We have a central (serial) console server, which means that we have a bunch of serial lines running from the serial consoles of servers to various Digi Etherlites. However, we do not use actual serial cables for this. Probably like most places that deal with a lot of serial lines, we actually use Ethernet cables. On one end they plug directly into the Etherlites; on the other end we use what are generally called 'DB9 to RJ45 modular adapters'. All of this is routine and I basically don't think about it, so until I recently read Taking This Serially it didn't occur to me to wonder what pin was left out in this process.

As Taking This Serially covers, DB-9 (really DE-9) has nine pins, all of them used for serial signals:

1. Data carrier detect (DCD)
2. Rx
3. Tx
4. Data terminal ready (DTR)
5. Ground
6. Data set ready (DSR)
7. Request to send (RTS)
8. Clear to send (CTS)
9. Ring indicator

Ethernet cables and RJ-45 connectors have at most eight wires that you can use, so one of the remaining DB-9 serial signals must be dropped (or otherwise altered). If you consult online descriptions of typical DB-9 to RJ-45 wiring, you will wind up at the obvious answer: RJ45 serial connections typically drop the 'Ring indicator'.

The actual situation is rather complicated. There are multiple different ways to connect the 8 RJ45 wires to the nine DB-9 wires, and only some of the ones covered on Wikipedia drop Ring Indicator. One, EIA/TIA-561, combines it with DSR. Or at least that's how EIA/TIA-561 is described on Wikipedia and some sources; others don't mention DSR at all. And for the signals that are passed through, each different way has its own set of pin assignments for what signal is on what RJ45 pin. Or your hardware may be different from all of the options listed on Wikipedia, as Digi's online documentation suggests is the case for our Etherlites.

(Having looked this up, I now understand why we always buy the 'wire your own' DB-9 to RJ-45 modular connectors instead of the prewired ones. As always, the problem with serial connections is that there are so many different standards.)