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→What is a Terminal Server?
== What is a Terminal Server? ==
A terminal server provides TCP/IP connectivity to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232 RS-232] serial ports. Effectively, it lets you communicate with a serial port from anywhere on the Internet.
While this can be used for access to serial devices such as measurement tools and printers, or to enable a dedicated terminal to communicate with a network host, the terminal server in the EHL is used in a different way: it permits remote access to the serial console ports on computers within the EHL.
Most system firmware, boot software, and Linux kernels provide a console user interface. Only after the system is fully booted do network services become active.
On a PC, the console is often provided through a local video connection. On hyperscale system, it may be provided by an IPMI serial-over-LAN (SOL) connection. On a development board, it is usually provided by an RS-232 (or RS-485 or TTL) serial connection, and it is for this type of connection that a terminal server is used.
== The EHL Terminal Server ==