There may be cases in which you may have to change the console mode in order to recover from a console error. An example of this might be the loss of your network during normal operations.
The console mode could be changed using one of several methods, which include:
Only the console service functions (65+21) method will automatically take down the old connection and activate all the resources for the new choice. The other two methods may require manual steps to activate the appropriate resources for the new console. These changes also require that the associated resources be available in a state where they can be used. For example, you are using Operations Console LAN and the network fails, the console was in use by your logical partition and you do not have an asynchronous communications card on the IOP tagged for the console. You would have to either move a card or change the IOP tagging to allow a directly attached console to work. If the change is not required immediately, you could also wait for the change to take affect during the next IPL in which case a newly tagged IOP would allow the directly attached console to connect. In this example, however, we are attempting to change the console's connectivity and use another device right now. The recommended method for immediate change is the console service functions (65+21) method. Once that has been successfully performed, the user must sign on again. Since this scenario is from LAN to directly attached console the new console would not get the special signon screen or the Console Information Status screen since it is the only valid console after the console mode change. When the network problem is fixed, the LAN connected devices would go directly to the Console Information Status screen and would not be able to take control as the console without changing the console mode back to LAN. Take over is not available when a device is directly connected as the console since only one connection of this type is allowed by the server.
Another consideration for choosing the method to change the console mode will be the availability of another workstation. If you are installing using the console then the only method available to you is the console service functions (65+21).