How to use ILO and vsp to login HP Proliant Linux server

Jephe Wu - http://linuxtechres.blogspot.com

Enrionment: Production HP Proliant server installed with CentOS. ILO2 is connected and enabled
Objective: directly login to Linux console through vsp/ilo, so that you can change server IP address without worries etc


Steps:
1. enable firewalls so  that you can ssh into the ILO ip address from office to data center where the production server resides

2. configure vsp port as com1 or com2 on hp proliant server bios screen (bios: system option)

3. configure Linux server to accept serial port login (let's assume vsp uses com2 which is ttyS1)

add this to /etc/inittab:
sx:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 115200 ttyS1 vt100
then init q to take affect

4. add  ttyS0 or ttyS1 into /etc/securetty to enable root direct login through serial port

5. login to ILO2 from putty,  then type in vsp to get Linux login console
6. use ESC key followed by ( to exit from login console , back to vsp command line

References:
a. HP Integrated Lights-Out 2 (iLO 2) - Unable to Use Virtual Serial Port (VSP) -
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=110&prodSeriesId=1146658&prodTypeId=18964&objectID=c01702793