Using UBCD With Headless Servers

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Moderators: Icecube, StopSpazzing

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iwoloschin
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Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:37 am

Using UBCD With Headless Servers

#1 Post by iwoloschin » Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:44 am

I have a number of headless servers with no feasible way of getting monitors or keyboards attached. I customized UBCD with an image that automatically performs the desired commands, but I need to have UBCD either automatically run my custom image, or have UBCD output the menu to the serial port (I have a laptop with a serial port) so I can select the appropriate image to be run.

StopSpazzing
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Re: Using UBCD With Headless Servers

#2 Post by StopSpazzing » Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:49 pm

Edit the file located in (for UBCD 5.x):
For ISOLINUX (CD):

Code: Select all

ubcd-extract/boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg
For SYSLINUX (UFD [USB FLASH DRIVE]):

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ubcd-extract/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
Change the options at below the 'LABEL main' line to boot what you want it to boot.

Other Options:

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TIMEOUT x - set timeout in 1/10 sec. If user don't type anything at boot prompt in time set by TIMEOUT, then DEFAULT or ONTIMEOUT will be executed ( see ONTIMEOUT for details).

ONTIMEOUT {label name or kernel options} - same as DEFAULT. If ONTIMEOUT option is set, then DEFAULT is used just if user hits ENTER without options at boot prompt.
If using SYSLINUX, just add the timeout code of 1 sec and make it choose Ontimeout ...never tried it. Some testing I'm sure would be a good idea..

Icecube please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Let me know if you have any other questions.
~Just StopSpazzing~

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ady
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Joined: Sat May 08, 2010 5:26 am

Re: Using UBCD With Headless Servers

#3 Post by ady » Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:45 am

iwoloschin wrote:...have UBCD output the menu to the serial port (I have a laptop with a serial port) so I can select the appropriate image to be run.
If the only purpose/need is to automatically run a specific image, then StopSpazzing's suggestion should be enough.

There are additional syslinux parameters that COULD be useful, like TOTALTIMEOUT for example.

In addition, UBCD51a1 contains an updated ubcd2iso script that can run UBCD with grub4dos as default ("/g" parameter) instead of syslinux being the default.

If you need further control (besides automatically running a specific image), then both syslinux and grub4dos have "remote serial port console" related parameters. You could use some web search method to search for:

- syslinux remote serial port console
- grub4dos remote serial port console

to see which of the available menus is more suitable for your needs. But again, this is only worth if you need additional control besides automatically running a specific image.

The problem to find the complete info so to successfully make it work is that both, syslinux nor grub4dos, have ALL the info sorted and organized. You may need to find the specific parameters, and then search also for additional workarounds (like just for one example the TOTALTIMEOUT that I mentioned before, in relation to possible serial-port problems).

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