Tribblix: manual page: consadm.8

CONSADM(8) Maintenance Commands and Procedures CONSADM(8)

NAME

consadm - select or display devices used as auxiliary console devices

SYNOPSIS

/usr/sbin/consadm

/usr/sbin/consadm [-a device...] [-p]

/usr/sbin/consadm [-d device...] [-p]

/usr/sbin/consadm [-p]

DESCRIPTION

consadm selects the hardware device or devices to be used as
auxiliary console devices, or displays the current device. Only
superusers are allowed to make or display auxiliary console device
selections.

Auxiliary console devices receive copies of console messages, and can
be used as the console during single user mode. In particular, they
receive kernel messages and messages directed to /dev/sysmsg. On
Solaris x86 based systems they can also be used for interaction with
the bootstrap.

By default, selecting a display device to be used as an auxiliary
console device selects that device for the duration the system
remains up. If the administrator needs the selection to persist
across reboots the -p option can be specified.

consadm runs a daemon in the background, monitoring auxiliary console
devices. Any devices that are disconnected (hang up, lose carrier)
are removed from the auxiliary console device list, though not from
the persistent list. While auxiliary console devices may have been
removed from the device list receiving copies of console messages,
those messages will always continue to be displayed by the default
console device.

The daemon will not run if it finds there are not any auxiliary
devices configured to monitor. Likewise, after the last auxiliary
console is removed, the daemon will shut itself down. Therefore the
daemon persists for only as long as auxiliary console devices remain
active.

See eeprom(8) for instructions on assigning an auxiliary console
device as the system console.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-a device
Adds device to the list of auxiliary console devices.
Specify device as the path name to the device or devices
to be added to the auxiliary console device list.

-d device
Removes device from the list of auxiliary console
devices. Specify device as the path name to the device
or devices to be removed from the auxiliary console
device list.

-p
Prints the list of auxiliary consoles that will be
auxiliary across reboots.

When invoked with the -a or -d options, tells the
application to make the change persist across reboot.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Adding to the list of devices that will receive console

messages

The following command adds /dev/term/a to the list of devices that
will receive console messages.

example# consadm -a /dev/term/a

Example 2: Removing from the list of devices that will receive console

messages

The following command removes /dev/term/a from the list of devices
that will receive console messages. This includes removal from the
persistent list.

example# consadm -d -p /dev/term/a

Example 3: Printing the list of devices selected as auxiliary console

devices

The following command prints the name or names of the device or
devices currently selected as auxiliary console devices.

example# consadm

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of consadm: LC_CTYPE,
LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
Successful completion.

>0
An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

NOTES

Auxiliary console devices are not usable for kadb or firmware I/O, do
not receive panic messages, and do not receive output directed to
/dev/console.

The consadm service is managed by the service management facility,
smf(7), under the service identifier:

svc:/system/consadm

Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling,
or requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(8). The
service's status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.

February 17, 2023 CONSADM(8)