A new feature crept in unannounced in the recent iLO 2 v1.77 firmware update from HP: You can now kill / terminate Virtual Serial Port (VSP) sessions that are open or hung. This is a very useful when you need to connect to the VSP but you (or someone else) is already connected from another location. (The iLO Virtual Serial Port only allows a single connection at any given time.)

You will know you need this command when you see this error message trying to connect to the VSP:

Requested service is unavailable, it is already in use by a different client.

This new command is available in the iLO’s command line interface (CLI) using the SMASH CLP protocol, which is typically accessed using Telnet or SSH.

The new command to terminate VSP sessions is:

stop /system1/oemhp_vsp1

For reference, here are the two methods of starting VSP sessions in the iLO CLI:

vsp
or
start /system1/oemhp_vsp1

Before now, the only way to clear a hung VSP session was to reboot the iLO (a very intrusive action that takes 30-60 seconds), so this is a major improvement in usability of Virtual Serial Port sessions.

P.S. Here’s a link to the HP firmware page for iLO 2: iLO 2 Firmware (opens in a new window).