Re: Ethernet interface numbering in etch

[Gabor Gombas <gombasg@sztaki.hu>]

On Tue, Mar 27, 2007 at 08:46:26AM -0400, Matthias Julius wrote:

> In case of a rented dedicated server I would never enter the machine
> room and the person changing hardware would have no login on it.
> 
> For other machines the only possible access is by SSH which is
> difficult if the network is not coming up.  Setting them up with
> keyboard/monitor (if they have a video output at all) or a serial
> console (and RS232 is getting rare, too) is an inconvenience at least.

If you do not have physical access to the machine then serial access is
a must (or some alternative, like IPMI-emulated serial console if you
have the hardware). For example if you have to update the kernel and
something goes wrong, a seral console can be _very_ handy (you can
configure a once-only boot with the new kernel but that does not help to
diagnose _why_ it does not boot).

Gabor

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     MTA SZTAKI Computer and Automation Research Institute
                Hungarian Academy of Sciences
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