Connecting to the serial port

The serial port is hard-wired to a command line administration shell.

Before you connect to the serial port, ensure that the configuration for the terminal or PC is for standard 9600 8N1 and no flow control operation. 8N1 is a notation for a serial configuration in asynchronous mode, where there are eight (8) data bits, no (N) parity bit, and one (1) stop bit.

To make the serial connection, use the appropriate cable to connect the terminal or PC to the console connector on the appliance. You require a serial-to RJ45 converter cable or USB-to-RJ45 converter cable to connect.

When properly connected, the terminal or PC prompts for credentials for a locally defined user. With a serial connection, the following restrictions apply:

• Authentication does not use RBM. Therefore, only locally defined users can log in to the serial port. If a non-local user attempts to log in, the log contains the following message:

  
  auth error 0x81000034  User 'user001' failed to log in.
  

• There can be only one active serial connection at a time.
• In addition to being local, the user must be the admin account or a privileged user.