FreeBSD on Sparc64 - Just getting started...

Something the FreeBSD docs don’t tell you (not anywhere I can find anyway) is that you have to use a serial console to install FreeBSD on Sparc64….as Adam Sandler puts it, “…again, information I could have used yesterday!” In all fairness, 6.0 is supposed to provide native terminal support for Sparc64, so this is unnecessary for that version and on (hopefully).

Anyway, I looked around trying to figure out what in the heck I can use as a serial console, and I saw my older Dell laptop that has FreeBSD 4.11 on it. I couldn’t find a serial cable, so I had to get one on ebay…again, more waiting. I apparenlty also need a “null modem” to place in between the serial cable (25 pin, male) and the Sun (serial port A). The laptop has a 9-pin male serial connection, so the cable had to have a 9-pin female on the other end.

I also found a program to run on the laptop once the thing is set up called Kermit which is available in in FreeBSD’s ports under comms/kermit. I am installing that right now even though I do not have the darn serial cable or null modem.

I also found a link that kind of explains what needs to be done in order to connect to the Sun’s serial port A - http://www.obsolyte.com/sunFAQ/serial/.

I guess the lesson here is look before you leap. Hopefully if this doesn’t kill me, it will make my *nix skill stronger. Now I just hope this Sun is as reliable as I think it is going to be.

Note: I am using an old Dell Inspiron running FreeBSD 4.11 for the serial console. It has one serial port (/dev/ttyd0) and has Kermit (ports/comm/kermit) installed to interface with the serial port.

1. Make sure the Ultra is powered OFF and the keyboard is NOT attached
   
2. Connect serial port A on the Ultra (25 pin, female) to the serial port on the laptop (9 pin, male); the laptop should be ON
   
3. Turn ON the Ultra, wait about a minute
   
4. On the laptop, open a console and start Kermit (# kermit)
   
5. Connect to the Ultra’s serial port:
   

   kermit>set line /dev/ttyd0
   kermit>set speed 9600
   kermit>set parity none
   kermit>connect
   

6. Once that is done, stick the FreeBSD 5.3 Sparc64 disc in the CDROM drive;
   
7. Note: For some reason I could not issue the “boot cdrom” command from the serial console, so I cheated and did that part from the Ultra; basically I rebooted the machine WITH the keyboard in, hit Stop-A after the memory initialization, and typed in “boot cdrom” directly from the Sun keyboard; When it rebooted, I quickly disconnected the keyboard again and returned to the serial console on my laptop. I don’t think I had to reconnect on Kermit, but I honestly don’t remember if I did right now ;)
   
8. This should work like a charm, and you should soon be greeted with the FreeBSD installation menu; I chose to use the “VT100″ compatible terminal. The only problem with this was that I had to use the “+” to go DOWN and the “UP Arrow” to go up; crazy, but true!
   
9. Do your preliminary pre-install tasks; I re-partioned and re-labled the 9GB disk as follows:

   swap 500MB
   / 500MB
   /tmp 500MB
   /var 500MB
   /usr 6900MB (approx)
   

10. Select your distribution; I went selected the minimal installation + Perl
    
11. Once this is done, setup and bring up the ethernet interface (hme0); then, exit all and let it reboot
    
12. Once it rebooted, set sshd_enable=”YES” in /etc/rc.conf to allow ssh connections; (I set sendmail_enable=”NONE” for good measure)
    
13. Reboot one more time, and you should be able to ssh into the box (don’t throw away the serial cable, though! ;)
    Since setting things up, I have only had to connect via serial console 1 time because I created ipfw rules that blocked ssh’ing from reserved local addresses (192.168.0.0/16).
    
    I am currently upgrading to FreeBSD 5.4, and have done a number of preliminary stress tests including “memtest” (ports/sysutils/memtest) and “ubench” (ports/benchmarks/ubench).
    
    …stay tuned for more exciting FreeBSD on Ultra 60 stories!