Console Output and Serial Terminals
Overview
This page describes different methods for setting up a serial console post booting up an NST system. See Getting Started - Server Boot for setting up a serial console initially during a NST Live boot.
Serial Console On NST 2.13.0
Add Serial Console On Device: /dev/ttyS0
Use the following command to manually enable the serial console on NST versions 2.13.0 using upstart. This example will set the serial baud rate to: "57600" and use serial device: "/dev/ttyS0".
[root@probe ~]#
A user login prompt should now be active on serial device: "/dev/ttyS0".
Serial Console On NST 2.15.0 or Above
systemctl Bash Completion
The bash shell's completion function can be extended to external programs. The systemd-units RPM package contains a bash completion script ("/etc/bash_completion.d/systemctl-bash-completion.sh") for the systemctl command. To enable it, source it in within your bash shell:
[root@probe ~]#
To use it, lets say to get the status of a serial device (systemctl status serial-getty@ttyS0.service), perform the following:
systemctl stat<tab>
Substitute the "<tab>" for the tab key. This will result in:
systemctl status
Now the next part of the command:
systemctl status seria<tab>
Again substitute the "<tab>" for the tab key. This will result in the full command:
systemctl status serial-getty@ttyS0.service
Add Serial Console On Device: /dev/ttyS0
Use the following command to manually enable the serial console on NST versions 2.15.x or above using systemd. This example will use the current baud rate (agetty -s option) set typically during a boot time and use serial device: "/dev/ttyS0". If one needs to adjust the baud rate, send a break character on your communications application to cycle through the baud rate list (i.e., In this example: 115200, 38400 and 9600).
[root@probe ~]#
A user login prompt should now be active on serial device: "/dev/ttyS0". To get the serial console status use the systemctl command as follows:
serial-getty@ttyS0.service - Serial Getty on ttyS0 Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/serial-getty@.service) Active: active (running) since Tue, 17 May 2011 16:59:56 -0400; 5min ago Main PID: 31524 (agetty) CGroup: name=systemd:/system/serial-getty@.service/ttyS0 └ 31524 /sbin/agetty -s ttyS0 115200 38400 9600 [root@probe ~]#
Add An Additional Serial Login Device: /dev/ttyUSB0
One can add an additional Serial user login session on a serial device. If your NST system does not have a physical serial port, you can plugin a USB To Serial Converter device for user login. In this example we are adding a USB To Serial Converter which attaches as device: "ttyUSB0". Simply start a serial login on this device as follows:
[root@probe ~]#
A user login prompt should now be active on serial device: "/dev/ttyUSB0". To get the serial console status for this device use the systemctl command as follows:
serial-getty@ttyUSB0.service - Serial Getty on ttyUSB0 Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/serial-getty@.service) Active: active (running) since Fri, 20 May 2011 21:13:55 -0400; 3min 24s ago Main PID: 1273 (agetty) CGroup: name=systemd:/system/serial-getty@.service/ttyUSB0 └ 1273 /sbin/agetty -s ttyUSB0 115200 38400 9600 [root@probe ~]#
To make this configuration permanent add the following:
[root@probe ~]#