[NTLUG:Discuss] OT: console server

[Fred James]

Stuart Johnston wrote:

>Fred James wrote:
>  
>
>>Stuart Johnston wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Fred James wrote:
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>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>All
>>>>I have four UNIX boxes sitting together, that I should like to be able 
>>>>to telnet to a console server for (male DB9 serial ports), and I should 
>>>>appreciate any suggestions toward a cost effective solution - I don't 
>>>>need GUI, color, or any thing fancy like that.  Thank you in advance for 
>>>>any help you may be able to offer.
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>I don't have any actual experience doing this but from what little I know, you can either:
>>>
>>>1) Buy a console server from someone like Cyclades for ~$800
>>>
>>>2) Buy a 4-port serial card (~$100) and setup a linux system to act as the console server.
>>> 
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>>Stuart Johnston
>>4-port serial card?  Are those manufacturer, OS, BIOS, or any such 
>>dependent?  For example, I have available for the experiment a spare HP 
>>Pavilion 6630 (Intel Celeron 500MHz. 64 MB SDRAM, 10.2 GB hard drive, 
>>CD-ROM and floppy).
>>    
>>
>
>I think they are pretty standard.  Come to think of it, since you only need 4 ports and your PC may 
>already have 2, you could just get a dual board which are cheap and easy to find.  Or even 2 dual 
>boards would probably work if the PC doesn't have any.
>
>For example:
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220010362033
>  
>
Stuart Johnston
Sorry to be such a bother, but I have never used any of these, so ... 
any IRQ or address issues ... for example, I can open multiple telnet 
sessions to the box with the extra serial ports, would I be able to 
address all of the serial ports at once (one for each telnet session, up 
to at least a max of one session per serial port)?
Regards
Fred James