[syslinux] com32 ssh/telnet support?

[Ryan McLean]

Miller, Shao wrote:
> Good day Ryan,
>
> Regarding a COM32 module that would run and wait for an incoming network
> connection for console control, perhaps via SSH or telnet:
>
> I think that better than that would be something which mimics HP's iLO
> functionality.  Such would allow keystrokes, etc. from network, while
> also showing the action at the terminal itself.  Establishing BIOS
> drives remotely on-demand might be handy, too.  If only there were a way
> to jump into BIOS setup from PXELINUX, this would be quite powerful.
>
> To avoid implementing a TCP stack in PXELINUX, one could theoretically
> take advantage of a gPXE -> PXELINUX -> COM32 scenario, where PXELINUX
> could use gPXE-provided extensions for additional networking features.
>
> However, if you have the need be doing things manually on your nodes, it
> might be good to understand why.  There's a lot of automation possible
> with tools like PXELINUX and gPXE, including capturing client-specific
> info and having a web-server dynamically generate instructions for the
> client based on that captured info.  If you describe a little more about
> why you have to do some things manually, perhaps someone on this
> mailing-list might have some suggestions for you.
>
> - Shao Miller
>
> _______________________________________________
> Syslinux mailing list
> Submissions to Syslinux at zytor.com
> Unsubscribe or set options at:
> http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
> Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
>
>   
We currently have 6 Beowulf clusters and are looking to add more, 
unfortunately every time I
have to rebuild/upgrade a cluster it's a case of "I need this now" so I 
never get a chance to
play with new/automated deployment methods. Each headnode is setup to be 
a proxy/tftp/dhcp server
for the child nodes. All the child nodes default to PXE boot and are set 
to timeout and localboot.
The tftp server currently has 4 options, Installer Graphics Mode, 
Installer Text Mode, Rescue Distro, localboot.
Some systems don't like the graphical mode so text mode has to be used.
Since we have so many child nodes I do not have enough SIPs to go around 
so if I need console access to a node
I need to go into the server room and attach the SIP to the node I want.
I was thinking ssh/telnet access to the PXELinux prompt would be nice as 
I could ssh to a node tell it to reboot and then
connect to PXELinux via ssh/telnet allowing me to choose one of my menu 
items. Thus removing the need for the console access
unless there was a serious problem that I couldn't solve via ssh.

Personally I find serial to be outdated, it is getting rarer and rarer 
to get laptops with serial connections, which will soon make it harder
for me to wander into the server room with my laptop and hook it up to a 
server. I do agree in an emergency serial can be invaluable
but for day to day running I see no reason to use it. Especially since 
ssh doesn't even require that I am on site.

The added advantage of this type of access is I could log in from home 
via ssh to the headnode and perform out of hours rebuilds


Regards,


Ryan