Forums »
Linux Forums And Topics Discussions For Wallpaper Websites Running On Linux Servers »
How To Configure Linux Console Terminal Serial Ports UNIX Hyper-Terminal

How To Configure Linux Console Terminal Serial Ports UNIX Hyper-Terminal

Description: How To Configure Linux Console Terminal Serial Ports UNIX Hyper-Terminal

Tags: how ,to ,configure ,linux ,console ,terminal ,serial ,ports ,unix ,hyper ,terminal

Posted On Tue Nov 21, 2006 By unix In Linux Forums And Topics Discussions For Wallpaper Websites Running On Linux Servers Forums

As you may or may not know, UNIX is a command line operating system. Most administrators (like me) have to use the shell on Linux/UNIX systems because they don't have a nice and pretty GUI (Graphical User Interface) A gui is something like windown. A command line doesn't have all the images, instead it only has a prompt, letters and numbers..

How to Configure Linux Console:
Follow these steps to configure the linux machine,box, server,computer or whatever you call it.

Step 1. MAKE BACKUP - You will need to make a backup copy of your inittab, so to do this, send this command.

CODE:

cp /etc/inittab /etc/inittab.org

Step 2. CHECK SERIAL PORTS ARE ENABLED: Send this comands to check you have console ports in your motherboard:

CODE:

dmesg | grep tty

You will see something like this:

CODE:

ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A

Now send this command:

CODE:

setserial -g /dev/ttyS[01]

You should see somthing like this:

CODE:

/dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4
/dev/ttyS1, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3

NOTE: Sometimes you will need to enable the serial port in your mother baord by going into the BIOS.

Step 3. EDIT INITTAB FILE - To edit the inittab file, execute this command:

CODE:

nano /etc/inittab

NOTE: For my example i used the nano text editor, you can use whatever text editor you prefer, like VI Editor.

The inittab file should look something like this:

CODE:

#
# inittab This file describes how the INIT process should set up
# the system in a certain run-level.
#
# Author: Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org>
# Modified for RHS Linux by Marc Ewing and Donnie Barnes
#

# Default runlevel. The runlevels used by RHS are:
# 0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
# 1 - Single user mode
# 2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not have networking)
# 3 - Full multiuser mode
# 4 - unused
# 5 - X11
# 6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#
id:3:initdefault:

# System initialization.
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 6

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# When our UPS tells us power has failed, assume we have a few minutes
# of power left. Schedule a shutdown for 2 minutes from now.
# This does, of course, assume you have powerd installed and your
# UPS connected and working correctly.
pf::powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f -h +2 "Power Failure; System Shutting Down"

# If power was restored before the shutdown kicked in, cancel it.
pr:12345:powerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "Power Restored; Shutdown Cancelled"

# Run gettys in standard runlevels
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

# Run xdm in runlevel 5
x:5:once:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon

Search for the line where it says: 6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6 and add these line:

CODE:

# Run agetty on COM1/ttyS0 and COM2/ttyS1
s0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issueserial 9600 ttyS0 vt100
s1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issueserial 38400 ttyS1 vt100
#s1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -i 38400 ttyS1 vt100

so now your inittab file should look like this:

CODE:

#
# inittab This file describes how the INIT process should set up
# the system in a certain run-level.
#
# Author: Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org>
# Modified for RHS Linux by Marc Ewing and Donnie Barnes
#

# Default runlevel. The runlevels used by RHS are:
# 0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
# 1 - Single user mode
# 2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not have networking)
# 3 - Full multiuser mode
# 4 - unused
# 5 - X11
# 6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#
id:3:initdefault:

# System initialization.
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 6

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# When our UPS tells us power has failed, assume we have a few minutes
# of power left. Schedule a shutdown for 2 minutes from now.
# This does, of course, assume you have powerd installed and your
# UPS connected and working correctly.
pf::powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f -h +2 "Power Failure; System Shutting Down"

# If power was restored before the shutdown kicked in, cancel it.
pr:12345:powerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "Power Restored; Shutdown Cancelled"

# Run gettys in standard runlevels
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

# Run agetty on COM1/ttyS0 and COM2/ttyS1
s0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issueserial 9600 ttyS0 vt100
s1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issueserial 38400 ttyS1 vt100
#s1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -i 38400 ttyS1 vt100

# Run xdm in runlevel 5
x:5:once:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon

Step 4. ACTIVATE NEW CHANGES - to active the new changes, send this command:

CODE:

init q

Step 5. CONFIRM agetty IS LISTENING TO PORTS: send this command to confirm:

CODE:

ps -ef | grep agetty

The output should look like this:

CODE:

[root@ns3 ~]# ps -ef | grep agetty
root 3526 1 0 09:27 ttyS1 00:00:00 /sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issueserial 38400 ttyS1 vt100
root 5337 3762 0 10:23 pts/0 00:00:00 grep agetty

Step 6. HOW TO CONNECT FROM PC TO SERVER CONSOLE: Now comes the good part, connecting to your console ports. Now that they have been enabled, you can connect to them. These are the parts (items) things you are going to need to connect:

1 roll-over cable
2 db-9 connectors

Step 7 - EMULATOR - for this tutorial guide, i will be using windows Hyper-Terminal. These are the step to take to start they hyper-terminal:

Give your connection a name, you can name it whatever you want:

Select the COM connection, in my exaple i am using COM1

Make sure to use these setting: 9600 8-N-1

Now you should be connected to the Shell

DONE

credit To Van Emery : http://www.vanemery.com/Linux/Serial/serial-console.html

lunar95s Tue Feb 10, 2009

where can i buy that type of cable i went to best buy and circuit city and they told me they dont cary thos types of cables. what are they called?

confsed Tue Feb 10, 2009

i also have this cnosole cable for my linux consoel server that i connect the donsole link with another vonsole server and now i have both xonsole in the same direction but one of the cinsole cant see the other clnsole so can you help me troublehshoot his cpnsole cnnection i made for the first one and do you have to have windows xp for be able to adapt the comsole to a linux cohsole cobsole coneole conamericane condole conwole consile conslle consple consope consome consoke termnial treminal rerminal germinal yerminal teeminal tetminal tegminal tefminal terninal terkinal terjinal termonal termunal termknal termimal termihal termibal terminsl terminzl terminql terminap terminam terminak sreial eerial aerial derial werial seeial setial segial sefial seroal serual serkal serisl serizl seriql seriap seriam seriak consol teminal linxu lniux hiper terminol configu configurar configura properties defaults term server connections howto ports port scsi ansi connection

hiper Sun Sep 28, 2008

thank you, i always want to learn how to connect to linux console using hyperterminal

Dale Wed Sep 10, 2008

started out to be a good tutorial, but is left hanging in space by finishing in windows. i think you need to learn how to do things before you try to teach someone else.

buddy Mon Jul 21, 2008

good information..................thanks

sanwin Thu Apr 17, 2008

testaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Mahmoud Sat Jan 05, 2008

good stuff
however why all this headech while you can get an external tool can connect to linux server using ssh or telnet.
unless you have no network connectivity and available console to the linux server then i would say, yes this is good way to get to the server console command line to manage it as this is will become the last resort.

GABRIEL Wed Oct 10, 2007

dear sir,
i find your work very useful, but i would like you to recommend a terminal emulator
that can be run on a linux based system,just like windows hyper terminal. i will find it very rewarding to me if you can help me out in tthis area.
thanks
gabriel

Iqbal Wed May 30, 2007

yeah, we are looking for linux/unix hyperterminal that support ctrl-z command. not this windows capitalist program...

Feeyo Tue Feb 27, 2007

Really good howto! =)
Although i was searching for how to connect to a terminal with my linux laptop. Anyone knows?

Information

Title: How To Configure Linux Console Terminal Serial Ports UNIX Hyper-Terminal

Info: This Post Has Been Viewed 0 Times Since
Date: Tue Nov 21, 2006
Author unix Received 10 Replies #2876

How To Fix Mod_rewrite 500 Internal Server Error On .htaccess File Apache