Setting up a TTY connection

This topic describes how to set up a TTY connection.

BMC Server Automation supports TTY communication, a capability that simulates a character-based data flow between computers, allowing your computer to emulate the output of a character-based terminal such as a DEC VT100. TTY lets you run programs that require screen control on remote computers. For example, with TTY, you can run vi, top, or smit on remote servers.

TTY only applies to programs launched with the BMC Server Automation nexec command on remote Linux and UNIX servers. Applications that do not require screen-oriented capabilities are not affected by TTY. TTY is not required for those applications to run successfully. If you are not running a screen-oriented application, you can skip this task.

Although you should generally be able to use TTY communication without any extra effort on your part, in some situations you might have to adjust the terminal type and terminal setting of a computer. Before you change terminal settings, you should know the following:

• The type of terminal emulation your screen window supports. Some common emulations types are vt100, ansi, and xterm.
• The TERM variable setting for your session. The TERM variable tells other programs the type of terminal emulation your session is using.
• The remote host computer support for your type of emulation. Not all servers are configured to support all emulation types. For example, an AIX base installation does not typically support ansi emulation, even though ansi is the default emulation used on Windows computer.

To set up a TTY connection

1. On your client computer, run a terminal emulation window that you know is supported by the remote server. The xterm program is widely supported. The xterm application can often be found at the following locations:
   

   Operating system	Location
   IBM AIX	/usr/bin/X11/xterm
   HP-UX	/usr/bin/X11/xterm
   Linux	/usr/bin/X11/xterm
   Oracle Solaris	/usr/openwin/bin/xterm

2. Confirm that your TERM variable is set. To determine the value of the TERM variable, enter the following command from Network Shell:
   echo $TERM
   If the response is empty (another command-line prompt), then your TERM variable is not set. You must set it before you can run any remote, screen-oriented application. Set a TERM variable by entering the following command:
   export TERM=<emulationType>
   Replace <emulationType> with the correct value, such as ansi or xterm, that matches the terminal emulation capabilities of your window.
3. Confirm that the terminal emulation type you specify is supported on the remote server. This can be done by running the appropriate command from Network Shell:
   

   Operating system	Command
   AIX	nexec aixhost /bin/tset -Qr
   HP-UX	nexec hpuxhost /bin/tset -Qr
   Linux	echo | nexec linuxhost /usr/bin/tset -Qr
   Solaris	nexec solarishost /usr/ucb/tset -Qr

If the response is similar to:

• Terminal type is ansi, then your TTY connection should work correctly.
• unknown terminal type ansi or Type ansi unknown, then you cannot run remote screen-oriented applications. Applications that do not require screen capabilities are not affected.