Console over network?

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:55 pm Post subject: Console over network?

I need some help. I have a server which is DisplayPort only. The best part? It is digital only, so no basic converters work. I want to boot from my USB stick with System Rescue CD on it (Gentoo based) and somehow get video out of the box so I can install Gentooo as a server on the box hosting SMB/NFS shares. Once I can get into the system I can likely just SSH into it, but what are my options for now?
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Ever picture systemd as what runs "The Borg"?

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:29 am Post subject:

I had an idea which worked. I waited until the system booted to GRUB on the USB stick, pressed down followed by enter (boots to RAM). Once it booted, I found the address. I then carefully typed "passwd newpassword" and then "newpassword". I can now SSH into the live environment!
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Ever picture systemd as what runs "The Borg"?

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3477

One neat trick with servers is that they often come with management interface AKA IPMI.
Once you redirect serial interface to LAN, and start console on /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 you can access it over lan with SOL provided by IPMI. Also, since this redirection happens in hardware, it also allows you to access BIOS. And you can even use it to power on your machine, effectively eliminating need for WoL even in case of machines in remote locations. Good stuff,

Ant P. · Watchman Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 6920

Not going to solve your original problem, but it might be of interest anyway: