Re: LAN Console and Cache battery

> Questions:
> 1) Any insight as to why the initial LAN Console config only worked
> with port T1?
>

Only the first port of any card is available for LAN console during the install phase. Once you can connect to the machine and select the LAN console in service tools and assign it the address then you can use any port that is valid. Attempts to use invalid ports will display the message: "Selected port is not full LAN Console Capable."

It does use bootp and only the LAN console PC can properly answer that request during initial config. (visions of a humpback wale and a StarTrek movie come to mind....)

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com
www.iInTheCloud.com

On 7/1/2014 9:00 AM, JK wrote:

FYI - we went thru a similar thing last week. When our 720 began throwing
cache-battery messages we discovered the previous admin had configured his
laptop as QCONSOLE and SST wouldn't let us login, claiming that another SST
session was already in progress. Arguing with a green-screen message is
rarely successful so the only recourse seemed to be the front panel. Since
we had to bring the box down for batteries anyway we declared Saturday a
computer-maintenance holiday and I shadowed the tech guys all day with a
notepad. Since my last hands-on was back in the days of twinax port#0, I can
attest that a lot has changed since then.

After clearing the console slots via the front panel (see link below), we
encountered a quirk during the LAN Console software install - the PC
absolutely refused to connect until we plugged it directly into port T1.
Once LAN Console was configured, we moved the PC back into the subnet which
carries our .172 traffic on T3 and all seems well. During the initial s/w
install, though only T1 would work even though T1, T2 and T3 are on the same
vlan. Technician said he thought the initial install used bootp. Maybe bootp
doesn't work with vlans?

Lessons learned:
1) Do not become lulled by IBM reliability. Someday you _will_ need the
console and it is expensive to have someone recover it for you.
2) Once configured, make sure you can safely RDP to your QCONSOLE box.
3) Configure additional, alternate LAN Console slots, CONSOLE1, CONSOLE2,
etc.

Link to IBM doc for resetting from front panel:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER5/iphbx_p5/recoverserverq
console.htm?cp=POWER5%2F1-9-2-4-1-0-11-2&lang=en