Installed W/ Monitor+KB -- Now Need to Run Headless -- My First Linux Box

[SoonerLater]

I've searched all forums for "headless" but I am still confused.

I have installed FreeNAS on my brand new HP N40L microserver (on an 8 gb SanDisk USB flash drive). I haven't made a pool yet, but there are six 1 tb HDDs in it that I will make into a Raid-Z2 pool. At the moment, it has a monitor and keyboard attached, but I want to run it headless as soon as I finish configuring it.

I realize that if you just remove the monitor and keyboard, you're headless. And as far as FreeNAS goes, you'll be able to do pretty much everything from the GUI web interface. However, won't there be times that you need a real remote desktop sort of thing? Like WRD (Windows Remote Desktop) or VNC? Is that necessary? How do you set that up?

I'm new to Linux. I can spell Linux... and that's about it.

 

[ProtoSD]

Unless you're lucky enough to have a BIOS that supports VNC, you're right, there will be times when you need a real monitor and keyboard. Most of us just have a spare one around that we can hook up when we need to, the rest the time it's the GUI. I don't know if that system has onboard video, but some motherboards won't boot without some kind of video card.

 

[SoonerLater]

Unless you're lucky enough to have a BIOS that supports VNC, you're right, there will be times when you need a real monitor and keyboard. Most of us just have a spare one around that we can hook up when we need to, the rest the time it's the GUI. I don't know if that system has onboard video, but some motherboards won't boot without some kind of video card.

You can install VNC on any Windows system. Is the same not true of Linux? If you're running Linux, does your BIOS have to support VNC somehow in order to run VNC on it?

My server (HP N40L) does have onboard video, BTW.

 

[ProtoSD]

You can install VNC on any Windows system. Is the same not true of Linux? If you're running Linux, does your BIOS have to support VNC somehow in order to run VNC on it?

No, the BIOS doesn't have to support it, but if the OS is in a condition where you can't connect, then connecting to the motherboard with VNC is the next best thing to having a monitor and keyboard connected. I don't know of any systems specifically with this feature, but I know Intel was talking about integrating it a few years ago. VMware has VNC built into the BIOS of each VM so you can configure each VM system without an OS being booted.

My server (HP N40L) does have onboard video, BTW.

Then you shouldn't have anything to worry about unless there's a problem where you can't connect with the GUI or ssh.


Oh, BTW, FreeNAS/FreeBSD is not Linux....

 

[titan_rw]

You can install VNC on any Windows system. Is the same not true of Linux? If you're running Linux, does your BIOS have to support VNC somehow in order to run VNC on it?

My server (HP N40L) does have onboard video, BTW.

Huh?

I think ProtoSD is talking about IPMI, commonly found on server hardware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipmi

Simply installing vnc on linux doesn't mean you can vnc to your bios screen. Not much consumer hardware supports remote viewing of the bios, and other IPMI like features like remote power up / power down, or bios emulation of a local iso file.

Server hardware that supports IPMI well, you don't ever need a monitor attached. You build the server, plug in power, and ethernet. Then log into IPMI, point the cdrom to use an iso file, remotely power on the machine, go into the bios, set things up. Install the OS, configure remote access (ssh or remote desktop) in the OS, then switch to that. If the server kernel panics, or locks up, you go back to IPMI, see what happened, and deal with it as if you were sitting at the physical machine itself.

I believe Intel's vPro technology gives you some of those features, I'm just not too sure on what is required to support it.

For us mere mortals that don't have IPMI on our freenas machines, we keep a monitor handy to plug in if needed.

 

[gpsguy]

Your N40L can accept an IPMI compliant card. Cost is ~$80 USD. Here's the manual for the Microserver remote access card. I just use a KVM with the onboard video.

 

[jgreco]

Your N40L can accept an IPMI compliant card. Cost is ~$80 USD. Here's the manual for the Microserver remote access card. I just use a KVM with the onboard video.

Ah, be careful, there are reports that the IPMI stuff for the MicroServer doesn't work with FreeBSD.

 

[jgreco]

Server hardware that supports IPMI well, you don't ever need a monitor attached.

Right up to the point where you've got a static IP wired in, then for some reason you need to move the box to a different network (think: broken server). Ah, the fun of network operations and system administration. ;-)

You build the server, plug in power, and ethernet. Then log into IPMI, point the cdrom to use an iso file, remotely power on the machine, go into the bios, set things up. Install the OS, configure remote access (ssh or remote desktop) in the OS, then switch to that. If the server kernel panics, or locks up, you go back to IPMI, see what happened, and deal with it as if you were sitting at the physical machine itself.

Yup. We've got gear that's never had a KVM plugged in. IPMI on the Supermicro boards is usually only a few bucks cost differential.

We don't burn CD's too often anymore. Between VMware ESXi and IPMI, the convenience factor of just having a large ISO library online is totally awesome.

 

[gpsguy]

Thanks for the enlightenment. Personally, it would be a waste of a valuable slot on the Microserver.

Ah, be careful, there are reports that the IPMI stuff for the MicroServer doesn't work with FreeBSD.

 

[SoonerLater]

Huh?

I think ProtoSD is talking about IPMI, commonly found on server hardware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipmi

Simply installing vnc on linux doesn't mean you can vnc to your bios screen. Not much consumer hardware supports remote viewing of the bios, and other IPMI like features like remote power up / power down, or bios emulation of a local iso file.

Server hardware that supports IPMI well, you don't ever need a monitor attached. You build the server, plug in power, and ethernet. Then log into IPMI, point the cdrom to use an iso file, remotely power on the machine, go into the bios, set things up. Install the OS, configure remote access (ssh or remote desktop) in the OS, then switch to that. If the server kernel panics, or locks up, you go back to IPMI, see what happened, and deal with it as if you were sitting at the physical machine itself.

I believe Intel's vPro technology gives you some of those features, I'm just not too sure on what is required to support it.

For us mere mortals that don't have IPMI on our freenas machines, we keep a monitor handy to plug in if needed.

Frankly, I've never heard of any remote control that occurs at the BIOS level. It never even occurred to me. I was just wanting some form of remote control for when it does successfully boot. I can live with dragging out a keyboard and monitor for the times that I need to mess with the BIOS.

 

[jgreco]

Frankly, I've never heard of any remote control that occurs at the BIOS level. It never even occurred to me. I was just wanting some form of remote control for when it does successfully boot. I can live with dragging out a keyboard and monitor for the times that I need to mess with the BIOS.

Then you're looking for ssh. There's not much you can do at the FreeNAS console, and what there is, can be done via ssh.