Headless Server Drama: Oh, the humanity!

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kalisphoenix · Post by **kalisphoenix** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:54 am

So I dug the ol' SPARCStation 20 out of the closet. Some statistics:
2x110MHz SuperSPARCs
192MB RAM
No CD-ROM, keyboard, monitor, or serial cable
5-6 ethernet ports
Gentoo 1.4 or something.

Anyway, I was hoping to resurrect it as an in-home server. That's when I came across some problems:
I can't find the machine.

I have it hooked directly to an iBook G4 (running OS X) through the iBook's ethernet port (auto-sensing, auto-configuring). OS X is working as a dhcp server on the ethernet. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be picking the SS20 up as a client.

"Okay," sez yours truly. "Perhaps I had it set up with a static IP address." So I then pinged each of the SS20's ethernet interfaces on both 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x on the numbers I'd expect it to have (x=100-110, basically). No response.

So now I'm running <tcpdump> on the iBook trying to figure out if the machines ever say howdy to one another. So far I've had no luck.

Does anyone know of a tool or technique that would help me find this machine's IP address? Anyone?

masteroftheuniverse · Post by **masteroftheuniverse** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:05 am

uhm... hate to state the obvious, but why don't you just attach a keyboard and monitor to the headless beast and peer into it's little brain and see what it is...

or, are you sure this thing is working properly, you may want to know that before drawing conclusions from pings.

kalisphoenix · Post by **kalisphoenix** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:09 am

kalisphoenix wrote:No CD-ROM, keyboard, monitor, or serial cable

It's a SPARCStation 20. Not just any old kmm will do.

Thanks, though.

Well, the machine was working perfectly before I tossed it in the closet, of course. It was my webserver for a while until I got a more grown-up one. I don't think that any variables could have changed, although I could always be wrong.

bryon · Post by **bryon** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:14 am

Just use a serial cable.

I never owned a single SUN monitor mouse or keybord but you can control everything you need through a serial cable.

They give you all acess that a monitor would give you (even the bios). They are wonderfull, even better than a KVM for remote administration, and much cheeper. It is much cheeper to buy a serial controler then to buy a KVM controler.

kalisphoenix · Post by **kalisphoenix** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:22 am

kalisphoenix wrote:No CD-ROM, keyboard, monitor, or serial cable

Perhaps I should expand a little: not only do I not have a serial cable, but none of my computers have serial ports except the Sun box. So really, it'd be a lot more expensive than the KVM. And I do have a KVM -- just not a monitor adaptor or keyboard adaptor.

turtlendog · Post by **turtlendog** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:28 am

Fire up snort on the Apple, then boot the Sparc. If networking is configured on the Sparc, you should see some action. Since you have so many NICs, you may want to plug them all in to a hub so you don't have to try each.

turtlendog · Post by **turtlendog** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:30 am

Also, guess you don't want to buy stuff, but there are serial to usb adapders that work with null modem cables. I have one that I use with Mac and Linux.

jklmnop · Post by **jklmnop** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:34 am

don't forget that you probably need a cross-over
ethernet cable if you're plugging the machines directly
into each other instead of through a hub/switch.

i'm not sure if any NICs do the automagic crossover
detection (some switches do). do you get link lights
on both sides??

kalisphoenix · Post by **kalisphoenix** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:48 am

jklmnop wrote:don't forget that you probably need a cross-over
ethernet cable if you're plugging the machines directly
into each other instead of through a hub/switch.

i'm not sure if any NICs do the automagic crossover
detection (some switches do). do you get link lights
on both sides??

Yah, the ethernet card on the iBook is auto-sensing auto-configuring.

bryon · Post by **bryon** » Mon May 09, 2005 6:35 am

Well you can still use the serial console even if you dont have a serial port on any of your computers.

How you might ask, USB that is.

Go to yor local exletronics super store and pick up a USB to serial converter.

so it will look like this

SUN BOX = 25 to 9 pin converter = Null Modem adapter = 9 pin serial to usb = USB Port on IBook

It is a little measy but it works. Just make sure you have the null modem in there or it will not work, same reason you would need a cross over cable when connecting two computers through ethernet.

Scoody · Post by **Scoody** » Mon May 09, 2005 8:15 am

Perhaps:
nmap -sP 192.168.x.1-254

kashani · Post by **kashani** » Mon May 09, 2005 1:54 pm

Had a similar problem a few years ago when recovering a bankrupt company's network after it had sat in a warehouse for a year. The tcpdump method worked well, but it only seemed to pick up useful info when the unknown machine was booting. You'd get a few queries, an arp or two, and then nothing else.

kashani

Headless Server Drama: Oh, the humanity!

Headless Server Drama: Oh, the humanity!

Re: Headless Server Drama: Oh, the humanity!

serial connection

Re: Headless Server Drama: Oh, the humanity!

serial port