3 ms·

> It's been very reliable so far, but sooner or later it's going to start failing. It's not going to start to fall. The whole reason why serial port is there i

> It's been very reliable so far, but sooner or later it's going to start failing. It's not going to start to fall. The whole reason why serial port is there is to be the fallback access if everything else. It is a dumb and simple protocol, doesn't need any network to be configured. I don't understand how serial is instead included in the complexity of networking, easily losing access if you accidentally bring down the interface or forgetting the IP. You can't debug kernel boot because there is no networking when the kernel just started. I think it's just obsession on complexity coupled with cutting down cost.

ch_123 3y ago
The replacement described involves the IPMI stack - this means that a separate controller on the server is responsible for exposing the serial-over-IP. You should be able to debug the kernel just fine since it operates separate from the main processor/OS installation. Leaving aside cost, I imagine that the motivating factor is that when you have a large number of servers in a data centre, it is easier to create a network for the IPMI ports so that you can connect to any server's serial console over the network, instead of either having some kind of "crash cart" in the data center, or having to wire up a serial terminal server to the serial port of each system (which largely accomplishes the same thing as IPMI, but requires more hardware and another type of cable).
- M95D 3y ago
  That also means that a mistake in configuration leaves the server's management port open to the internet.
  - ecnahc515 3y ago
    The same is true for networked serial consoles.
  - ch_123 3y ago
    IPMI is typically exposed over a dedicated network interface port. As another poster has pointed out - you are as likely to screw that up as you are to screw up the configuration of a serial port console server.

3 ms·

> It's been very reliable so far, but sooner or later it's going to start failing. It's not going to start to fall. The whole reason why serial port is there i

by Charon77 3y ago

ch_123 3y ago
The replacement described involves the IPMI stack - this means that a separate controller on the server is responsible for exposing the serial-over-IP. You should be able to debug the kernel just fine since it operates separate from the main processor/OS installation. Leaving aside cost, I imagine that the motivating factor is that when you have a large number of servers in a data centre, it is easier to create a network for the IPMI ports so that you can connect to any server's serial console over the network, instead of either having some kind of "crash cart" in the data center, or having to wire up a serial terminal server to the serial port of each system (which largely accomplishes the same thing as IPMI, but requires more hardware and another type of cable).
- M95D 3y ago
  That also means that a mistake in configuration leaves the server's management port open to the internet.
  - ecnahc515 3y ago
    The same is true for networked serial consoles.
  - ch_123 3y ago
    IPMI is typically exposed over a dedicated network interface port. As another poster has pointed out - you are as likely to screw that up as you are to screw up the configuration of a serial port console server.