6.5.1

Redirect the Direct Console to a Serial Port by Setting the Boot Options Manually
When you redirect the direct console to a serial port by setting the boot options, the change does not
persist for subsequent boots.
Prerequisites
Verify that the serial port is not in use for serial logging and debugging.
Procedure
1 Start the host.
2 When the Loading VMware Hypervisor window appears, press Shift+O to edit boot options.
3 Disable the logPort and gdbPort on com1 and set tty2Port to com1 by entering the following boot
options:
"gdbPort=none logPort=none tty2Port=com1";
To use com2 instead, replace com1 with com2.
The direct console is redirected to the serial port until you reboot the host. To redirect the direct console
for subsequent boots, see Redirect the Direct Console to a Serial Port from the vSphere Web Client
Redirect the Direct Console to a Serial Port from the vSphere Web Client
You can manage the ESXi host remotely from a console that is connected to the serial port by redirecting
the direct console to either of the serial ports com1 or com2. When you use the vSphere Web Client to
redirect the direct console to a serial port, the boot option that you set persists after subsequent reboots.
Prerequisites
n
Verify that you can access the host from the vSphere Web Client.
n
Verify that the serial port is not in use for serial logging and debugging, or for ESX Shell (tty1Port).
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Web Client, connect to the vCenter Server.
2 Select the host in the inventory.
3 Click the Manage tab.
4 Click Settings.
5 Under System, select Advanced System Settings.
6 Make sure that the VMkernel.Boot.logPort and VMkernel.Boot.gdbPort fields are not set to use the
com port that you want to redirect the direct console to.
7 Set VMkernel.Boot.tty2Port to the serial port to redirect the direct console to: com1 or com2.
8 Reboot the host.
You can now manage the ESXi host remotely from a console that is connected to the serial port.
vSphere Installation and Setup
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