[CentOS] how to install Linux on an IBM xserver 335 server without graphics card?

Sun Dec 19 16:12:39 UTC 2010
Drew <drew.kay at gmail.com>

> I recently got some IBM Xseries 335 servers 2nd hand, and noticed they
> don't have any graphics card. Some google searched indicate they only
> have an uplink port, which you could connect to another (other model)
> IBM server and use that as the head node. But, I don't have one
> available.

That'd be the C2T (Cable Chaining) technology they were using back
then. It's essentially a KVM switch system built into the server, the
idea being that if you have a rack of 42 of them you can hookup up a
single monitor/keyboard/mouse to the stack and with the press of a
button switch between the servers.

All you need to get access to the console on these units is a C2T
Breakout cable. It looks like a custom KVM cable with PS2/VGA ports on
one end and a DVI port on the other.


-- 
Drew

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
--Marie Curie