{"id":1279,"date":"2022-06-28T11:31:29","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T03:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=1279"},"modified":"2022-06-28T11:31:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T03:31:29","slug":"setting-up-a-raspberry-pi-as-a-console-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insecurewi.re\/index.php\/2022\/06\/28\/setting-up-a-raspberry-pi-as-a-console-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting up a Raspberry Pi as a Console Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

So this is pretty neat. It has already saved me once. Instead of buying an expensive console switch, I decided to build my own using a Raspberry Pi 4 and some usb to rs-232 console break out cables. Lets get to it:<\/p>\n

Materials<\/strong>
\n1 x Raspberry Pi – I used an rpi4 with 16gb micro sd and just the debian based Raspbian OS.
\n2 x Gearmo 4 x RS232 to USB \/w FTDI chip cables.
\nYou can buy these from Amazon here<\/a>.
\n8 x RS232 Serial to Rollover cables. I used the many blue Cisco ones I had.<\/p>\n

Setup<\/strong>
\n1. Plug your usb to serial cables into the rpi and cable up the console devices with your Cisco cables.
\n2. Install screen and dialog:
\nsudo apt install screen
\nsudo apt install dialog<\/code><\/p>\n

3. Use dmesg to see the assigned terminal type for each rs232 plug:
\npi@ConsoleSwitch:~ $ dmesg | grep ttyUSB
\n[ 4.858516] usb 1-1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
\n[ 4.859362] usb 1-1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB1
\n[ 4.861499] usb 1-1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB2
\n[ 4.863215] usb 1-1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB3
\n[ 4.864127] usb 1-1.2: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB4
\n[ 4.865099] usb 1-1.2: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB5
\n[ 4.866437] usb 1-1.2: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB6
\n[ 4.867354] usb 1-1.2: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB7<\/code><\/p>\n

4. You can use screen to serial connnect to a tty:
\nsudo screen \/dev\/ttyUSB0 9600<\/code>
\nSubstitute the correct tty and baud to connect to the serial ports.
\n5. Setup a login script that executes when sshing to the pi:
\ntouch login.sh
\nchmod +x login.sh<\/code>
\n6. Move the script to \/etc\/profile.d\/ anything in this path will be executed upon SSH connection:
\nsudo mv .\/login.sh \/etc\/profile.d\/<\/code>
\n7. Edit the script in the path with the following
\nsudo nano \/etc\/profile.d\/login.sh<\/code><\/p>\n

#!\/bin\/bash
\nHEIGHT=15
\nWIDTH=40
\nCHOICE_HEIGHT=4
\nBACKTITLE=\"Corp OOB Console Switch\"
\nTITLE=\"Menu\"
\nMENU=\"Choose one of the following options:\"
\nOPTIONS=(1 \"Firewall\"
\n 2 \"Router\"
\n 3 \"Switch\")
\nCHOICE=$(dialog --clear \\
\n --backtitle \"$BACKTITLE\" \\
\n --title \"$TITLE\" \\
\n --menu \"$MENU\" \\
\n $HEIGHT $WIDTH $CHOICE_HEIGHT \\
\n \"${OPTIONS[@]}\" \\
\n 2>&1 >\/dev\/tty)
\nclear
\ncase $CHOICE in
\n 1)
\n sudo screen \/dev\/ttyUSB0 9600
\n echo \"You chose Option 1 - Console to Firewall Serial Port ttyUSB0, relaunch the menu with
\n .\/etc\/profile.d\/login.sh\"
\n ;;
\n 2)
\n sudo screen \/dev\/ttyUSB1 9600
\n echo \"You chose Option 2 - Console to Router Serial Port ttyUSB1, relaunch the menu with
\n .\/etc\/profile.d\/login.sh\"
\n ;;
\n 3) sudo screen \/dev\/ttyUSB2 9600
\n echo \"You chose Option 3 - Console to Switch Serial Port ttyUSB2, relaunch the menu with
\n .\/etc\/profile.d\/login.sh\"
\n ;;
\nesac<\/code><\/p>\n

Screenshot<\/strong>
\n\"Console<\/a><\/p>\n

You can use the key sequence ctrl-a k to kill a screen session or ctrl-a d to detach from a screen session. Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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