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title: Remove Proxmox Server Access over SERIAL! Cheaper...
description: A practical guide to setting up remote console access for Proxmox nodes using a serial port instead of IPMI or a KVM switch. The approach uses a COM header on...
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og:description: A practical guide to setting up remote console access for Proxmox nodes using a serial port instead of IPMI or a KVM switch. The approach uses a COM header on...
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# Remove Proxmox Server Access over SERIAL! Cheaper Alternative to IPMI or KVMs

**[apalrd's adventures](https://daily.dev/sources/apalrd)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

A practical guide to setting up remote console access for Proxmox nodes using a serial port instead of IPMI or a KVM switch. The approach uses a COM header on the motherboard connected to a panel-mount RJ45 port, paired with a cheap Cisco-style USB-to-RJ45 serial cable. On the software side, two steps are needed: adding a console=ttyS0 argument to the kernel cmdline and enabling a getty service on the serial port via systemd. This works on any Debian-based system and is especially useful for consumer mATX hardware that lacks IPMI or an integrated GPU.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://www.apalrd.net/posts/2023/newstor_com>

## Questions this post answers

### How do I enable serial console access on Proxmox so I can log in without a monitor or IPMI?

Enable serial console on Proxmox in two steps: add console=ttyS0,115200 to the kernel cmdline (edit /etc/kernel/cmdline for systemd-boot, or the GRUB config otherwise), then enable a getty on the serial port with systemctl enable --now serial-getty@ttyS0.service. ttyS0 maps to COM1 on the motherboard. Because Proxmox is Debian-based, the same steps work on other Debian systems.

_Homelab operators configuring headless Proxmox nodes share setups like this on daily.dev._

### What is the pinout for a Cisco-style RJ45 serial console cable and how do I wire it to a motherboard COM header?

A Cisco/Juniper-style RJ45 serial pinout only needs 3 wires when flow control is excluded: transmit, receive, and ground. You can wire these directly from a 2x5 IDC header (connected to the motherboard COM header) to a panel-mount female RJ45 extension cable, then use a standard USB-to-RJ45 serial cable on the other end to connect to a laptop.

_Builders wiring up headless server access keep up with homelab techniques on daily.dev._

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---

Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#homelab](https://daily.dev/tags/homelab), [#proxmox](https://daily.dev/tags/proxmox)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/remove-proxmox-server-access-over-serial-cheaper-alternative-to-ipmi-or-kvms-denwjdiin)

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