So, are you unhappy with Astlinux or the Soekris? or just in general? I liken this to a Digi terminal server device, which is a "real" product, btw. In order to configure this device, I have to connect to it with Hyperterm and tell it something about the network it's going to operate in. Or, I can trust it to find a DHCP server and lease an address. In this case, I have the exact same problem that you are complaining of. I have to find the IP address of the device. We usually ask one of our router jockeys to do a search based on the MAC address of the device, or we access it with a terminal.
It's really a LOT more common than you may believe. On 12/17/06, Phil McKerracher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks for all your responses. Apologies for the delayed reply - this mailing > list is a real pain to use (wouldn't a phpBB forum be easier?), and for some > reason my first post hasn't showed up on > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/index.html > (yet later ones have), which doesn't give me much confidence. > > As a couple of you pointed out, I can use PuTTy or the web interface to edit > or restore my config files to the flash drive once I can get into the box. > And once I can edit the config files, I can fix the IP address to anything I > like. This still leaves the problem of guessing the IP address the first > time, though. > > > From: Michael A <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > ...I used the free IP SCAN utility to find out the IP > > address... > > I'm not sure which utility you mean exactly, but although this would speed up > the guesswork it doesn't really solve the problem, it's still trial and error. > > > On 12/10/06, vb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > If possible, log into the console as root... > > Chicken and egg. :-( > > > ... if no console access, check your dhcp > > server's table of addresses and figure it out from > > there. > > Still trial and error, ultimately. And accessing the DHCP server in my > existing router is a pain. > > > Tom Lynn wrote: > > > syslog captures the dhcp lease and it's ip address nicely. > > Same comment as above. > > > From: Carla Schroder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > ...null modem cables are cheep, and they are > > necessities for administering headless boxes like the > > Soekris. Don't handicap yourself by not having one... > > [Some extremely useful links snipped, many thanks for these] > > True, and I've now acquired one, but I still think it's a bit much to expect > the average user to buy one, and setting up Hyperterm is a nightmare > (especially since the required bit rate isn't documented anywhere that I > could find!). > > I'm convinced that there is *no way* that a "real" product would ever be > shipped with a fundamental limitation like this. All the routers, VoIP > devices, modems etc. that I have ever used have had some way of either > discovering the DHCP-assigned IP address (a display or voice prompt), or a > way of configuring a fixed address (a configuration file, DIP switches, > thumbwheels), or they just come with a fixed address that will usually work, > like 192.168.0.100. > > Surely it should be fairly easy in this case to read the address from a > config file that could be edited before first use somehow? > > Phil McKerracher > www.mckerracher.net > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Astlinux-users mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.kriscompanies.com/mailman/listinfo/astlinux-users > > Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL > PROTECTED] > _______________________________________________ Astlinux-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.kriscompanies.com/mailman/listinfo/astlinux-users Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
