topic Re: Using SOL in Intel vPro® Platform

Using SOL

JHall9 — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:08:40 GMT

On my HP ProDesk G3 600 SFF PC, I am able to use some of the AMT functionality: power functions, agent presense, system defense, etc.

It seems like the SOL is partially working because when connecting using either MeshCommander or a powershell cmdlet, I see on the target machine an icon in the upper right corner of the screen. The terminal interface is simply blank with no interaction using the keyboard. I have changed the BIOS settings back and forth for ANSI terminal to VT100 and back to no effect. I have contacted HP support to see if some BIOS updates have changed or removed some of the AMT features, but have heard nothing back so far.

Re: Using SOL

idata — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 23:51:21 GMT

Hello Def-Logix_Developer,

I'm going to assume that the target system is running a graphical OS, like Windows. If my assumption is correct:

Try this test to validate if SOL is working. Launch MeshCommander and connect via Serial-Over-Lan.

On the target system, launch powershell as an administrator and run the following commands:

$port = New-Object System.IO.Ports.SerialPort COM3, 115200, none, 8, one

$port.Open()

$port.WriteLine("hello")

in Mesh Commander, the screen should show hello. This will confirm SOL is functioning.

Regards,

Michael

Re: Using SOL

JHall9 — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 14:25:50 GMT

Here is the output of the commands you suggested in a powershell window:

$port = New-Object System.IO.Ports.SerialPort COM3. 115200, none, 8, one

New-Object : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'System.Object[]'.

At line:1 char:9

+ $port = New-Object System.IO.Ports.SerialPort COM3. 115200, none, 8, ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [New-Object], ParameterBindingException

+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewObjectCommand

I thought I mentioned in my original post that I was thinking the SOL feature was working in some form or fashion by the way the terminal icon was flashing in the target PC.

I do not wish to use the SOL feature in the test scenario you suggested. I thought the expected use-case for SOL is to issue commands from the remote terminal (like mesh commander) instead of having output printed out at mesh commander that originated in the host machine.

In some older posts, I have seen mentioning of a program that needs to be installed on the host (amt) machine to support the sol feature. It seems that I have read about a utility called Outpost that could be used for this. If this is the case, could someone tell me where to find this and if it works on Window 10.

Thanks,

Joel Hall

Re: Using SOL

JHall9 — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 14:36:45 GMT

Update:

I found the error in my powershell command (the period after COM3 instead of a comma).

It works as you instructed. Nevertheless, I wish to use the meshcommander window to type commands that will be executed on the host machine. Can that be done (with something like Outpost)?

Thanks,

Joel Hall

Re: Using SOL

idata — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 19:41:11 GMT

Hi Joel,

I'm grabbing this from your previous post:

"I do not wish to use the SOL feature in the test scenario you suggested. I thought the expected use-case for SOL is to issue commands from the remote terminal (like mesh commander) instead of having output printed out at mesh commander that originated in the host machine."

SOL is a very "simplistic" type of connection, used for text based interaction. It will not be able to display to a graphical environment.

For example, in Mesh Commander, perform a SOL connection to the device you are referencing. You should be "Connected" but have a cursor block and a blank screen (assuming Windows or some GUI OS)

Click "Power Actions", if the system is on, select reset to BIOS. As the system restarts and boots into BIOS, you will see that in your screen.

Is there a specific use case that requires SOL connectivity? From your description, it sounds like you are wanting to perform a remote desktop connection. Can you provide more clarity with regards to what you want to accomplish?

Regards,

Michael

Re: Using SOL

JHall9 — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 20:02:23 GMT

I thought I had checked this possibility before, but for whatever reason, it is working now. As you described, if I turn on the sol terminal and reset to BIOS, it sends the machine to the bios menu in text form that I can interact with on mesh commander. Yes, I understand that this works with text-only PC outputs and nothing graphical. Unfortunately, the kvm capabilities of the target machine don't seem to be working, but that is another issue.

Thanks so much!

Regards,

Joel Hall

Re: Using SOL

idata — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 20:08:12 GMT

Joel,

You're welcome.

Regards,

Michael