Setting up a headless Debian box

[John J. Boyer]

I have an oldder machine that I want to use mainly for backup. It will be accessed by ssh, rsync, etc. So it doesn't
need a monitor or keyboard. How do i set this up?

Thanks,
John

[Janina Sajka]

John:

I'm not using Debian, but I doubt there's anything special you need do
other than to make certain your networking and ssh is correctly setup. I
presume you would attach a keyboard and your assistive technology for
the purpose of installing Debian, but you should have no problem
physically disconnecting these after getting everything configured.

Best,

Janina

Post by John J. Boyer
I have an oldder machine that I want to use mainly for backup. It will be accessed by ssh, rsync, etc. So it doesn't
need a monitor or keyboard. How do i set this up?
Thanks,
John
--
John J. Boyer, President
AbilitiesSoft, Inc.
website: http://www.abilitiessoft.org
Status: 501(C)(3) NONPROFIT
Location: Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Mission: developing assistive technology software and providing STEM services
that are available at no cost
_______________________________________________
Blinux-list mailing list
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list

--
Janina Sajka, Phone: [phone]
sip:***@asterisk.rednote.net
Email: ***@rednote.net

Linux Foundation Fellow
Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures http://www.w3.org/wai/apa

[John G Heim]

Are you asking if you can disconnect the keyboard and monitor after
you've finished the install? If so, absolutely. This is a fairly common
thing in the server world. Just yesterday I did a debian install with
just a keyboard and braille display attached. Worked great.

There are several ways to do an install without ever attaching a
keyboard. They are non-trivial though. I'll explain how I do it if
that's what you want to know.

Post by John J. Boyer
I have an oldder machine that I want to use mainly for backup. It will be accessed by ssh, rsync, etc. So it doesn't
need a monitor or keyboard. How do i set this up?
Thanks,
John

[John J. Boyer]

What I'm concerned about is whether the box will boot without a keyboard. If I shut it down and later press the power
button will it boot? I want to be able to shut it down and restart when i want to make a backup.

Thanks,
John

Are you asking if you can disconnect the keyboard and monitor after you've
finished the install? If so, absolutely. This is a fairly common thing in
the server world. Just yesterday I did a debian install with just a
keyboard and braille display attached. Worked great.
There are several ways to do an install without ever attaching a keyboard.
They are non-trivial though. I'll explain how I do it if that's what you
want to know.

Post by John J. Boyer
I have an oldder machine that I want to use mainly for backup. It will be accessed by ssh, rsync, etc. So it doesn't
need a monitor or keyboard. How do i set this up?
Thanks,
John

_______________________________________________
Blinux-list mailing list
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list

[John G Heim]

You do not need a keyboard to boot a linux machine. By now I've booted
machines thousands of times without a keyboard.

Post by John J. Boyer
What I'm concerned about is whether the box will boot without a keyboard. If I shut it down and later press the power
button will it boot? I want to be able to shut it down and restart when i want to make a backup.
Thanks,
John

Are you asking if you can disconnect the keyboard and monitor after you've
finished the install? If so, absolutely. This is a fairly common thing in
the server world. Just yesterday I did a debian install with just a
keyboard and braille display attached. Worked great.
There are several ways to do an install without ever attaching a keyboard.
They are non-trivial though. I'll explain how I do it if that's what you
want to know.

Post by John J. Boyer
I have an oldder machine that I want to use mainly for backup. It will be accessed by ssh, rsync, etc. So it doesn't
need a monitor or keyboard. How do i set this up?
Thanks,
John

_______________________________________________
Blinux-list mailing list
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list

[Henry Yen]

Post by John J. Boyer
What I'm concerned about is whether the box will boot without a
keyboard. If I shut it down and later press the power button will it
boot?

Whether or not a box will boot without a keyboard is a function of the
firmware/bios of the box. Typically there's a bios/setup selection option
called "Halt On Error?", with choices of "All" or "All except keyboard".
The former will prevent the box from booting if no keyboard is detected
while the latter will not.

Linux does not care.

[John G Heim]

Henry is right. It's been so many years since I've come across a BIOS
configured that way that I forgot it could be a problem. So it's
possible that your machine might not boot without a keyboard but it's
pretty unlikely.

Post by Henry Yen

Post by John J. Boyer
What I'm concerned about is whether the box will boot without a
keyboard. If I shut it down and later press the power button will it
boot?

Whether or not a box will boot without a keyboard is a function of the
firmware/bios of the box. Typically there's a bios/setup selection option
called "Halt On Error?", with choices of "All" or "All except keyboard".
The former will prevent the box from booting if no keyboard is detected
while the latter will not.
Linux does not care.
_______________________________________________
Blinux-list mailing list
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list

[Tim Chase]

Confirming what Henry penned. Sometimes the BIOS will pause and wait
for you at attach a keyboard and press a key before continuing to
boot. Sometimes, the BIOS will give you an option to boot anyways.

So if either (1) your BIOS doesn't care if your keyboard is attached,
or (2) your BIOS can care, but is set to ignore it during boot, then
you should be good to go.

If you do have an unfortunate BIOS that require a keyboard and
doesn't let you disable that check, you might have to plug in a
keyboard during boot, which you can then remove after its presence
has made the BIOS happy.

However, once the BIOS has handed off control to Linux, in Henry's
wise words, "Linux does not care". (smile)

-tim

Post by Henry Yen

Post by John J. Boyer
What I'm concerned about is whether the box will boot without a
keyboard. If I shut it down and later press the power button will
it boot?

Whether or not a box will boot without a keyboard is a function of
the firmware/bios of the box. Typically there's a bios/setup
selection option called "Halt On Error?", with choices of "All" or
"All except keyboard". The former will prevent the box from booting
if no keyboard is detected while the latter will not.
Linux does not care.
_______________________________________________
Blinux-list mailing list
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list