remote config of a headless g5 xserve

strongbad

Registered
hello,

i need some opinions/options...i have a windows pc and a g5 xserve. I would like to get to the console of the g5 so that I do things like format the drive, install OS etc?

i've heard that it should be possible to get to the console through the serial port however a standard null modem cable doesnt seem to yield anything...anyone know more detailed settings to get to the console?
i've heard that I can ssh to it? but i don't know the default ip of the xserve...
i've heard that there is a vga over usb cable?
i've heard of getting a vid card..

am i out of luck? any help would be greatly appreciated!

thanks
 
The article has some good info, but is assumes that you can ssh into the machine.

If I have a brand new Xserve, what can I do?

I'm working in an environment with no Macs yet. The networking group created a static mapping for the xserve's MAC, so I know what IP the xserve should be grabbing via DCHP, but I can't ssh to it (and nmap shows no sign of life on that IP).

And similar to the first poster, using a serial cable yields nothing.

Any suggestions, or pointers for an installation over the serial port?

Thanks!
 
You can use Server Assistant to set up a remote server. Command line, you'll want to use sa_srchr to find the server and then SSH into it as root using the password of the first 8 characters of the serial number.
 
Thank you, I appreciate the reply, but I believe that Server Assistant (though it wouldn't be the first time I've been mistaken today if I'm wrong about this) is a Mac application; I don't have easy access to a Mac laptop or workstation.

And the xserve doesn't seem to be grabbing the dhcp address that has been statically assigned to it, so I can't ssh into it (I don't see any sign of network life from the box).

So I'm hoping to install via serial, like in my good old Solaris days. Is this not possible?
 
strongbad said:
hello,

i've heard of getting a vid card..

thanks

Although you can do without it, save yourself a lot of time (thus money) by adding a video-card to the xserve.

It will make live a lot easier and fun. Reinstalling any OS is no fun, but when doing it remotely, it is a disaster (for testing some procedure related to mail transfering from one system to another I did reinstall a xserve about 5 times this week).

For the money you also get the option to configure the mac using server admin and workgroup manager etc.


Good luck, Kees
 
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