How to serial linux

Working with the serial console

An Arch Linux machine can be configured for connections via the serial console port, which enables administration of a machine even if it has no keyboard, mouse, monitor, or network attached to it.

Installation of Arch Linux is possible via the serial console as well.

A basic environment for this scenario is two machines connected using a serial cable (9-pin connector cable). The administering machine can be any Unix/Linux or Windows machine with a terminal emulator program (PuTTY or Minicom, for example).

The configuration instructions below will enable boot loader menu selection, boot messages, and terminal forwarding to the serial console.

Contents

Configure console access on the target machine

Boot loader

When using GRUB with a generated grub.cfg , edit /etc/default/grub and enable serial input and output support:

Next add the GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND variable and set the options for the serial connection. For COM1 ( /dev/ttyS0 ) with baud rate of 115200 bit/s:

Read GRUB’s manual on Using GRUB via a serial line and the serial command for detailed explanation of the available options.

GRUB Legacy

Edit the GRUB Legacy configuration file /boot/grub/menu.lst and add these lines to the general area of the configuration:

rEFInd

rEFInd supports serial console only in text mode. Edit refind.conf and uncomment textonly .

Syslinux

To enable serial console in Syslinux, edit syslinux.cfg and add SERIAL as the first directive in the configuration file.

For COM1 ( /dev/ttyS0 ) with baud rate of 115200 bit/s:

The serial parameters are hardcoded to 8 bits, no parity and 1 stop bit.[1]. Read Syslinux Wiki:Config#SERIAL for the directive’s options.

Kernel

Kernel’s output can be sent to serial console by setting the console= kernel parameter. The last specified console= will be set as /dev/console .

getty

At boot, systemd-getty-generator(8) will start a getty instance for each console specified in the kernel command line.

If you have not configured console= in kernel command line start serial-getty@device.service . For /dev/ttyS0 (COM1) that would be serial-getty@ttyS0.service . Enable the service to start it at boot.

Unless specified otherwise in the kernel command line, getty will be expecting 38400 bit/s baud rate, 8 data bits, no parity and one stop bit-times.

Making Connections

Connect using a terminal emulator program

Perform these steps on the machine used to connect the remote console.

Command line

dterm

dterm AUR is a tiny serial communication program. If you invoke it without parameters, it will connect to /dev/ttyS0 at 9600 baud by default. The following example connect to /dev/ttyS0 at 115200 baud, with 8 data bits, no parity bit and 1 stop bit-times:

See its homepage[2] for more examples.

Minicom

minicom can be obtained from the official repositories. Start Minicom in setup mode:

Using the textual navigation menu, change the serial port settings to the following:

Press Enter to exit the menus (pressing Esc will not save changes). Remove the modem Init and Reset strings, as we are not connecting to a modem. To do this, under the Modem and Dialing menu, delete the Init and Reset strings. Optionally save the configuration by choosing save setup as dfl from the main menu. Restart minicom with the serial cable connected to the target machine. To end the session, press Ctrl+A followed by Ctrl+X .

picocom

picocom is a tiny dumb-terminal emulation program that is very like minicom, but instead of mini, it is pico. The following example connect to ttyS0 at 9600 bps:

See its manual for detailed usage.

Screen

GNU Screen is able to connect to a serial port. It will connect at 9600 baud by default:

A different baud rate (e.g. 115200) may be specified on the command line.

To end the session, press Ctrl+a followed by K . Alternatively, press Ctrl+a , type :quit and confirm it by pressing Enter .

Serialclient

Serialclient[3] is a CLI client for serial connection written in ruby. Install ruby package, then install it with the following:

Then, you can use like this:

And, for Windows

On Windows machines, connect to the serial port using programs like PuTTY[4] or Terminalbpp[5].

Graphical front-ends

cutecom AUR is another gui enabled serial monitor.

putty is also available for Linux.

moserial is a gtk-based serial terminal, primarily intended for technical users and hardware hackers who need to communicate with embedded systems, test equipment, and serial consoles.

Installing Arch Linux using the serial console

1. Connect to the target machine using the method described above.
2. Boot the target machine using the Arch Linux installation CD.
3. When the bootloader appears, select Boot Arch Linux () and press Tab to edit
4. Append console=ttyS0,115200 and press Enter .
5. Now systemd should detect ttyS0 and spawn a serial getty on it. Login as root and start the installation as usual.

Debugging an unresponsive machine using a serial console

Even though [7] has only raw and terse instructions, it presents the full scene. It is important to note that here, the machine under test got unresponsive in a reproducible manner. And that it happened during normal operation. So it could be accessed normally before it needed debugging. However, in general, the serial console is also useful for debugging boot issues. Perhaps by configuring the boot loader by hand at machine startup time. Also note the mentioned netconsole within the P.S paragraph of the external link from this section.

Troubleshooting

Ctrl+c and Minicom

If you are having trouble sending a Ctrl+c command through minicom you need to switch off hardware flow control in the device settings ( minicom -s ), which then enables the break.

Resizing a terminal

Unlike ssh, serial connections do not have a mechanism to transfer something like SIGWINCH when a terminal is resized. This can cause weird problems with some full-screen programs (e.g. less ) when you resize your terminal emulator’s window.

Resizing the terminal via stty is a workaround:

However, this requires you to manually input the proper geometry. The following methods should be simpler.

1. There is a lesser-known utility called resize , shipped with xterm , that can solve this problem. Invoke it without parameters after you resize the terminal emulator’s window:

2. If you do not want to install xterm, it is possible to do the same work via a shell function. Put the following function into your zshrc and invoke it without parameters after resizing the terminal emulator’s window:

Missing ports on multi-port expansion cards

This article or section needs expansion.

The number of serial ports using the generic 8250 driver on the default kernel configuration is set to 4 at runtime with a maximum of 32. This will prevent the creation of /dev/ttyS4 and above. Counting the typical built in serial port on the motherboard this prevents the use of the 4th serial port on a 4 port expansion card.

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Linux Serial Console¶

To use a serial port as console you need to compile the support into your kernel — by default it is not compiled in. For PC style serial ports it’s the config option next to menu option:

Character devices ‣ Serial drivers ‣ 8250/16550 and compatible serial support ‣ Console on 8250/16550 and compatible serial port

You must compile serial support into the kernel and not as a module.

It is possible to specify multiple devices for console output. You can define a new kernel command line option to select which device(s) to use for console output.

The format of this option is:

You can specify multiple console= options on the kernel command line. Output will appear on all of them. The last device will be used when you open /dev/console . So, for example:

defines that opening /dev/console will get you the current foreground virtual console, and kernel messages will appear on both the VGA console and the 2nd serial port (ttyS1 or COM2) at 9600 baud.

Note that you can only define one console per device type (serial, video).

If no console device is specified, the first device found capable of acting as a system console will be used. At this time, the system first looks for a VGA card and then for a serial port. So if you don’t have a VGA card in your system the first serial port will automatically become the console.

You will need to create a new device to use /dev/console . The official /dev/console is now character device 5,1.

(You can also use a network device as a console. See Documentation/networking/netconsole.rst for information on that.)

Here’s an example that will use /dev/ttyS1 (COM2) as the console. Replace the sample values as needed.

Create /dev/console (real console) and /dev/tty0 (master virtual console):

LILO can also take input from a serial device. This is a very useful option. To tell LILO to use the serial port: In lilo.conf (global section):

Adjust to kernel flags for the new kernel, again in lilo.conf (kernel section):

Make sure a getty runs on the serial port so that you can login to it once the system is done booting. This is done by adding a line like this to /etc/inittab (exact syntax depends on your getty):

Init and /etc/ioctl.save

Sysvinit remembers its stty settings in a file in /etc , called /etc/ioctl.save . REMOVE THIS FILE before using the serial console for the first time, because otherwise init will probably set the baudrate to 38400 (baudrate of the virtual console).

/dev/console and X Programs that want to do something with the virtual console usually open /dev/console . If you have created the new /dev/console device, and your console is NOT the virtual console some programs will fail. Those are programs that want to access the VT interface, and use /dev/console instead of /dev/tty0 . Some of those programs are:

It should be fixed in modern versions of these programs though.

Note that if you boot without a console= option (or with console=/dev/tty0 ), /dev/console is the same as /dev/tty0 . In that case everything will still work.

Thanks to Geert Uytterhoeven @ linux-m68k . org> for porting the patches from 2.1.4x to 2.1.6x for taking care of the integration of these patches into m68k, ppc and alpha.

© Copyright The kernel development community.

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Ubuntu Documentation

Content Cleanup Required
This article should be cleaned-up to follow the content standards in the Wiki Guide. More info.

This document presents (almost) the minimum amount of work required to enable a serial console login on an Ubuntu 6.06 and later versions. (Minor changes have been added to improve performance.) Both server and client settings are included.

This procedure was developed using the Remote Serial Console HOWTO (see «External links» below), and adapted to apply specifically to Ubuntu. The reader is referred to this document for any issues arising from using this HOWTO.

Assumptions

You have enabled the serial console in your BIOS. 1

The serial connection is being made at 115200 baud 8n1, on first serial port, called /dev/ttyS0 in linux (9600 8n1 is the default fall back if your hardware does not support 115200 baud)

You are comfortable editing critical system files such as /etc/inittab, /boot/grub/menu.lst

You are using a serial (null modem) cable. It is also possible to use a USB to Serial adaptor, but the tty* must be changed to reflect your hardware.

You have an available serial console on ttyS0. If your not getting any output, a real serial port or other device might be using ttyS0. Try using ttyS1, ttyS2, etc.

If you want to use a standard Ethernet/RJ-45 cable for serial connection you can buy a couple of Serial to Cat 5 adapters or make one yourself.

Server Setup

Configuring the console login process

This section details how to configure the ‘getty’ process to enable a login via the console port. You need to configure either an Upstart system or the older inittab, depending on Ubuntu version you are using.

Configuring upstart (Karmic and newer)

1) Create a file called /etc/init/ttyS0.conf containing the following:

2) Ask upstart to start the getty

Configuring upstart (Edgy/Feisty/Jaunty)

Create a file called /etc/event.d/ttyS0 containing the following:

Configuring inittab (only Dapper and older !)

1) Edit /etc/inittab

2) Change the following line:

At this point, a new login prompt should appear on the output of the serial console.

Configuring grub

This section details how to get grub talking via the serial port.

This section is optional if the user does not want grub interaction via the serial console port.

Configuring (Karmic and newer)

1) Edit /etc/default/grub

Configuring grub (Edgy/Feisty/Jaunty)

1) Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst:

2) Add the following lines to the top of the file:

3) When you next reboot, the output from grub will go to the normal console unless input is received from the serial port. Whichever receives input first becomes the default console. This gives you the best of both worlds.

Configuring the kernel boot parameters

This section details how to configure the kernel boot parameters to get boot information through the console port.

This section is optional if the user does not want the kernel boot messages to appear on the serial console port.

The following procedure can be carried out by modifying the ‘kernel’ line in grub prior to committing the changes directly to the /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

1) Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst:

2) Modify the kernel line for the image you want to boot using the serial console on. In this case, I’m setting up the default 2.6.10-5.386 kernel to use the serial console line. Change:

Note two «console=» kernel options. You can specify this option several times. All devices, mentioned in it will receive kernel messages (those, generated by printk() and seen by dmesg). However, stdin/stdout/stderr of /sbin/init process will be set to the last device only, therefore only the last device will show startup messages and act as a console in single-user mode.

3) Reboot into this kernel. Output from the boot process should be sent via the serial console line.

Client Setup

1) Ensure you have a read/write permissions on /dev/ttyS0.

if the last command didn’t show an output add yourself to dialout group and logout/login:

Alternatively, you can always run minicom through sudo, but it’s not recommended.

2) Install minicom

3) Configure minicom.

4) Configure client serial port settings: In Serial port setup, set the following options

4b) Using 7.10 on the server, I needed to set the following on the client:

My 7.10 client and Windows’ HyperTerminal both defaulted to Yes; until I changed this client -> server communication did not work.

5) Configure Initialization string: In Modem and dialing clear the init

6) Save setup as dfl

7) You might need to press enter several times to get the connection running.

8) To log on in the future, run

and press enter several times if it does not come up on start up.

Alternative serial client: screen

GNU screen actually makes quite a capable serial terminal.

(adjust to requirements)

To end the session, use Ctrl-A,Shift-K.

External links

This is only needed if you plan to use serial console to enter BIOS configuration utility or observe early startup messages even before GRUB starts. Note, that in some cases it may interfere with GRUB settings described below. If you’re sure you’ve configured GRUB correctly, but the serial menu does not appear, try disabling serial console support in BIOS. (1)

SerialConsoleHowto (последним исправлял пользователь tj 2018-11-05 10:36:54)

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