Is is possible to remotely restore / format the Raq3 / Raq550 unit? SSH? TELNET? Etc? Anyone have any info on this?

No, you have to be connected "directly" as the RaQ does a BOOTP/DHCP request to get an IP.

The one exception to this was the Phoenix Firewall appliance that had a restoration partition on the HD, and you could select the "rebuild" option remotely and then wait for it to do it's thing.

Where would I find this? Any assistance would be INCREDIBLY HELPFUL - you have NO idea how much money I have invested in this.

Thanks SOO much for your time.

It's hardware - googled it.

There is no way I can upload an HDD image to the server... or have a script to that for me? I want to set everything back to defaults - and my server is hosted elsewhere....

Sorry, you've got to be "local" to the RaQ to rebuild the OS...

If you had several RaQs near each other, could you have them potentially reinstall each other?

Pango

Cobalt had a "Built To Order Server" or BTOS in the factory where the RaQs and Qubes were made. They worked like a master OSRCD, with all the various install scripts, plus 3rd party vendor configurations, on them. They could handle building up to 8 appliances at once. It was tightly coupled with the manufacturing and accounting systems at Cobalt, though, so it was never released "in the wild." It also required physical proximity, as someone has to push buttons on the appliances being rebuilt, etc.

THanks Bruce,

What if they were all "seiral connected" also? maybe you could "push the install button" through the serial connection (using the lcd tools)

Just a crazy idea, thats all :)

I don't think that would work. The lcd tools are part of the Linux "user space", and would not be accessible to the ROM during initial power up.

Once you have an OS loaded on the HD and can boot Linux, there *are* ways to write to the CMOS what the next boot action should be (boot from net/disk/ROM), so there would probably be a way to "fake it" but I think there is too much interaction required with the OSRCD. Plus you have to have a working install to make that happen.

The only way around it would be to clone the Phoenix firewall configuration, but that would be way too much work to do for a dead product line...

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for that.

I have just been reading about this new Strongbolt installer for Cobalt servers. Have you used it? What do you think?

Pango

I have not used Strongbolt.

All the Cobalt models are getting pretty old - the newest one, the 550, was EOLd in 2002. I still admin a few RaQs and Qubes for some clients, but we're migrating to BlueQuartz on generic servers as they wear out.