Question : Fedora Core 3 - Redirecting normal console to Serial ttyS0

I am wanting to use my Fedora system on a Terminal Server.

I want to redirect my normal KVM console to COM1 on my i386 hardware.

My hardware does not allow redirect under CMOS.

What are the details or FAQ that I can reference in redirecting my standard console to go to /dev/ttyS0?

How do I tune my ttyS0 to be 9600 vt100?

Thanks.

Answer : Fedora Core 3 - Redirecting normal console to Serial ttyS0

Open up your grub config file /boot/grub/menu.lst in Fedora Core
========================
title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
========================
becomes:
========================
title Fedora Core w/Serial Console (2.6.5-1.358)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8
        initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
========================

Specifying "console=" multiple times causes kernel output (printk) to be mirrored to all devices listed. The last device mentioned will be used as /dev/console which is where syslog and the /etc/init.d startup scripts send their output. The typical keyboard and monitor are tty0. The first serial port is ttyS0 (COM1), the second serial port is ttyS1 (COM2). You can use either one. 115200 is the baud rate for the serial port. You can set it slower if you need to. Other popular baud rates are 9600, 19200, 38400 and 57600.

If you boot with the above kernel command line, Red Hat will generally detect this and prompt you to configure serial console for login. If not, do the following to enable login on the serial port.

Add the following lines to /etc/inittab:

 
# Serial console login
S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L ttyS0 115200

Change "S0" to "S1" in two places on the line if you're using ttyS1 as your console. Change "115200" to match your baud rate if you changed it on the kernel command line.

Allow root login on this new port by adding "ttyS0" and "ttyS1" to /etc/securettys.

The system process named "init" manages logins and needs to be told to reread the /etc/inittab file. There are many ways to do this -- "telinit q" is one.

That completes the setup of a serial console.