terminal monitor over ssh

[ipfftw]

In cisco ios, you can issue a command "terminal monitor" to get output of the hardware console logged to SSH (vty).

is there a similar command for pfsense? I want to see the output over ssh, like i can see when i plug in a vga monitor to the machine. Yes i know its logged to general log, but i want to view this real time without needing to reload a webpage.

let me know
thanks

[Gertjan]

@ipfftw

The 'serial' or 'cable' connection only needs the serial connection to work.
SSH, on the other hand, need the system to be up and running, all network interfaces set up, the entire IP stuff operational.

When everything works fine, an SSH access, something you can do from the other side of the planet, and the serial connection, are identical.
Although, serial, .... from the other side of the world .... you'll be needing some extra KVM setup.

But the very moment something goes wrong, you'll be needing the serial cable, not the SSH. As SSH can't work, because 'no network interfaces'.

I've a serial connection open, normally, as some server on my LAN has the serial cable connected to pfSense, and that connection is also logged to a file.
I've just checked that log file, going back for months. Really, there isn't much in there.

Boot sequences are logged in detail, something you can't see with SSH.

@ipfftw said in terminal monitor over ssh:

without needing to reload a webpage

SSH is not a webpage.
Install Putty, activate SSH on pfSense, and you'll be fine. It's equivalent to the serial connection for 99,9 % of all case.
Serial is for the mayday days.

[ipfftw]

Well i thought i was being clear but i guess not. You make a lot of assumptions that are incorrect.

Things such as the message "Re0 watchdog timeout" are logged to the console. They are not logged to ssh console session. Yes they are in the general log too, thats how i currently view them without vga connection to the pfsense. But i am looking for virtual console access from ssh.

if youa re familiar with cisco switches, you can get it to output realtime messages to the console by entering the command "terminal mon" at the CLI. I was looking for an equivalent command.

saying 99.9 is just ignorant. Because lots of logging type things like hardware failures are just spit out to the local vga console. in this case i am chasing an intermittent network card failure in very specific conditions and its handy just to log that to ssh instead of dedicating a whole monitor on my desk to monitoring for it.

https://study-ccna.com/cisco-terminal-monitor/

[provels]

@ipfftw Well, at the risk of being called "ignorant", I offer

tail -F /var/log/system.log

[Gertjan]

@ipfftw said in terminal monitor over ssh:

Because lots of logging type things like hardware failures are just spit out to the local vga console

These only happen when you build a new system with new hardware to test, or hardware that is known to be bad.
I've used realtek in the past, when 100 Mbit/sec was a thing. I've learned my lessons ;)

Hardware can also start to fail, true.
I've no serial access to my dedicated servers neither, as they are nearly 1000 miles away from me. 'urgent' system messages are relayed to me using constant 'munin' reporting, and email reporting.

And yes :

@provels said in terminal monitor over ssh:

tail -F /var/log/system.log

that's one I've shortcut aliased a long time ago as the system logs are the first thing I check before the morning coffee and news paper.
On any system.

Cisco : never actually seen or used one.

Also, one of my local servers has a permanent Putty serial console logged in to pfSense, it is logging to file, so I can check and see what went wrong, if needed.

[jimp]

Following the logs is as good as you'll get over SSH.

Kernel message output can only go to a console, and SSH terminals are not eligible to be considered consoles in FreeBSD.

Any tricks you could normally play with consoles with things like stty, conscontrol, or redirecting things in syslog won't work against SSH terminals.