Chapter 15

Advanced Configuration

Introduction

Black Box console servers run the embedded Linux operating system. So Administrator class users can configure the console server and monitor and manage attached serial console and host devices from the command line using Linux commands and the config utility as described in Chapter 14.

The Linux kernel in the console server also supports GNU bash shell script enabling the Administrator to run custom scripts. This chapter presents a number of useful scripts and scripting tools including:

-delete-nodewhich is a general script for deleting users, groups, hosts, UPSes etc.

-ping-detectwhich will run specified commands when a specific host stops responding to ping requests.

This chapter then details how to perform advanced and custom management tasks using Black Box commands, Linux commands, and the open source tools embedded in the console server:

-portmanager serial port management

-raw data access to the ports and modems

-iptables modifications and updating IP filtering rules

-modifying SNMP with net-snmpd

-public key authenticated SSH communications

-SSL, configuring HTTPS and issuing certificates

-using pmpower for NUT and PowerMan power device management

-using IPMItools

-CDK custom development kit

15.1Custom Scripting

The console server supports GNU bash shell commands (refer to Appendix A) enabling the Administrator to run custom scripts.

15.1.1 Custom script to run when booting

The /etc/config/rc.local script runs whenever the system boots. By default, this script file is empty. You can add any commands to this file if you want them to run at boot time (for example, if you wanted to display hello world:)

#!/bin/sh

echo "Hello World!"

If this script has been copied from a Windows machine, you may need to run the following command on the script before bash can run it successfully:

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Black Box LES1216A-R2 Chapter Advanced Configuration, Custom Scripting, Using IPMItools, Custom script to run when booting