Recovery console

From Halon Security

Jump to: navigation, search

The recovery console (also referred to as Update and Recovery Firmware) can be accessed using an RS-232 serial interface terminal on hardware (SPG) appliances, and the VMware/Citrix console on VSP appliances.

It can be used to update (write to the Flash memory of) an appliance in order to replace the operating system, or reset/recover the configuration.

Booting an SPG into the recovery console

  1. Shut down the appliance (if started)
  2. Connect the appliance to a workstation using an RS-232 null-modem cable, usually included with the appliance. If no workstation with an RS-232 connector is available, USB-to-serial adapters can be purchased.
  3. Start a serial terminal emulator, for example PuTTY, HyperTerminal or minicom.
  4. Choose serial console, 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.
  5. When using HyperTerminal, it is important to manually select VT100 as emulation.
  6. Start (connect the power to) the appliance

After a couple of silent hardware checks, the text below will be displayed. In the example, a key was pressed, and therefore the recovery console was chosen.

Press any key for Update and Recovery Firmware
Loading Update and Recovery Firmware, please wait...

Booting a VSP into the recovery console

  1. Start (or restart if running) the appliance from the VMware host's user interface
  2. Click inside the console window, to change focus to the VSP

After the VMware BIOS, the text below will be displayed. In the example, a key was pressed, and therefore the recovery console was chosen.

Press any key for Update and Recovery Firmware
Loading Update and Recovery Firmware, please wait...

The recovery console

After approximately 5 seconds, the screen below is shown. Image:firmware.gif

Personal tools