Going headless

[billshoff]

I have installed Fedora 12, Amahi and CrashPlan onto an old Pentium 4 pc. I need to move it to a closet and I want to go headless (no monitor, keyboard, or mouse). Can I just shut down the pc, move it and re boot or is there something else that I need to do? Do I need to enable network boot in the bios?

I also want to do full image backups from my 4 pcs to this server but CrashPlan doesn't do that. Do you have any suggestions on which program to use? I'm running Windows 7 Home on 3 machones and Windows 7 Ultimate on one.

[moredruid]

Make sure your BIOS is set to "Halt on: No errors" or a similar setting (usually in the boot options) so a non-connected keyboard will not stop the machine from booting.
What I used to do was placing the server in the closet, connect keyboard & monitor, boot, check if it was coming up OK, disconnect everything and leave the machine running.

[billshoff]

Thanks, that makes sense. I appreciate your help!

[rgmhtt]

change /etc/inittab from '5' to '3'.

Check your bios or other perhaps board switches to poweron when power comes on.

Consider a UPS.

[billshoff]

I have no idea how to do this: "change /etc/inittab from '5' to '3."
Can a newbee do this?

[uslacker]

I want to do this as well. (in fact I have), but X doesn't appear to start unless a monitor is attached. I'd like to use Webvnc to get to it, but no X windows.

What needs to happen ?

[uslacker]

I have no idea how to do this: "change /etc/inittab from '5' to '3."
Can a newbee do this?

You can, but if you are not comfortable using a Linux text editor like vi, it's probable best you wait. The server will run in run level 5, so it isn't necessary. Putting in run level 3 would stop the GUI (x windows) from loading, and save some CPU horsepower.

[moredruid]

indeed, if you're uncomfortable with a text editor don't screw with it.

what you _can_ do is use putty to ssh to the hda and as root user type: init 3

this will put the system in runlevel 3 as well.

[rgmhtt]

I have no idea how to do this: "change /etc/inittab from '5' to '3."
Can a newbee do this?

You can, but if you are not comfortable using a Linux text editor like vi, it's probable best you wait. The server will run in run level 5, so it isn't necessary. Putting in run level 3 would stop the GUI (x windows) from loading, and save some CPU horsepower.

But gedit is really no different from Notepad.

As root, open a terminal window. Now you got to be root by:

ssh hda -l root
su -
sudo

type:

gedit /etc/inittab

You will notice the last lines are:

Code: Select all

# Default runlevel. The runlevels used are: # 0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this) # 1 - Single user mode # 2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not have networking) # 3 - Full multiuser mode # 4 - unused # 5 - X11 # 6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this) # id:5:initdefault:

Change the 5 in the last line to a 3 save and the next boot will come up without the cost of the GUI. When you now vpn into your hda system, your desktop is supplying the gui code, not the server.

[uslacker]

It might also be useful to read this wiki page if youd like to access the console remotely
http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/VNC