Alert on LAN seems to have some useful functionality, if I understand
things correctly they have enhanced Wake-on-LAN to allow you to do
things like reset the machine, update the BIOS and such by sending
magic packets which are interpreted by the network card. Or maybe I am
reading too much into this:
http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/desktop/alertonlan/
Anyway, my eepro100 cards say they are Alert on LAN capable, it would
be very useful to be able to use this reboot a Linux box remotely:
02:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation EtherExpress PRO/100+ Management Adapter with Alert On LAN*
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 66, IRQ 11
Memory at 40200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at 1400 [size=64]
Memory at 40100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=1M]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Does anybody know anything about Alert on LAN and whether it does what
I think it does?
--
- Terje
[email protected]
Alert on LAN makes the system up from power management type sleep when
there are packets to be processed. Why you would ever have sleep mode on
a server is beyond me.
To get wake on lan to work you will probably need the drivers from Intel.
They are supposed to be freely available on their site.
On Tue, 13 Mar 2001, Terje Malmedal wrote:
>
> Alert on LAN seems to have some useful functionality, if I understand
> things correctly they have enhanced Wake-on-LAN to allow you to do
> things like reset the machine, update the BIOS and such by sending
> magic packets which are interpreted by the network card. Or maybe I am
> reading too much into this:
>
> http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/desktop/alertonlan/
>
> Anyway, my eepro100 cards say they are Alert on LAN capable, it would
> be very useful to be able to use this reboot a Linux box remotely:
>
> 02:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08)
>
> Subsystem: Intel Corporation EtherExpress PRO/100+ Management Adapter with Alert On LAN*
> Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 66, IRQ 11
> Memory at 40200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
> I/O ports at 1400 [size=64]
> Memory at 40100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
> Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=1M]
> Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
>
> Does anybody know anything about Alert on LAN and whether it does what
> I think it does?
>
> --
> - Terje
> [email protected]
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to [email protected]
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
>
[email protected] | Note to AOL users: for a quick shortcut to reply
Alan Olsen | to my mail, just hit the ctrl, alt and del keys.
"In the future, everything will have its 15 minutes of blame."
[Alan Olsen]
> Alert on LAN makes the system up from power management type sleep when
> there are packets to be processed. Why you would ever have sleep mode on
> a server is beyond me.
No, that's Wake on LAN.
>From the web page. http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/desktop/alertonlan/
----
Alert on LAN provides notification of the following conditions:
System unplugged from power source
System unplugged from network
Chassis intrusion
Processor removal
System environmental errors
High temperature
Fan speed
Voltage fluctuations
Operating system errors
System power-on errors
System is hung
With the latest release, Alert on LAN 2 now extends IT
capabilities to remotely manage and control their
networked PCs:
Remote system reboot upon report of a critical failure
Repair Operating System
Update BIOS image
Perform other diagnostic procedures
And Alert on LAN 2 adds the capabilities for the
administrator to take action to correct a failing
condition on the IBM PC, increasing IT's flexibility to
selectively respond to alerts and further reduce
response times.
Notification of alert is important, but the capability
to act on the information is more valuable. For
example, if a machine at a remote location is
malfunctioning, the system administrator using Alert on
LAN 2 can simply reset or reboot the machine.
---
The feature I really need is to be able to reset the machine remotely
when Linux is hung.
> To get wake on lan to work you will probably need the drivers from Intel.
> They are supposed to be freely available on their site.
Wake on LAN works fine, you just need to enable it in the BIOS.
> On Tue, 13 Mar 2001, Terje Malmedal wrote:
>>
>> Alert on LAN seems to have some useful functionality, if I understand
>> things correctly they have enhanced Wake-on-LAN to allow you to do
>> things like reset the machine, update the BIOS and such by sending
>> magic packets which are interpreted by the network card. Or maybe I am
>> reading too much into this:
>>
>> http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/desktop/alertonlan/
>>
>> Anyway, my eepro100 cards say they are Alert on LAN capable, it would
>> be very useful to be able to use this reboot a Linux box remotely:
>>
>> 02:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08)
>>
>> Subsystem: Intel Corporation EtherExpress PRO/100+ Management Adapter with Alert On LAN*
>> Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 66, IRQ 11
>> Memory at 40200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
>> I/O ports at 1400 [size=64]
>> Memory at 40100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
>> Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=1M]
>> Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
>>
>> Does anybody know anything about Alert on LAN and whether it does what
>> I think it does?
>>
>> --
>> - Terje
>> [email protected]
>> -
>> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
>> the body of a message to [email protected]
>> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
>>
> [email protected] | Note to AOL users: for a quick shortcut to reply
> Alan Olsen | to my mail, just hit the ctrl, alt and del keys.
> "In the future, everything will have its 15 minutes of blame."
IBM says, as quoted by Terje Malmedal:
> With the latest release, Alert on LAN 2 now extends IT
> capabilities to remotely manage and control their
> networked PCs:
>
> Remote system reboot upon report of a critical failure
> Repair Operating System
> Update BIOS image
> Perform other diagnostic procedures
OK, fine... but: Where are the authentication and authorization?!
Surely I'm not the only person to see in this "Alert On LAN 2" the
potential for a security disaster. I know I will never buy anything
that supports AOL2 until its security features are openly documented
and testable.
> The feature I really need is to be able to reset the machine
> remotely when Linux is hung.
Some current PC motherboards support remote management via a serial
line. Of course, you'll need software: The VA Cluster Manager (GPL'd
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/vacm) can monitor and control any
number of clients, limited only by the number of serial ports you can
give it. VACM also includes optional client support for enhanced
monitoring, e.g. of temperatures. I'm not sure which motherboards it
supports, but I'm sure you can find current documentation. :-)
Granted, this is not cheap. A VACM-style approach costs some money
for the monitor computer, and some convenience for installing the
serial lines; meanwhile, AOL2 promises to do it all over Ethernet.
But with VACM, you can be sure that somebody has to log in to the
monitor computer -- with security levels you control! -- before they
can control or even monitor any connected clients.
BTW, in the spirit of full disclosure: VACM is a product of VA Linux
engineering, and I work for VA. But VACM is GPL'd and we don't charge
for it, so I have little financial interest in seeing it used. I just
*hate* it when people play fast & loose with my security.
In article <[email protected]> you wrote:
> Alert on LAN makes the system up from power management type sleep when
> there are packets to be processed. Why you would ever have sleep mode on
> a server is beyond me.
Most professional UPS with Network Management Cards can go a sever to sleep
mode if the power gets down and they will
awake the Server with a "Wake-on-Lan" signal if power is back.
Afaik Wake-On-Lan is a Mainboard/Bios Feature and will work with any OS which
can put the System into the right Sleep mode.
Greetings
Bernd
[Chip Salzenberg]
> IBM says, as quoted by Terje Malmedal:
>> With the latest release, Alert on LAN 2 now extends IT
>> capabilities to remotely manage and control their
>> networked PCs:
>>
>> Remote system reboot upon report of a critical failure
>> Repair Operating System
>> Update BIOS image
>> Perform other diagnostic procedures
> OK, fine... but: Where are the authentication and authorization?!
> Surely I'm not the only person to see in this "Alert On LAN 2" the
> potential for a security disaster. I know I will never buy anything
> that supports AOL2 until its security features are openly documented
> and testable.
Definitely scary possibilites there. I think the best we can
realistically hope for is that you can require a password to be sent
with each packet.
>> The feature I really need is to be able to reset the machine
>> remotely when Linux is hung.
> Some current PC motherboards support remote management via a serial
> line. Of course, you'll need software: The VA Cluster Manager (GPL'd
> - http://sourceforge.net/projects/vacm) can monitor and control any
> number of clients, limited only by the number of serial ports you can
> give it. VACM also includes optional client support for enhanced
> monitoring, e.g. of temperatures. I'm not sure which motherboards it
> supports, but I'm sure you can find current documentation. :-)
I am aware of some motherboards where you can configure the BIOS via
RS232. What I want is some way to actually reset a machine that is
hung. Currently we are using power-strips where we can switch on and
off individual plugs by telneting to the strip.
We also use Netra T1's from SUN. They have a small microprosessor
listening on the serial port. If you send the escape sequence #. it
will take over and allow you to reset or power-cycle the real
computer. Very cool stuff:
lom>version
LOM version: 2.1
LOM checksum: 7CA3
LOM firmware build Aug 6 1999 09:46:27
lom>help
The following commands are supported:
alarmon
alarmoff
check
console
environment
faulton
faultoff
help
poweron
poweroff
reset
show
version
lom>environment
LEDs:
faultled OFF
Alarm1 = OFF
Alarm2 = OFF
Alarm3 = OFF
Fans:
1 = OK speed = 74%
2 = OK speed = 74%
3 = OK speed = 74%
PSUs:
1 = OK
This functionality is what I hope Alert on LAN2 can give me.
--
- Terje
[email protected]
According to Terje Malmedal:
> I am aware of some motherboards where you can configure the BIOS via
> RS232. What I want is some way to actually reset a machine that is
> hung.
That's possible with VACM-style management. It's not just for BIOS.
--
Chip Salzenberg - a.k.a. - <[email protected]>
"We have no fuel on board, plus or minus 8 kilograms." -- NEAR tech
> things correctly they have enhanced Wake-on-LAN to allow you to do
> things like reset the machine, update the BIOS and such by sending
> magic packets which are interpreted by the network card. Or maybe I am
Normally 'sending magic packets resets the machine' is considered a feature
reported to bugtraq. The alert stuff I have seen is more akin to sending SNMP
traps for things like people opening the lid, or fan failure
Alan Cox <[email protected]> writes:
> > things correctly they have enhanced Wake-on-LAN to allow you to do
> > things like reset the machine, update the BIOS and such by sending
> > magic packets which are interpreted by the network card. Or maybe I am
>
> Normally 'sending magic packets resets the machine' is considered a feature
> reported to bugtraq. The alert stuff I have seen is more akin to sending SNMP
> traps for things like people opening the lid, or fan failure
I haven't quite be able to track this but I don't think that is how alert on
lan works. Rev1 has a watch dog timer that can send a packet when
booting or whatever fails. It looks like Rev2 hooked up that watchdog
timer to the power or the reset switch. So it doesn't reboot for
everything but it does look like it can reboot for some specific
special cases.
And if it is of the watchdog timer approach it looks like it could
actually be useful. Of course someone needs to track down the docs so
we can actually use it.
Eric