Two weeks ago I picked up an old Xylogics microAnnex els console server from a member of our local LUG for R100 (about $15). It’s a nice device that allows me to access my server consoles via serial port across the network, which is something I’ve been needing for a long time. It’s fairly old (as with most of my hardware) and, being a 1993 vintage device, doesn’t support ssh – access is via telnet only. Once I have it cabled up properly, I’m going to hook it up to another machine via crossover ethernet cable and ssh into that machine before telnetting to the various consoles.

Jason Heiss has a page detailing some useful info for new Annex owners, including how to reset the superuser password. Unfortunately my Annex had a non-default password and the original owner couldn’t remember it, so I had to erase my flash from the monitor in order to reset the password. I was a little hesisitant, but the Annex was straightforward to reconfigure after the erase.

For information on wiring cables for the various Annexes (Annexen?), see the conserver site.