1. This how to guides how to setup a headless workstation
1. Get the following items
Null modem cable
Linux server with agetty installed.
2. Configure a session in /etc/inittab file with the following options
S0:235:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L 9600 ttyS0 vt100
NOTE: Most important note here is use vt100 terminal at 9600 speed for compliance purposes.
3. Configure your GRUB boot options
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (2.4.21-50.ELhugemem)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.21-50.ELhugemem ro root=LABEL=/ console=ttyS0,9600 reboot=warm
initrd /initrd-2.4.21-50.ELhugemem.img
NOTE: Most important keyword here is console redirection even during reboot, "console=ttyS0,9600
4. Setup serial console with agetty in /etc/inittab file
S0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L 9600 ttyS0 vt100
5. Take note that you need to reboot the server for these to take effect especially the console redirection part.
