In our plans for a new machine room at work, we were including a terminal server to allow remote access to our consoles. It seemed like a good idea to set something up to log console output as well. So, I started typing, and this is what happened. VCOND (Virtual CONsole Daemon) popped out.
This little diddly handles the logging and takes connections from telnet clients to allow remote login access. Telnetters with the right password can also perform various administration functions, such as monitoring connections, shutting down clients, sending breaks to the consoles, etc.
It's been very helpful to me already, and maybe it will also be helpful to someone else.
You can read the man page for version 1.1 if you like. Version 1.2 is very similar.
Sure. Well, a dramatization, anyway. This is for version 1.1. Version 1.2 is similar, except as noted below.
There are two versions. Consider both to be in beta. The source is freely available and is subject to the GNU General Public License. Both versions have been used extensively. Version 1.2 in particular has been used under Solaris 2.5 to 2.8 and has been ported to Linux 2.0.27 and Digital Unix 3.2C. Some work has been done on a BSD port, but it is not finished. (Volunteers?)
The main difference between the two versions is that 1.2, in addition to being slightly newer and perhaps having some bug fixes, continues to log all output when someone is logged in, so all console activity is recorded. At first I didn't do this because I thought it was too "big brother", but it turns out to be really useful.
| Version 1.1 gzipped tar file | Version 1.2 gzipped tar file |
The terminal servers it has been tested with are the MicroAnnex XL and the Annex 300, both running version 10.0 of the server software. I don't have access to other terminal servers, but it should work on yours with few and minor changes.