Introduction and Overview
User Guide
19
Chapter 1 - Introduction and Overview
The BLACK BOX
®
Advanced Console Server
The BLACK BOX
®
Advanced Console Server is line of Console Access Servers that allow
both local and dial-in access for in-band and out-of-band network management. run an embed-
ded version of the Linux operating system. Configuration of the is done by editing a few
plain-text files, and then updating the versions of the files on the BLACK BOX
®
Advanced
Console Server. The files can be edited using the vi editor provided or on another computer
with the environment and text editor of your choice. The default “profile” of the BLACK BOX
®
Advanced Console Server is that of a Console Access Server.
You can access the BLACK BOX
®
Advanced Console Server via three methods:
•
A console directly connected to the BLACK BOX
®
Advanced Console Server
•
Telnet/ssh over a network
•
A browser
And configure it with any of the following four options:
•
vi
•
Wizard
•
Browser
•
Command Line Interface (CLI) - only for certain configuration parameters
With the BLACK BOX
®
Advanced Console Server set up as a Console Access Server, you can
access a server connected to the BLACK BOX
®
Advanced Console Server through the
server’s serial console port from a workstation on the LAN or WAN. There is no authentica-
tion by default, but the system can be configured for authentication to be performed by a
Radius server, a TacacsPlus server, or even by a local database. Either telnet or ssh (a secure
shell session) can be used. See
Appendix A - New User Background Information
for more
information about ssh. The instructions in
Chapter 2 - Installation, Configuration, and Usage
will set up a fully-functional, default CAS environment. More options can be added after the
initial setup, as illustrated in
Chapter 3 - Additional Features
.
