Using the front panel console

The following illustration shows the open-bezel view of the hosting appliance's front panel and identifies the components found on the front panel.

A. Rack-mount brackets

E. Not applicable for hosting appliances

B. LCD 

F. Hard reset button

C. Control keys

G. Not applicable for hosting appliances

D. Power button

H. COM port 2

The hosting appliance's front panel console (LCD and control keys) enables you to perform several system configuration and management tasks at the appliance itself. Note that most of the tasks can also be performed through the hosting appliance's Web-based interface.

Control keys

Use these keys to navigate and select options from the menu system displayed on the LCD. The top and bottom arrow keys move through the listed menus and options. The right arrow key selects the highlighted option. The left arrow key returns you to the previous menu.

Status view

The status view is the LCD's default screen and displays the following basic network information for the hosting appliance:

The LCD also displays special alert icons in the upper right and left corners to indicate the status of system alerts. A blinking light bulb icon in the upper left corner signals an incoming alert. A page icon in the upper right corner of the LCD means that some alerts can be accessed through the Alerts menu (see below for more information).

Custom LCD message

You can also use the LCD to display a customized message on the default screen. This feature can be used to help you quickly locate a specific appliance on a rack in your data center.

To enter a customized message that will display on the LCD
  1. Click Front panel in the left menu of the appliance interface.
  2. Select Custom LCD message.
  3. Enter a unique message or character pattern that is easily noticeable (for example, you could enter four rows of alternating asterisks and spaces).
  4. Click Apply.

The message you entered will display on your appliance's LCD until you change the setting back to Default LCD message.

Main menu

The Main menu is the access point for all of the features available through the front panel console. To view the Main menu, hold down any of the arrow keys for three seconds. Sub-menus offer the following functionality:

Power menu

The Power menu provides options to reboot or shut down the hosting appliance. Use the arrow keys to select the option you want, then select Yes by pressing the right arrow key to perform the operation.

You can also reboot or shut down the hosting appliance remotely from the Web-based interface.

Alerts menu

The Alerts menu shows a list of all the current system alerts – including software service and hardware component alerts – generated by the hosting appliance. The list can contain a maximum of 99 alerts that will remain for 24 hours (displayed in military time) before being removed.

Scroll through the list and select an alert for a more detailed description.

From the appliance's Web-based interface, you can also enable specific system alerts to be sent to your e-mail account.

Defaults menu

The Defaults menu helps you manage critical system configuration settings. You can reset the password for the root user. Additionally, in case of system failures, the Defaults menu provides a method to restore the system password files and restore the default factory images from an emergency partition. For more information about the emergency partition, see Troubleshooting.

To reset the root password
  1. From the Defaults menu, select Root password....
  2. To restore the default root user password, select Default.
  3. Or, to generate a new, unique six-character password, select Random. Continue selecting Random until you find a password you like. Once you have that password, press the right arrow key. You may want to write down the password and keep it in a secure place.
To restore the password files

Important: Only perform this operation in extreme situations. Restoring the default password files will disable ALL of the user accounts that have been created on your system!
  1. From the Defaults menu, select Password files....
  2. To overwrite the current password files with the default password file, select Yes.
  3. Or, to cancel and return to the previous menu, select No.
To restore factory images

Important: Only perform this operation in extreme situations, when you have to recover your system from a catastrophic failure. Also note that by restoring the system to factory defaults, any software upgrades you have made will be lost.
  1. From the Defaults menu, select Factory image....
  2. To restore your appliance to factory defaults, select Yes. This action installs the software images residing in the emergency partition.
  1. Or, to cancel and return to the previous menu, select No.

Keep in mind that, for system security, none of these options is available from the Web-based interface.

Network menu

The Network menu enables you to view and configure network addressing for your hosting appliance's network adapters, subnet mask, and default gateway. If necessary, you can change the IP address for a network adapter.

To change or view the IP address network devices

Web status menu

 The Web status menu shows current server-wide statistics, including:

LED indicators

The following illustration and table describes the nine LEDs located on the front panel (as viewed with the bezel closed):

LED

Description

B. Power On
(green)

Indicates if the hosting appliance is in a powered-on state. A blinking green light indicates that a system message is waiting or the appliance is in sleep mode.

C. System Sleep/Fault (amber)

Indicates the hosting appliance has detected a fault or is in sleep mode. A blinking amber light indicates a system failure.

D. Hard Disk
(green)

Indicates when access to the hard drive takes place. Hard disk activity monitoring actually comes from three sources: hard disk 1, hard disk 2, and an external SCSI drive that is connected to the internal SCSI activity connector.

E. LAN1 Activity/Link
(yellow)

Lights when a successful 10/100 MB link has occurred to an Ethernet switch or hub. Once lit, the light blinks at a variable rate to indicate network activity on this channel.

F. LAN1 Speed
(green)

Lights when the LAN1 controller is detected and configured to run at 100 MB operation. For 10 MB operation, this LED is not lit.

G. LAN2 Activity/Link
(yellow)

Lights when a successful 10/100 MB link has occurred to an Ethernet switch or hub. Once lit, the LED blinks at a variable rate to indicate network activity on this channel. For 10 MB operation, this LED is not lit.

H. LAN2 Speed
(green)

Lights when the LAN2 controller is detected and configured to run at 100 MB operation.

I. E-mail Activity
(green)

Lights when users deliver e-mail to e-mail accounts hosted on this appliance.

J. Web Activity
(green)

Lights when users access or "hit" Web sites hosted on this appliance.