Specifications

©
2002, David K. Z. Harris
8
Pg. 8
© 2002
David K. Z. Harris
Why Console Ports are Good
Ø Sometime debug (trace, etc.) is
best used on a console port.
Ø Some security modes, including
logging functions, can use serial
consoles (some need to…)
Ø Helps reduce heat generation
and power consumption.
Ø Even PC servers can run
‘headless’ (lights-out colos).
Ø Downtime Costs Money!
When you are trying to capture data from a network interface, you usually
don’t want to send the captured data results back over the same interface you
are monitoring. If you only have a single network interface, the console port
lets you manage the network interface without contributing to the traffic.
Sending messages to SYSLOG is good. Sending them out the console port as
well is better. A cracker can figure out where your syslog data is going, but
they can’t tell where data goes once it leaves your serial port. (Even if they
manage to modify the log files, they would be hard pressed to find your
console data!) We’ll discuss logging your console data later in the tutorial.
CRT-type displays take up a lot of room,consume a lot of power, and generate
a lot of heat. In large data centers, with dozens of machines, you cannot afford
to have one display per machine, and it’s difficult to justify a 1:4 or even 1:8
display-to-machine ratio.
There are even options to run your PC-class hardware without a display, using
vendor-supplied BIOS, or an add-in EISA or PCI console card. (See the PC
Weasel information at the end of the slides.)