INFODOC ID: 15085
SYNOPSIS: Alternate console using tip
DETAIL DESCRIPTION:

*************** Alternate console instructions ******************
Motivation:
When watchdog resets or kadb analysys are done, there is a great deal of
writing and info gathering that must be done by hand. There is no way
to record information that scrolls across a dumb ascii terminal or
a Sun graphics terminal used as the system console. When a machine
watch-dogs or drops to kadb, you are in the big font mode, no windowing/
copypaste capabilities.

The basic Idea:

Use 2 systems. 
1. The sick/watchdogging/kadb system
2. Another (healthy) Sun system running openwindows/cde with a command-tool
   that scrolls, so that you can copy/paste from (a "console server", if
   you will).

Have the system console of the sick system redirected to another
system. A scrolling cmd tool in openwindows on another system makes it
easy to copy/paste or even use the script utility to save the information.

The basic steps:

Hook a null modem cable between serial port A of the sick machine and
one of the serial ports of the healthy machine. The port (a or b) on the
healthy machine depends on the hardwire entry in the /etc/remote file
on the healthy system.

Here is the hardwire entry /etc/remote that uses port b on the healthy machine.
   hardwire:      :dv=/dev/term/b:br#9600:el=^C^S^Q^U^D:ie=%$:oe=^D:

A null modem cable in its most basic form is an rs232 serial cable
with a minimal pin connections as follows:
   2 ------ 3
   3 ------ 2
   7 ------ 7
A standard serial cable with a null modem adapter from an electronics store
will work too.

There should be an entry for hardwire already in /etc/remote.
It comes with the default OS. If one is not there, you can always copy it
from another Solaris system.

Now open a command-tool on the healthy system.
Sometimes tip behaves better with a shell-tool, but you lose scrolling.
Type in: tip hardwire
You should see a connected message in this command-tool window.
NOTE: you will get the connected message regardless of the presence of the
serial cable. Connected just means your tip session is talking to the serial
port, not to another system.

On the sick system, at the OK prompt do the following:

   setevn output-device ttya
   setevn input-device ttya
   reset

   #eeprom output-device ttya
   #eeprom input-device ttya
   #reboot

(screen & keyboard are for Sun kb & Sun graphics mon.)
(note the default values from the printenv list)

In a minute, you should see boot messages in the command-tool window
on the healthy system. At this point, the command tool is now the system
console for the sick system.

Once you are in this mode, if you need to knock it down to the OK prompt,
do a ~#