you'll ever achieve on a PC is
something that emulates this feature, like Solaris x86 does, but it's
still at the mercy of your basic stability.
 
> I am interested in both features, in order to have reliable production
> network servers running Linux.

Buy a hardware watchdog.


Gaal