Fedora Users — RE: serial console config, cant get it rite... Help!

I wrote this for CentOS, bujt it should work for FC5:

1.1 Configuring Headless Operation

By configuring “headless” operating we will be able to manage the firewall via a cable plugged into the serial port of the firewall. This obviates the need to plug a keyboard and monitor into it to perform changes. Thus the term “headless”.

1.1.1 Changes to /etc/inittab

The /etc/inittab file contains settings that get applied to the Operating Systems at boot time. There are some changes that need to be made to these settings. In order to edit the /etc/inittab file type:

vi /etc/inittab

Typing this command will open the /etc/inittab file for editing.

As stated earlier the 18^th line down is the run level line. Add the following line to the file:

S0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 9600 linux

This line sets the Operating System to be able to send boot time information to the serial port in addition to the console.

After you have made these changes to the /etc/inittab file press the colon (: ) key and then type wq to quit vi and save the changes.

1.1.2 Changes to /etc/securetty

The /etc/securetty sets the controls for which TTY devices that the root account can log on via. In order for us to be able to log onto the serial console as root or to be able to su to root we must add a line to the file. In order to edit the /etc/secuertty file type:

vi /etc/securetty

Typing this command will open the /etc/secuertty file for editing.

Add the following line to the end of the file:

ttyS0

This line sets the Operating System to allow root to log on to the serial port in addition to the console.

After you have made these changes to the /etc/securetty file press the colon (: ) key and then type wq to quit vi and save the changes.

1.1.3 Changes to the Boot Loader

In order for boot-time messages to be sent to the console, including the boot loader information some changes must be made to the configuration file for it. The boot loader that CentOS uses is GRUB. As such, the configuration file is /etc/grub.conf.

The first change that we must make is to add some lines after the timeout line in the GRUB configuration file. In order to edit the /etc/grub.conf file type:

vi /etc/grub.conf

Typing this command will open the /etc/grub.conf file for editing.

Add the following two lines after the timeout line in the configuration file:

serial --unit=0 --speed=9600

terminal --timeout=5 serial console

Another change that we must make in the GRUB configuration file is to tell the kernel to send out all kernel-level messages to the serial port in addition to the console. That is done by adding the following line to the end of the kernel line:

console=tty1 console=ttyS0

After you have made these changes to the /etc/grub.conf file press the colon (: ) key and then type wq to quit vi and save the changes.

Once you have made these changes reboot the system by typing by typing:

reboot

The system will now reboot.

Hi .
I have an install of fc5 on a normal ata note book hard drive, in an Ibase FWA7304 (it only has a serial port on vga).
I have managed to get it to work once then it broke and I cant get it to work again..
this is as far as it boots ....

Booting 'Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5)'

root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 ro root=LABEL=/ console=tty0 console=ttyS0,19
200n8
   [Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1e00, size=0x16eb71]
initrd /initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.img
   [Linux-initrd @ 0x1edff000, 0xe0f81 bytes]

no matter how i reinstall the drive... I even used the hdd from my laptop with a full install of fc5 and it stops at exactly the same place ......

here are my configs

/boot/grub/grub.conf
default=0
#timeout=5
serial --unit=0 --speed=19200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=10 serial console
#splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 ro root=LABEL=/ console=tty0 console=ttyS0,19200n8
        initrd /initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.img

/etc/inittab
id:5:initdefault:

# System initialization.
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 6

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# When our UPS tells us power has failed, assume we have a few minutes
# of power left. Schedule a shutdown for 2 minutes from now.
# This does, of course, assume you have powerd installed and your
# UPS connected and working correctly.
pf::powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f -h +2 "Power Failure; System Shutting Down"

# If power was restored before the shutdown kicked in, cancel it.
pr:12345:powerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "Power Restored; Shutdown Cancelled"

# Run gettys in standard runlevels
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

# Run xdm in runlevel 5
x:5:once:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon
s0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty ttyS0 19200 vt102

/etc/sysconfig/init
# color => new RH6.0 bootup
# verbose => old-style bootup
# anything else => new style bootup without ANSI colors or positioning
BOOTUP=serial
# Turn on graphical boot
GRAPHICAL=yes
# column to start "[ OK ]" label in
RES_COL=60
# terminal sequence to move to that column. You could change this
# to something like "tput hpa ${RES_COL}" if your terminal supports it
MOVE_TO_COL="echo -en \\033[${RES_COL}G"
# terminal sequence to set color to a 'success' color (currently: green)
SETCOLOR_SUCCESS="echo -en \\033[0;32m"
# terminal sequence to set color to a 'failure' color (currently: red)
SETCOLOR_FAILURE="echo -en \\033[0;31m"
# terminal sequence to set color to a 'warning' color (currently: yellow)
SETCOLOR_WARNING="echo -en \\033[0;33m"
# terminal sequence to reset to the default color.
SETCOLOR_NORMAL="echo -en \\033[0;39m"
# default kernel loglevel on boot (syslog will reset this)
LOGLEVEL=3
# Set to anything other than 'no' to allow hotkey interactive startup...
PROMPT=yes

/etc/sysconfig/kudzu
# Set to anything other than 'no' to force a 'safe' probe on startup.
# 'safe' probe disables:
# - serial port probing
# - DDC monitor probing
# - PS/2 probing
SAFE=yes

/etc/securetty
console
ttyS0
vc/1
vc/2
vc/3
vc/4
vc/5
vc/6
vc/7
vc/8
vc/9
vc/10
vc/11
tty1
tty2
tty3
tty4
tty5
tty6
tty7
tty8
tty9
tty10
tty11

/etc/selinux/config
# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system.
# SELINUX= can take one of these three values:
#       enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced.
#       permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
#       disabled - SELinux is fully disabled.
SELINUX=disabled
# SELINUXTYPE= type of policy in use. Possible values are:
#       targeted - Only targeted network daemons are protected.
#       strict - Full SELinux protection.
SELINUXTYPE=targeted

So what have I missed ?
I used the following howto...
http://bluequartz.org/~oda/docs/serial/index.html
and
http://taosecurity.blogspot.com/2004/06/fedora-core-2-based-soekris-system.html

Many Thanks in advance
--
Gregory Machin
gregory.machin@xxxxxxxxx
www.linuxpro.co.za