52 lines
2.5 KiB
HTML
52 lines
2.5 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="LinuxDoc-Tools 0.9.21">
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<TITLE> Serial HOWTO: Servers for Serial Ports</TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="Serial-HOWTO-7.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="Serial-HOWTO-5.html" REL=previous>
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<LINK HREF="Serial-HOWTO.html#toc6" REL=contents>
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<A HREF="Serial-HOWTO-7.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="Serial-HOWTO.html#toc6">Contents</A>
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<H2><A NAME="s6">6.</A> <A HREF="Serial-HOWTO.html#toc6">Servers for Serial Ports</A></H2>
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<P>A computer that has many serial ports (with many serial cables
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connected to it) is often called a server. Of course, most servers
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serve other functions besides just serving serial ports, and many do
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not serve serial ports at all (although they likely have a serial port
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on them). For example, a "serial server" may have serial cables,
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each of which runs to a different (non-serial) server. The serial
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server (perhaps called a "console server") controls, via a console,
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all the other servers. The console may be physically located remote
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from the serial server, communicating with the server over a network.</P>
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<P>There are two basic types of serial servers. One type is just an
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ordinary computer (perhaps rack mounted) that uses multiport cards on
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a PCI bus (or the like). The other type is a proprietary server that
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is a dedicated computer that serves a special purpose. Servers of
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both types may be called: serial servers, console servers, print
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servers, or terminal servers. They are not the same.</P>
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<P>The terminal server was originally designed to provide many serial
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ports, each connected to a dumb text-terminal. Today, a terminal
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server often connects to graphic terminals over a fast network and
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doesn't use serial ports since they are too slow. One network cable
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takes the place of many serial cables and each graphic terminal uses
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far more bandwidth than the text-terminals did. However, graphic
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terminals may be run in text mode to reduce the bandwidth required. A
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more detailed discussion of terminal servers (serial port) is in
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Text-Terminal-HOWTO. For networked terminal servers (not serial port)
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see
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<A HREF="http://www.ltsp.org/index.php">Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP)</A></P>
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<P>(To-do: Discuss other types of serial servers, but the author knows
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little about them.)</P>
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