PowerVault ME4: How to establish connections to controller serial ports - All Models

• Serial cables and ports
• Connecting a DB9 to 3.5mm stereo plug serial cable to a host.
• Connecting a USB-A to mini-B cable to a host.
• Using PuTTY to open a serial connection
• Troubleshooting no serial output on connected controller module

Serial cables and ports

Each PowerVault ME4 series array is supplied with a DB9 to 3.5mm stereo plug serial cable (Dell P/N 4R3WX). This cable can be used for out of band management tasks such as initial configuration, resetting a forgotten password or investigating an unresponsive controller module where the management interface is unreachable. 
 

Figure 1: DB9 to 3.5mm stereo plug serial cable (Dell P/N 4R3WX)

If the supplied cable cannot be located, a USB-A to USB Mini-B (5 pin) cable can be used instead (Dell P/N TYM7H). These are not supplied with the PowerVault ME4 series. Typically, such USB cables are used with printers and camera devices.
 

Figure 2:  USB-A to USB Mini-B cable

Each PowerVault ME4 controller module has two CLI ports with an interface for either a USB Mini-B cable or a 3.5mm stereo plug located next to the Ethernet management port. 

The ports labelled Service 0, 1, 2 are debug ports that are used only on instruction from Dell technical support. 

Figure 3:  ME4 controller module ports

Connecting the DB9 to 3.5mm stereo plug serial cable to a host.

Figure 4:  Serial port connector on PowerEdge R740	Figure 5:  USB to serial adapter

Serial port connectors may still be found on Dell 14 Gen and older PowerEdge servers. If you are using a laptop, you need a USB to RS232 serial adapter. Depending on the operating system used, a device driver may need to be installed for USB to serial adapter ports to be recognised in Microsoft Windows device manager.

Connecting a USB-A to mini-B cable to a host.

Microsoft Windows may need to install a device driver. The Dell ME Series Storage Array USB Utility is located under the Drivers & Downloads section that is found at dell.com/support.

The USB serial cable must be connected to the USB port on the controller module to install the device driver.

Figure 6.  Windows Device Manager showing Gadget Serial V2.4 (uninstalled)	Figure 7: Device Manager showing installed driver

Using PuTTY to open a serial connection to the PowerVault ME4 controller module

PuTTY is a terminal emulator and serial console application that can be downloaded here.
Depending on the serial console software that is used, here are the serial settings.

Emulation	VT-100 or ANSI (for color support)
Column Mode	80
Line Wrapping	Off
Connection	Serial Port
Connection Type	Direct
Baud Rate	115200
Parity	None
Data Bits	8
Stop Bits	1
Flow Control	None

Figure 8: Configure the serial port settings in PuTTY.

Troubleshooting no serial output on connected controller module

• Try pressing return on your keyboard to get the login prompt.
• Is the correct serial port selected within the serial console application?
• Does the host operating system need to be restarted to complete USB device driver installation?
• Is the serial port in use by another application? Only one application can use the serial port at a time.
• Are the settings correct? (115200, 8, n, 1, no flow control)
• Can the serial console be connected to the other controller module?
• What is the status of LEDs on the controller that is not showing output?