Serial Pin-outs

The idea is to connect pairs of systems with 2 serial cables to create a bidirectional link. We would then run a getty over one of the ports on each machine. This would allow us to login to any server if networking breaks.

The following is a list of our servers and how many serial ports they currently have:

• caffeine (1 header)
• natural-flavours (1 on-board)
• artificial-flavours (1 on-board)
• taurine (?)
• perpugilliam (2 on-board)
• citric-acid (2 on-board)
• potassium-citrate (2 on-board)

We can get PCI dual serial port cards for $25 each, and cables for $5 each. In total, we would need 3 PCI cards and 6 serial cables, for a total of $105.