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ESXi serial console not responding to any keys

  • 1.  ESXi serial console not responding to any keys

    Posted Mar 06, 2016 08:47 AM

    Hello!

    I'm trying to make ESXi Shell (or at least DCUI) be available through a serial console. The hardware I'm using is an ASMB7-iKVM management module which supports Serial-over-LAN.

    Steps I've taken:

    1. Set VMkernel.Boot.tty1Port to com2
    2. Set VMkernel.Boot.com2_baud to 112500
    3. Reboot the hypervisor
    4. Try to connect via SoL

    I'm getting all the output, including the boot log messages and the ESXi Shell prompt, yet ESXi doesn't react to any key presses. Same problem if I redirect output of tty2 (DCUI) instead of tty1 (Shell). SoL works normally when accessing server's BIOS, all keys act as expected.

    The server does not meet the criteria of a headless machine, as it has an onboard graphics card and there is no way to force enable "headless mode" in BIOS.

    Software:

    • ESXi 6.0 build 3568940
    • ipmitool 1.8.16
    • OS X Terminal.app as terminal