E250 - need to access it

e250user · July 20, 2006, 5:32am

Hi,

We have an E250 which we need to access to install solaris 10 for a communigate trial.

We only have the server itself, no cables or anything and im struggling to gain access.

It has a RSC card, that i have learned, but a db25-db9 cable doesn't seem to bring anything up in telnet on either the db25 port on the rsc or on port a on the motherboard.

How can i get started on accessing the box?

i read in another forum about removing the rsc card and booting it to try and access a console via port a but that didn't give any response.

This is the first unix/sparc box i have had my hands on, so please be gentle.

Thanks in advance

Alan

reborg · July 20, 2006, 6:04am

It may not be using the RCS card at all.

you need to be sure the cable you are using is a null modem. Then you should connect it to the serial port ( the one marked A )
(using hyperterminal if using windows). If you get output here you're good to go, and you can install the RSC software using the instructions on the sun website.

e250user · July 20, 2006, 6:18am

I think thats what sort of cable i have, i removed it from an external modem i have lying around.

still no response to the console though.

any other ideas?

reborg · July 20, 2006, 6:29am

I think you have the wrong cable. Modems are connected using serial cable which is not crossed over, the one you need is crossed over ( or null modem ).

e250user · July 21, 2006, 6:00am

Got myself the null modem cable and it's now displaying on the screen.

Now, we got this e250 from our data centre as it was our old mail server and i was thinking of installing solaris 10 on it (think it's solaris 7 at the moment)

we don't know the root password?

whats the best way of bypassing/blanking this? i know this is possible in linux, which is as far as my nix knowledge goes.

Cheers.

Alan

reborg · July 21, 2006, 6:24am

If you are going to reinstall and there is nothing you want to keep, you don't need the root password. You will be asked for a new one during installation.

Otherwise, boot deom cd in single user mode, mount the root filesystem and clear the root password in the shadow file. There is a post in the frequently asked questions forum which explains how.

e250user · July 21, 2006, 7:10am

I put cd 1 of solaris 10 in, but it didn't boot from the cd.

anything im missing, other than a brain of course.

Alan

reborg · July 21, 2006, 7:19am

Are you using hyperterminal to connect?

e250user · July 21, 2006, 8:00am

yeah, im using hyperterminal on port A.

reborg · July 21, 2006, 9:00am

ok
enter:
ctrl+pause

Then you should get a line startuing with 'ok'

enter

boot cdrom

on this line and it will boot from the CD.

e250user · July 21, 2006, 9:54am

thanks,

i was trying the break command rather than ctrl pause, so im now installing solaris 10.

Thanks for your help, im sure i will need it again.

Alan

e250user · July 24, 2006, 8:28am

i got solaris 10 installed, at the moment i have configured the network interface as DHCP.

It doesn't appear to be resolving names, what command can i set to make it start looking at our dns server, which is our default gateway and set in dhcp options anyway.

Alan