Hardware Management Console Installation and Operations Guide


Virtual Terminal Window

Because the physical serial ports on the managed system can only be assigned to one partition, the virtual terminal implementation enables an AIX system console to be accessed on logical partitions that have no physical serial port assigned. A telnet connection directly to the partition is not sufficient, because AIX needs a console for restarts, installations, and for some service functions.

One virtual terminal window is available for each partition. Likewise, one virtual terminal window is available for each managed system.

The communication link between the HMC and the managed system is an RS-232 serial line running at 19,200 bits per second. All terminal sessions send and receive data on this shared serial line.

The virtual console is a terminal with limited function. After you create a partition and configure its operating system, the typical operating system connection method is through a serial port, telnet, or rlogin. The virtual terminal is meant to be used for support and service. Performance cannot be guaranteed due to the limited bandwidth of the serial connection.

The virtual terminal supports the following:

The virtual console terminal emulator emulates a vt320 terminal.

As a limited function terminal, the virtual terminal does not support the following:

The tty that is configured on the AIX Virtual TTY Adapter is predefined as a vt320. To set the terminal type on a virtual console session, use the following AIX command:

export TERM=vt320

Virtual Terminal Windows on a Full System Partition

For a Full System Partition, the output of the S1 serial port is redirected, or wrapped to the virtual console window. When the S1 serial port is wrapped, the output of any command is directed from the S1 serial port to the virtual console terminal. If you close the virtual console window on the managed system, normal function is restored to the S1 serial port.

If a physical device is attached to the S1 serial port and that device is asserting the Data Carrier Detect (DCD) signal, then the session on the S1 serial port does not wrap until the device is powered off or removed. Likewise, if the S1 port has been wrapped to the virtual console window and a device is attached to the S1 serial port, the virtual terminal must be closed to unwrap the S1 session.

When the managed system is in the No Power state, you can access the service processor configuration menus from this console session.


Opening a Virtual Terminal Window

To open a virtual terminal window, you must be a member of one of the following roles:

You can have only one virtual terminal window per partition open at a time.

To open a virtual terminal window, do the following:

  1. Click the plus sign (+) next to the managed system in the Contents area to expand the tree.
  2. Select a partition underneath the managed system.
  3. Select Open Terminal Window. A virtual terminal window opens on your HMC desktop.

Opening Virtual Terminal Windows on a Partition

One terminal session is available for each defined partition. You can also open a terminal session for a managed system, but there is no interaction with the managed system after the partition has been powered to the Running state. The S1 serial port is not wrapped when the managed system is partitioned.

A terminal window can be opened at any time, regardless of the state of the partition, similar to powering on or off a tty terminal. The virtual terminal window may be blank until the partition is activated.


Managing AIX Device Drivers on Partitions

When you activate AIX in a partition, the operating system loads a device driver that emulates a serial port device driver. AIX considers this device driver to be a serial device adapter. For example, the following command:

lsdev -C | grep sa

Returns output similar to the following:

LPAR Virtual Serial Adapter 
 

A tty device is assigned to that adapter.

To install and boot, the AIX operating system requires a console window. On installation, AIX prompts you to select a serial port from which to install. This port becomes the default console port unless you change it.

One difference between the virtual terminal window device driver and a normal AIX console is that the virtual terminal window does not have to be opened in order to boot the AIX operating system. You can boot all 16 partitions simultaneously without opening a virtual terminal window, provided that the profiles' boot mode is set to Power On Normal.


Installing AIX on a Full System Partition

If you install AIX for a Full System Partition, select the S1 serial port as the console. The virtual terminal window device driver installs, but it does not load. If you then choose to boot the installed disk in a partition, one of the following may occur:


Installing AIX on a Partition

If you install AIX in a partition that has the native serial adapter as one of its resources, the installation terminal is the default AIX console. If the virtual terminal is the console and the disk is booted for a Full System Partition, the virtual console device driver is not loaded.

To install AIX on a partition, do the following:

  1. Open a virtual terminal window on the managed system so the S1 serial port is wrapped to that terminal. Because the original console is now no longer available, you have 30 seconds to select the S1 port as your console. Otherwise, that port may appear to hang.
  2. Use the chcons command to change the console to avoid the 30-second timeout if you plan to use the Full System Partition with an operating system that was installed in a logical partition.

If you install AIX in a partition that does not have the native serial adapters as one of its resources, the device driver for the built-in serial adapter is not installed in that partition. AIX does not install device support for a physical device unless the device is present at the time of installation. Do not attempt to boot that image as a Full System Partition until you first install the correct device support.

The following steps describe one method of adding device support:

  1. Add the native serial adapter and the CD device to your partition profile.
  2. Boot the partition with the new resources.
  3. Run the following command to add the device support:
    cfgmgr -i /dev/cd0
    

Copying and Pasting Within a Virtual Terminal

Copying and pasting is supported within a virtual terminal session only. To copy and paste in a virtual terminal, do the following:

  1. Use the mouse to draw a box around the text you want to copy.
  2. Press and hold the Ctrl key and then press the Insert key to copy the text.
  3. Press and hold the Shift key and then press the Insert key to paste the text.

For HMC Release 3, the cut and paste method for Xwindows works normally. To copy, hold down the left mouse button and highlight the text you want to copy. To paste, press the center mouse button. To paste using a 2-button mouse, click the left and right buttons simultaneously.


Closing a Virtual Terminal Window

There are two ways to close a virtual terminal. The preferred, usual method of closing a terminal window is to click on the X in the upper-right corner of the terminal window. This action removes the window from the HMC desktop and closes the connection. Any user can close a terminal window in this way.

You can also force a virtual terminal window to close in the following situations:

To force a virtual terminal window to close you must be a member of one of the following roles:

To force a terminal window to close, do the following:

  1. Select the managed system from the Contents area.
  2. Select Close Terminal.


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