Devices with only USB console port - Need a Console Server Solution

[peterl at standingwave.org (Peter Loron)]

A possible alternative, although probably not one you'd want to leave in 
place permanently:

http://www.get-console.com/airconsole/

-Pete

On 2016-02-02 06:11, Jared Mauch wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 07, 2015 at 10:15:28PM +0000, Erik Sundberg wrote:
>> We have one of these nice new and fancy Cisco ASR920-24SZ, just 
>> realized it doesn't have an RJ45 Console port only USB. When we deploy 
>> devices at our pop we wire the console port to a terminal\console 
>> server, well that doesn't work for a usb console device.
>> 
>> So what is everyone doing for out of band management via the console 
>> when it's a usb only device?
>> Is there something I am missing?
> 
> 	Likely not.  I've seen most equipment makers start to ignore serial 
> console.
> The default these appears to be moving to a uBoot/PXE style network 
> setup
> where you push an image and such via TFTP/DHCP into the device.
> 
>> Is there a console server for USB?
> 
> 	I've not seen one show up, but there are other devices like this
> which the DIY industry has started to build:
> 
> 	http://freetserv.github.io/
> 
> 	I have a side business i'm tinkering with and these are open source
> hardware.  If there is interest, I'd be willing to build these in 
> volume and
> drive the cost down.
> 
> 	It would not be difficult to do a giant USB hub that was similar.
> 
>> Does cisco make an USB to RJ45 Jack adapter?
> 
> 	Yes, but I'm always concerned about what boot messages are lost
> or things you can't quite do properly (like send break, etc) to get 
> into
> the device as you're waiting for the USB to initalize, driver to 
> present
> to OS, etc..  Maybe they spent more time thinking about this than I
> am aware, but it's something I've not had a proper solution explained 
> to me
> for.
> 
> 	- Jared