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headless parabola ARM server
infinite_recursion - over 3 years ago -
I run a server on parabola armv7 which runs headless. I would like the following booting process:
1. If screen is connected : virtual terminal and x server start.
2. If screen is not connected : Processes connected with display should not start and be more resource efficient. Even if I later connect display, the monitor should be blank. In this case, only way to start would be to power it off, and restart with display which would need very clean shutdown process without fs failures or corruption.
Currently as I try in my lime2, in both cases, display starts. My question is:
Which processes are linked with display in parabola without DE installed (absolutely bare)?
How to configure such a setup on parabola?
Replies (4)
Headless parabola armv7 - bill-auger - over 3 years ago -
there are multiple ways that could be accomplished - its not
clear though, why you would want to connect a monitor to a server
if the box is to be a headless server, then one would typically
never attach a monitor to it; but instead, login from another
machine over SSH, whenever it needs maintenance
if X is starting at boot time now, then presumably you have
installed a display manager and enabled it's service - in that
case, you have it configured more like a desktop system, which
happens to be running some network services
one could tunnel a GUI session through SSH, by starting xvnc, if
that is necessary; but usually, it is not necessary to run any
GUI on a server
if you really want to attach a monitor, and run X, another option
would be to create a GUI user, and start X from the user's
~/.bash_profile - once that user logs out, X would shut down
with either of those options, you do not need a display manager,
and you do not need to reboot the server
RE: headless parabola ARM server - infinite_recursion - over 3 years ago -
Yes, I don't enable ssh. I find physical access more secure than ssh. Whole trust lies over a key file and a password for ssh.
So, when I want to edit, configure things, debug and troubleshoot, I use display (just virtual terminal, no DE). In the current FreeBSD that I use on RPi3, that's the setup by default (SSH is enabled which I disable). So it's great on resources while serving (no display(even vt not present)) and convenient while troubleshooting(with virtual terminal).
I think you're talking about windows and stuff. I mean having virtual terminal with monitor and not otherwise.
RE: headless parabola ARM server - bill-auger - over 3 years ago -
if you do not want to run X, but only to get a shell, i would assume that you cuold simply plug in a monitor and it will work - maybe the display device is not being detected or configured at boot time - i dont have one myself, so i cant assist directly, other than general advice
RE: headless parabola ARM server - infinite_recursion - over 3 years ago -
Server is up. Now https://designman.org runs on parabola. Will add to credits page in the next update. I had to configure uwsgi openrc daemon on my own.
The point is when I don't want display, there are 6 tty processes running with blinking _ searching for display. I don't think they use much resources but if these can be removed when at boot no hdmi is connected then it would be better (even wrt power consumption).