Hello, i just bought a va linux server and installed redhat 9 on it and it has apache installed on it. I was originally using a kvm cable to switch between my desktop and this but since my desktop is in my room the server was making too much noise for me to sleep. I dont have an extra monitor or keyboard or mouse and im a little tight on money. Is it possible to boot linux in text mode and run a terminal program on my windows laptop that can run over a serial cable to my server? Ive seen a few topics about this and when i got my server it said something about valinux servers being able to be administered through a serial cable? My laptop has a serail port, not sure what type ttys? and my server also has a serial port, again not sure what type. ANy help would be appreciated. Lambo

the best would be to hang both on a network and use SSH or WebAdmin (huhu... i know... i''m bad). I only administrate my server using secured SSH2 access from my main desktop PC.

doing it with serial con is a bit more tricky but I guess the Telnet app from windows should be able to work with it.

Otherwise try looking for ''Putty''. it''s an SSH/Telnet client for windows which did great job for me so far.

So i can use telnet the windows app but what type of serial cable should i use? i found an article on this http://www.znark.com/tech/serialconsole.html and putty doent support it I download puttytel and i like the interface

just as they state, a Null Modem Cable. this one is more or less like a crossed RJ45 in principle (thus the RECV/SEND line are crossed). just ask for such a cable in your local pc store, they sure know what to give ya.

EDIT: make sure the speed, stop bits, parity and flow control are equally set

[edited by - RPTD on March 20, 2004 11:07:16 AM]

Thanks for the ssh suggestion.
Only 3 steps:
Download putty: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
Start ssh on server: /sbin/service sshd start
connect to local ip with putty

THats all i did and i got the login screen. Thanks for that suggestion , much better than serial cable.
Lamb

BTW...

if you are not the only one who can access the machine i would suggest include SSH keys to get some protection and to deny access with root. you''ve got su, that''s enough

In case anyone curious finds this topic with a search

you''d need to start a getty on the serial terminal (something like /dev/ttyS1) on the server

to log in, well... minicom? i think? never tried it.