Support FAQ

Command line configuration

Managers with **ix experience may be more comfortable configuring and operating the console server from the command line. Only Administrators (i.e. users in the "admin" group) have command line access:

Once connected the Administrator simply presses 'return' a couple of times to log into the console server
A login user name and password will be requested, and when entered the hash (#) command line prompt presents. The factory default login user name / password is root/default. This can be used for initial login however this root password should be changed and a new "admin" group user should be set up and used for all ongoing CLI access

Opengear console servers run an embedded Linux operating system. Below are the standard Linux (and BusyBox) commands and some custom Opengear commands that are in the default build tree. The Administrator can use these to configure the console server, and monitor and manage attached serial console and host devices:

addgroup *	Add a group or add an user to a group
adduser *	Add an user
agetty	alternative Linux getty
arp	Manipulate the system ARP cache
arping	Send ARP requests/replies
bash	GNU Bourne-Again SHell
busybox	Swiss army knife of embedded Linux commands
cat *	Concatenate FILE(s) and print them to stdout
chat	Useful for interacting with a modem connected to stdin/stdout
chgrp *	Change file access permissions
chmod *	Change file access permissions
chown *	Change file owner and group
config	Opengear tool to manipulate and query the system configuration from the command line
cp *	Copy files and directories
date *	Print or set the system date and time
dd *	Convert and copy a file
deluser *	Delete USER from the system
df *	Report filesystem disk space usage
dhcpd	Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server
discard	Network utility that listens on the discard port
dmesg *	Print or control the kernel ring buffer
echo *	Print the specified ARGs to stdout
erase	Tool for erasing MTD partitions
eraseall	Tool for erasing entire MTD partitions
false *	Do nothing, unsuccessful
find	Search for files
flashw	Write data to individual flash devices
flatfsd	Daemon to save RAM filesystems back to FLASH
ftp	Internet file transfer program
gen-keys	SSH key generation program
getopt *	Parses command options
gettyd	Getty daemon
grep *	Print lines matching a pattern
gunzip *	Compress or expand files
gzip *	Compress or expand files
hd	ASCII, decimal, hexadecimal, octal dump
hostname *	Get or set hostname or DNS domain name
httpd	Listen for incoming HTTP requests
hwclock	Query and set hardware clock (RTC)
inetd	Network super-server daemon
inetd-echo	Network echo utility
init	Process control initialization
ip	Show or manipulate routing, devices, policy routing and tunnels
ipmitool	Linux IPMI manager
iptables	Administration tool for IPv4 packet filtering and NAT
ip6tables	Administration tool for IPv6 packet filtering
iptables-restore	Restore IP Tables
iptables-save	Save IP Tables
kill *	Send a signal to a process to end gracefully
ln *	Make links between files
login	Begin session on the system
loopback	Opengear loopback diagnostic command
loopback1	Opengear loopback diagnostic command
loopback2	Opengear loopback diagnostic command
loopback8	Opengear loopback diagnostic command
loopback16	Opengear loopback diagnostic command
loopback48	Opengear loopback diagnostic command
ls *	List directory contents
mail	Send and receive mail
mkdir *	Make directories
mkfs.jffs2	Create an MS-DOS file system under Linux
mknod *	Make block or character special files
more *	File perusal filter for crt viewing
mount *	Mount a file system
msmtp	SMTP mail client
mv *	Move (rename) files
nc	TCP/IP Swiss army knife
netflash	Upgrade firmware on ucLinux platforms using the blkmem interface
netstat	Print network connections, routing tables, interface statistics etc
ntpd	Network Time Protocol (NTP) daemon
pgrep	Display process(es) selected by regex pattern
pidof	Find the process ID of a running program
ping	Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts
ping6	IPv6 ping
pkill	Sends a signal to process(es) selected by regex pattern
pmchat	Opengear command similar to the standard chat command (via portmanager)
pmdeny
pminetd
pmloggerd
pmshell	Opengear command similar to the standard tip or cu but all serial port access is directed via the portmanager.
pmusers	Opengear command to query portmanager for active user sessions
portmanager	Opengear command that handles all serial port access
portmap	DARPA port to RPC program number mapper
pppd	Point-to-Point protocol daemon
ps *	Report a snapshot of the current processes
pwd *	Print name of current/working directory
reboot *	Soft reboot
rm *	Remove files or directories
rmdir *	Remove empty directories
routed	Show or manipulate the IP routing table
routed	Show or manipulate the IP routing table
routef	IP Route tool to flush IPv4 routes
routel	IP Route tool to list routes
rtacct	Applet printing /proc/net/rt_acct
rtmon	RTnetlink listener
scp	Secure copy (remote file copy program)
sed *	Text stream editor
setmac	Sets the MAC address
setserial	Sets and reports serial port configuration
sh	Shell
showmac	Shows MAC address
sleep *	Delay for a specified amount of time
smbmnt	Helper utility for mounting SMB file systems
smbmount	Mount an SMBFS file system
smbumount	SMBFS umount for normal users
snmpd	SNMP daemon
snmptrap	Sends an SNMP notification to a manager
sredird	RFC 2217 compliant serial port redirector
ssh	OpenSSH SSH client (remote login program)
ssh-keygen	Authentication key generation, management, and conversion
sshd	OpenSSH SSH daemon
sslwrap	Program that allows plain services to be accessed via SSL
stty	Change and print terminal line settings
stunnel	Universal SSL tunnel
sync *	Flush file system buffers
sysctl	Configure kernel parameters at runtime
syslogd	System logging utility
tar *	The tar archiving utility
tc	Show traffic control settings
tcpdump	Dump traffic on a network
telnetd	Telnet protocol server
tftp	Client to transfer a file from/to tftp server
tftpd	Trivial file Transfer Protocol (tftp) server
tip	Simple terminal emulator/cu program for connecting to modems and serial devices
top	Provide a view of process activity in real time
touch *	Change file timestamps
traceroute	Print the route packets take to network host
traceroute6	Traceroute for IPv6
true *	Returns an exit code of TRUE (0)
umount *	Unmount file systems
uname *	Print system information
usleep *	Delay for a specified amount of time
vconfig *	Create and remove virtual ethernet devices
vi *	Busybox clone of the VI text editor
w	Show who is logged on and what they are doing
zcat *	Identical to gunzip -c

Commands above which are appended with '*' come from BusyBox. Others are generic Linux commands and most commands the -h or --help argument to provide a terse runtime description of their behavior.

This list is reasonably comprehensive however it may be worth using ls command to view all the commands actually available in the /bin directory in your console server.

Other CLI commands

There are also a number of Opengear custom command line utilities included that make it simple to configure the console server and ensure the changes are stored in the console server's flash memory etc. In particular:
- config allows manipulation and querying of the system configuration from the command line. With config a new configuration can be activated by running the relevant configurator, which performs the action necessary to make the configuration changes live
- portmanager provides a buffered interface to each serial port. It is supported by the pmchat and pmshell commands which ensure all serial port access is directed via the portmanager
- pmpower is a configurable tool for manipulating remote power devices that are serially or network connected to the console server
- SDT Connector is a java client applet that provides point-and-click SSH tunneled connections to the console server and Managed Devices
For detailed information on these commands refer the User Manual
There are also a number of other CLI commands related to other open source tools embedded in the console server:
- powerman provides power management for many preconfigured remote power controller (RPC) devices. For CLI details refer http://linux.die.net/man/1/powerman
- Network UPS Tools (NUT) provides reliable monitoring of UPS and PDU hardware and ensure safe shutdowns of the systems which are connected - with a goal to monitor every kind of UPS and PDU. For CLI details refer http://www.networkupstools.org
- Nagios is a popular enterprise-class management tool that provides central monitoring of the hosts and services in distributed networks. For CLI details refer http://www.nagios.org
You can also find information on these CLI commands in the User Manual
The Linux kernel in the console server also supports GNU bash shell script enabling the Administrator to embed custom scripts (refer faq 255)

Connecting to the CLI

Administrators can log into their console server at the command line by connecting to the local console serial port (directly or via a modem) or SSH/Telnet connecting over the network:

If connecting over the network then the Administrator will need to ensure there is a route connecting them to the console server's Ethernet port, then direct their terminal emulator program to this IP address. We recommend that Administrators use SSH as the security protocol when connecting to (and through) console servers - particularly when connecting over the Internet or other public network. Refer faq 249
If connecting directly using the serial console port, the Administrator will need to plug a serial cable between the console server Local/Modem port and terminal device. Configure the serial connection of the "terminal" device/program you are using to 115200bps, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop bit and software (Xon-Xoff) flow control. If you are using a program running on a Windows PC as the terminal device, then the connecting cable to the DB9 Local/Modem connector is made up from a Cat5 UTP (#449016) cable and two DB-9 to RJ-45 adapters (#319000 and #319001)
To set up a dial-in connection directly to the serial console port, the Administrator must first activate and configure a ppp connection. Authenticated remote dial-in access can also be configured on the Network: Dial In menu