[c-nsp] PC console/terminal server

[Olivier Dauby]

Kim Onnel wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm trying to roll the cheapest terminal server possible for my lab, one has
> suggested that i put a PC with a USB hub that converts to serials and then
> back to RJ, however i dont know if that will work and even so how do i
> configure this on a windows or linux machine ? ideas ?

I had to test Sitecom (www.sitecom.com) CN-116 Usb to Serial for our field engineers that have serialless laptops. These cables failed to work on Cisco 9600-8-N-1 consoles when running Windows (HyperTerminal) but were OK with Linux (Minicom).

I'd clearly go for Linux in your case, since you can ssh the box without any problem.

Each time you plug a Usb to Serial cable, you get a new port, /dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyUSB1, etc.

Then you configre minicom and generate separate config files (one for each ttyUSB port) by using '-s' option of minicom. You just have to configure very simple scripts, each script will launch minicom with the option to load a config file (one for each port).

That should work, I guess...

O.