[SunGuy]

Hi forum
New user here (1st post, even). As the nickname implies, I'm a Sun guy, I've been managing Sun equipment for 15 years, but I am not familiar with IBM hardware, or their terminology at all. Recently, I acquired a P5 9116-561 for the purpose of a benchmark. I knew things would be very different, but I am having problems with what should be "basic" concepts.
Most of the documentation I've been seeings seems to geared towards configurations that have an HMC. I'm having difficulties just getting the "console".
Perhaps I'm just not cabling things right.
Could you please help me figure out what I am doing wrong?

On the back of the unit, are 2 cards:
Card A, for lack of a better term, has 2 RJ45 ports (labeled HMC1 and HMC2) and 2 DB9 ports (labeled SPCN0 and SPCN1). FSP card?
Card B, has 1x 12C port, 2 DB9 ports (labeled 1 and 2) which I hope are serial ports, and I believe something that ressembles a firewire port.

I connected an RJ45 cable to the port labeled HMC1, pointed a browser to 192.168.2.147, and was able to access the ASMI. I logged in as adminm, changed the password, the IP, and could do many things, including powering on/off the system, etc.
So far so good.

My problem now is, once the system is on, how can I connect to the console (if that makes sense to you) of the server? I was hoping that by connecting to the DB9 port labeled 1 with 19200/8/1/none, I could get something, but I'm getting nothing.
Throught the ASMI->System Service Aids->Serial Port Setup, I make sure the 2 serial ports are configured as 19200/8/1/none, yet I get nothing when the server is supposed to be powered on.

Is it impossible to get the console I want without a separate HMC? Am I connected to the wrong place? The operator panel in the front also seems to have an RJ45 serial port?

Any help would be appreciated, and if I can ever help with Sun/Solaris servers or storage, I'd be more than happy to help.

SunGuy.

[thomasle]

What may have happened is the serial ports (IBM calls them system ports in P5) have been disabled. On the P5 systems, the serial ports are disabled whenever you connect to either HMC port. There's a way to reset the serial ports but I can't find my cheat-sheet.

You could try resetting the service processor although I'm not sure if it will re-enable the serial ports. Prior to unplugging the server, make sure the green light on left side of the operations panel is blinking. Remove the service processor from the system. Somewhere on the service processor board will be two DIP switches. Throw both switches in the opposite direction. I usually remove the battery for about 30 seconds, too. Put the battery back in, reinstall the service processor, & plug the server in.

The ASMI screens can be reached via the serial ports. You have the correct parameters (19200/8/1/None) for the serial port. The following page on IBM's information site has more info: Accessing the ASMI using an ASCII terminal

[SunGuy]

Just a follow up:
I talked to IBM and they said that unplugging the ethernet cable should make S1 work. Well, that was false
I figured it needed a powercycled the unit with no connections to the hmc ports in the SFP card, and still did not work.

At the end, just for giggles, connected to serial port 2, and lo and behold I got the ASMI console. I plugged back the ethernet connection to hmc1 and both connections are active now, which seems to contradict what they say about them being mutually exclusive. I'm glad it works anyway.

Thanks to thomasle, JorgenT and Raricoza for their replies to my call for help.

SunGuy
PS Thomasle, btw, I took out the service processor, saw the battery but could not find the 2 DIP switches you spoke of.

[cdelgadop]

Hi

Hmmm, it's supposed that in the lack of an HMC you can connect a serial console to the S1 serial port, you can even use the Hyperterminal or any other emulator to connect your laptop to this serial port. This way you'd use your pSeries as an standalone or full partition server (no partitions at all).

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/pdfs/redp4139.pdf

Connect to the S1 adapter and startup your server. It's supposed that after some activity and when led panel shows E1F1 it should ask for pressing "0" to select console device. Then your server will enter in the SMS (System Management Services) options from where you can select the install devices and install your OS (AIX or Linux).

Ask IBM if this p561 brings the virtualizations feature installed, or review your CDs looking for one named "Virtual I/O Server", if so, then you might want to work with the IVM (Integrated Virtualization Machine) that is no more than sort of a Solaris 10 zone.

Hope this helps

[mehere]

I need some info on the same lines..I have a requirement for a console server to be connected a P630 system..P630 has no HMC attached .. any information is helpful..thanks in advance..

[duke900ssd]

Off topic, new post please.
The p630 is a power 4 machine and operates quite differently from the power 5 machine above.