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Server Shutdown Button

From Scot E. Wilcoxon on Sun, 02 May 1999

About the "Answer Guy" comments in the April 1999 LG about shutting down a server, perhaps with a special login:

I have also created Linux servers without monitors, but I used a two-key keyboard: a cheap serial mouse. See `man gpm` for the "SPECIAL COMMANDS" and "-S" instructions. With this option enabled in /etc/rc.d/init.d/gpm you can triple-click the mouse to initiate either a shutdown or a reboot. This gives operators a safe way to shut down a server without having to have a monitor or keyboard on the server. The BIOS does have to allow booting without those plugged in, but many BIOSes can be configured to continue despite those errors.

Cool! There's a man page I hadn't read recently and thoroughly enough! The best part is you can configure it with a set of three custom commmands instead of the defaults (shutdown -r, shutdown -h, and an internal init signalling routine). I don't know what I'll do with that, but it sure sounds useful.

Copyright © 1999, James T. Dennis
Published in The Linux Gazette Issue 42 June 1999

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