Console port on XG-7100/SG-3100 - is there a mini-USB to RJ-45 converter?
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I think both devices have secondary comports you could potentially use but you would still need an adapter of some sort as they are very likely TTL level. Also you would not get any Coreboot output and you'd have to modify the loader variables to use it as the primary console.
A lot of people use something like a RasPi as a USB console server for this.
Another option is to connect pfSense devices to each other, useful if you have an HA pair for example. SSH into one node then connect to the console on the other using cu, the drivers are included in FreeBSD/pfSense.Steve
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Thanks for the info!
I think ultimately, having a normal RJ-45 console port on the router out of the box would be great - but I do understand that's not likely to happen soon.
The Raspberry Pi option might be a temporary workaround for us for now. (We've had less than great luck with Raspberry Pis in DC s lasting very long - maybe heat?).
How would you recommend setting up a Raspberry Pi to talk to the XG-7100? What software do you use? And is there a way to export this again as a standard console port?
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@victorhooi said in Console port on XG-7100/SG-3100 - is there a mini-USB to RJ-45 converter?:
Avocent range
Their current stuff has usb interfaces.. So yours must be quite dated..
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Yup, the Avocent units we have are fairly old. Then again, when you buy hundreds of thousands of one model, they tend to stick around.
The newer stuff are things like ZPE console servers, which are 48 or 64 RJ-45 console ports in 1RU (i.e. fairly high density). A lot of the enterprise stuff we use runs on RJ-45 console ports, hence would be useful to have.
My own testing lab at my desk or at home, yup, USB-c is neat (e.g. Ruckus 7150-C12P), but then I don't run a 64-port console at home
.Anyhow, for this small deploy of XG-7100, I'm happy to jerry rig something together with Raspberry Pis if I have to. If anybody has any experiences they can share with how they did it, or what the best practices are, would be very grateful.
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There was a thread awhile back where I tested it for someone.. I plugged the pi into my sg4860, then ssh'd in the pi, and yeah I could access the console..
I could dig up that thread.. But that is as much play time I have with it.
edit: Here is thread I was talking about
https://forum.netgate.com/topic/138371/serial-console-raspberry-pi -
You can also access a console from another pfSense. A criss-cross between HA nodes is a good idea in some cases. Can be a "free" console server.
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Yeah, you can probably use almost anything else you have there that's running Linux or *BSD to connect from. Connecting from another pfSense device is relatively common. Of course the stack of devices I have is probably atypical!
Steve
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+1 for a Pi console server. That's what I'm using now.
Plus you can map the serial devices to static names, so that no matter what order they connect in, you can reference the custom names in things like screen.
$ cat /etc/udev/rules.d/99-usb-serial.rules # Normally connected to Pi console SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", ATTRS{serial}=="015F06E0", SYMLINK+="serial_xg7100" SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", ATTRS{serial}=="012D3960", SYMLINK+="serial_sg1000_b2" SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", ATTRS{serial}=="012D3952", SYMLINK+="serial_sg1000_b1" SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", ATTRS{serial}=="00C17C07", SYMLINK+="serial_sg4860" SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", ATTRS{serial}=="013273DF", SYMLINK+="serial_sg3100_prod" SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6001", ATTRS{serial}=="A402WO4M", SYMLINK+="serial_fw7551" SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6001", ATTRS{serial}=="A7012SC9", SYMLINK+="serial_apu" SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", ATTRS{serial}=="00ADB748", SYMLINK+="serial_sg8860" SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="067b", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2303", SYMLINK+="serial_sg1100"$ cat ~/.consoles.screenrc startup_message off defscrollback 50000 sessionname consoles hardstatus alwayslastline hardstatus string '%{gk}[%{G}%H%{g}][%= %{wk}%?%-Lw%?%{=b kR}(%{W}%n*%f %t%?(%u)%?%{=b kR})%{= kw}%?%+Lw%?%?%= %{g}]%{=b C}[%m/%d/%y %C %A]%{W}' screen -t 'APU' /dev/serial_apu 115200 screen -t 'SG-1000-1' /dev/serial_sg1000_b1 115200 screen -t 'SG-1000-2' /dev/serial_sg1000_b2 115200 screen -t 'SG-1100' /dev/serial_sg1100 115200 screen -t 'SG-3100' /dev/serial_sg3100_prod 115200 screen -t 'SG-4860' /dev/serial_sg4860 115200 screen -t 'FW-7551' /dev/serial_fw7551 115200 screen -t 'XG-7100' /dev/serial_xg7100 115200 screen -t 'SG-8860' /dev/serial_sg8860 115200 -
That is some great info @jimp is that documented anywhere? That sort of stuff could be in the book or even maybe a hangout..
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Not in the docs since it's really not pfSense-specific, and it's covered widely around the web in various places. Not too keen on putting that specific sort of example in the pfSense docs since it's actually talking about configuring a Linux host. Might do a forum post about the whole process at some point if I ever have the time, though.
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All good points.. Even that post you make with examples is more then enough info... I am sure this sort of question will come up - now can use this as reference ;)
I have bookmarked it... Need to start doing that for stuff like this - sometimes they can be difficult to find via just searching..
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I've posted fragments of it before, though my previous example didn't have the devices mapped statically.
There are some other tricky bits to the setup, mostly finding ways in the available USB device info dump to uniquely identify each device. Depending on the chips involved it might not be possible, too, since sometimes the USB/Serial chips don't get a unique serial number/ID, so if you have multiple overlapping devices it may be a crap shoot.
