Serial Connections

You can connect a computer directly to the console port of the CipherTrust Manager Appliance using a serial connection. From the console you log in a the System Administrator (aka, 'ksadmin' user), create a secure password, start-up the system and access the IP address of the Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Direct administration connection to the console via serial terminal is required for these reasons:

• During initial configuration, do not yet know the IP address dynamically allocated by your DHCP server.

• After deployment, if you re-configure network settings (i.e., change the IP address) via SSH, you will lose the old IP address connection.

Open a Serial Connection

1. Connect the serial port on the appliance's rear panel to a terminal server, dumb terminal, PC, or laptop, using the supplied Prolific Technology Inc. USB to RJ45 (with 8P8C connector) adapter.

   

   

   Note

   Do not connect the serial cable to one of the Ethernet ports.

2. If the driver for the Prolific Technology Inc. USB to RJ45 (with 8P8C connector) adapter did not download and install automatically, go to the Prolific Technology Inc website to download and install the PL2303 USB-to-Serial Windows driver.

3. Open Device Manager (Control Panel > Hardware > Device Manager) and expand the Ports (COM and LPT) folder. If the driver installed successfully, an entry is displayed for the Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port, followed by the port associated with the adapter. For example:

   Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM4)

   Record the COM port (COM4 in this example) associated with the adapter. You will need this port number when you open a serial connection.

4. Use a terminal emulation package, such as PuTTY, to open a serial connection to the COM port associated with your Prolific USB-to-Serial adapter. Set the serial connection parameters as follows:

   Baud rate: 19200

   Data bits: 8

   Parity: None

   Stop bits: 1

5. When the connection is made, the appliance log in prompt is displayed: ciphertrust login:.

   

   Note

   You may need to press ENTER several times to initiate the session.

6. Type Ctrl+C to display the IP address.

7. As the System Administrator, enter "ksadmin" to log in and follow the prompts to create a secure password.

   

   Caution

   Be sure to retain this password - it will be required to access the system in case of network connectivity problems.

   The system starts up, which can take several minutes.

Serial Port Pinout

The serial port uses a configuration equivalent to the Cisco Terminal Console. The Prolific Technologies Inc. RJ45-to-USB serial adapter cable uses a standard RJ45 pinout configuration:

Note

The CipherTrust Manager appliance does not implement serial handshaking, so RTS/CTS (pins 1 and 8) and DSR/DTR (pins 7 and 2) are not used for a successful connection.

The important signals are TxD and RxD (pins 3 and 6).

Troubleshooting

This section contains recommendations for troubleshooting serial connections.

Windows 10 occasionally crashes when trying to detect a serial port

This is a known issue with the Windows 10 PL2303 drivers. If you experience trouble opening a serial connection using Windows 10, use another supported operating system.