Sun Microsystems Sun Fire V480, Administration Manual

Page: 103 / 270

Chapter 5 System Administration Software 75
About Communicating With the System
To install your system software or to diagnose problems, you need some way to
interact at a low level with the server. The
system console is Sun’s facility for doing
this. You use the system console to view messages and issue commands. The system
console is unique—there can be only one per system.
During initial installation of the Sun Fire V480 system and the Solaris operating
environment software, you must use the built-in serial port (
ttya
) to access the
system console. After installation, you can configure the system console to use
different input and output devices. See
TABLE 5-2
for a summary.
What the System Console Does
While the computer is starting up, the system console displays status and error
messages generated by firmware-based tests. After those tests have been run, you
can enter special commands that affect the firmware and alter the system’s behavior.
For more information about tests that run during the boot process, see “About
Diagnostics and the Boot Process” beginning on page 84.
Once the operating environment is booted, the system console displays UNIX
system messages and accepts UNIX commands.
TABLE 5-2
Ways of Communicating With the System
Devices Available for Accessing the System Console
During
Installation After
Installation
An alphanumeric terminal attached to serial port A (
ttya
)
(See “How to Set Up an Alphanumeric Terminal as the System
Console” beginning on page 139.)
✔ ✔
A
tip
line attached to serial port A (
ttya
)
(See “How to Access the System Console via tip Connection”
beginning on page 134.)
✔ ✔
A local graphics terminal (frame buffer card, screen etc.)
(See “How to Configure a Local Graphics Terminal as the System
Console” beginning on page 141.)
✔
Sun Remote System Control (RSC)
(See “Sun Remote System Control” beginning on page 25 and
“How to Monitor the System Using RSC” beginning on page 195.)
✔