Headless: put a beep in /etc/issue

I have a headless server under our kitchen counter (long story). The only way I can access it, without physically pulling it out, is via ssh. When it powers up, I don't have any way to know when and if it finishes booting. So, I had this idea - what if I put a 'beep' character in /etc/issue?

Here's how I did it:

# echo -e "\a" > beep
# cp /etc/issue .
# cat beep issue >/etc/issue

Now, do "cat /etc/issue" and you should hear the beep.

I tried rebooting the headless server, and sure enough I heard a beep when it got around to writing /etc/issue to the tty.