Netgate 4200 - Connecting to the RJ45 Console Port

Security Gateway Manual Netgate-4200
Garbled Serial Output
If the serial output appears to be garbled, missing characters, binary, or random characters check the following items:
Flow Control
In some cases flow control can interfere with serial communication, causing dropped characters or other issues.
Disabling flow control in the client can potentially correct this problem.
On PuTTY and other GUI clients there is typically a per-session option to disable flow control. In PuTTY, the
Flow Control option is in the settings tree under Connection, then Serial.
To disable flow control in GNU Screen, add the -ixon and/or -ixoff parameters after the serial speed as in the
following example:
$ sudo screen <console port> 115200,-ixon
Terminal Speed
Ensure the terminal program is configured for the correct speed. (See No Serial Output)
Character Encoding
Ensure the terminal program is configured for the proper character encoding, such as UTF-8 or Latin-1, depend-
ing on the operating system. (See GNU Screen)
Serial Output Stops After the BIOS
If serial output is shown for the BIOS but stops afterward, check the following items:
Terminal Speed
Ensure the terminal program is configured for the correct speed for the installed operating system. (See No Serial
Output)
Device OS Serial Console Settings
Ensure the installed operating system is configured to activate the serial console and that it is configured for
the proper console (e.g. ttyS1 in Linux). Consult the various operating install guides on this site for further
information.
Bootable Media
If booting from a USB flash drive, ensure that the drive was written correctly and contains a bootable operating
system image.
2.3 Connecting to the RJ45 Console Port
There are times when directly accessing the console is required. Perhaps GUI or SSH access has been locked out, or
the password has been lost or forgotten.
A separate adapter is required to make a connection between a computer and the firewall using the RJ45 serial port.
This can be a direct RJ45-to-USB serial adapter or a standard USB-to-serial adapter and an RJ45-to-DB9 adapter
or cable. It is also possible to utilize client hardware serial ports and compatible cables, but these ports are rare on
modern hardware.
These are standard components, inexpensive and readily available from most retail outlets that sell computer cables.
Installing drivers and locating the port will vary depending on the third party device, consult its documentation for
details.
© Copyright 2024 Rubicon Communications LLC 38