This chapter explains how to operate your new system in the following sections:
Before operating your system, familiarize yourself with the safety information in the following sections:
 | Caution: Observe all ESD precautions. Failure to do so can result in damage to the equipment. |
Wear an SGI-approved wrist strap when you handle an ESD-sensitive device to eliminate possible ESD damage to equipment. Connect the wrist strap cord directly to earth ground.
 | Warning: Before operating or servicing any part of this product, read the “Safety Information” in Appendix B. |
| Warning: Keep fingers and conductive tools away from high-voltage areas. Failure to follow these precautions will result in serious injury or death. The high-voltage areas of the system are indicated with high-voltage warning labels. |
| Caution: Power off the system only after the system software has been shut down in an orderly manner. If you power off the system before you halt the operating system, data may be corrupted. |
 | Note: A lithium battery is installed on the system I/O card located in the IX-brick. |
The system console enables you to perform the following activities:
Monitor your system by reading the system's status and error message information generated and displayed by the SGI system's L1 controller.
Enter L1 controller commands to monitor or change particular system functions. You can, for example, monitor the speed of fans for a particular brick. See the SGI L1 and L2 Controller Software User's Guide for descriptions of these commands.
Power on or power off individual bricks or all bricks (except for the storage modules) in your system.
If you connect a console that contains SGIconsole software, you can perform the functions listed above and have boundary scan capabilities. Boundary scan capabilities enable an SGI system support engineer (SSE) to test the functionality of your system.
This section explains how to power on and power off individual bricks or your entire Altix 3700 Bx2 system, as follows:
For servers with a system console, you can power on and power off individual bricks or the entire system at the system console.
If you are using an SGIconsole, you can monitor and manage your server from a remote location. You can also monitor and manage your server with tools such as VACM, Console Manager, and PCP. For details, see the documentation for the particular tool.
The Embedded Support Partner (ESP) program enables you and your SGI system support engineer (SSE) to monitor your server remotely and resolve issues before they become problems. For details on this program, see “Using Embedded Support Partner (ESP) ”.
This section describes how to prepare to power on your system, and how to power on your system by using either of the following:
L1 controller
System console
To prepare to power on your system, follow these steps:
Check to ensure that the cabling between the power distribution unit (PDU) and the wall power-plug receptacle is secure.
For each individual brick that you want to power on, make sure that the PWR (power) switch is set to the 1 (on) position, as shown in Figure 1-1 for the IX–brick. This will start the L1 controller(s) for the brick(s) when the brick(s) are powered on. The 12-VDC LED on an individual brick illuminates green when an L1 controller has powered on successfully.
If you plan to power on a D–brick2, or an entire server that includes a D–brick2, make sure that the power switch on the rear of each PSU/cooling module (two per D-brick2) is in the 1 (on) position. The location of the power switch on the D–brick2 PSU/cooling module is shown in Figure 1-2.
The standard configuration of the TP900 storage module has one power supply, as shown in Figure 1-3. You can add an optional second power supply to the TP900 system to provide n+1 redundant power. The second power supply is identical to the first power supply and would be located in the lower-right section of the TP900 storage module. Both power switches must be in the 1 (on) position to provide redundant power.
Make sure that the PDU and PDS circuit breaker switches shown in Figure 1-4 are turned on to give power to the server system when the system is powered on.
Note: Verify that the LEDs turn on and light green and that your controllers display that the system is powered on for each segment of the procedure, which indicates that the power-on procedure is proceeding properly. If you have a problem while powering on and an error message appears on the L1 controller, or the system console, see your online log files and the information in “L1 Controller Error Messages” in Chapter 13 to learn what the error message indicates and how to resolve the problem.
The power-on procedure at a system console varies with your server setup, as follows:
If you have a system console, you can toggle between L1 and console mode. This enables you to power on your server with L1 commands and view the activity by changing to the console mode.
If you have a system console connected to a server with an ethernet interface, you can toggle between L1 and console mode, and power on your server with L1 controller commands, and monitor the power-on activity by changing to the console mode.
For detailed instructions on using a system console using the L1 mode, see “Operating the L1” in Chapter 2.
See the section “Console Hardware Requirements” in Chapter 2, and the SGIconsole Hardware Connectivity Guide, P/N 007-4340-00x for additional information on the optional SGI console.
The following sections describe how to power on your system in L1 mode.
The L1 controller display, located on the front of each brick, should display L1 running once the power-on procedure starts.
| Note: If you have a problem while powering on and an error message appears on your console display, see “L1 Controller Error Messages” in Chapter 13 to learn what the error message indicates and how to resolve the problem. |
To power on your system while in the L1 mode, follow these steps:
The prompt on your system shows the rack and slot number of the CR–brick to which you have connected your console. If you want to power on the CR–brick (001c05 in our example) indicated in the prompt, enter the following command. (If you want to power on the bricks connected to the CR–brick, proceed to the next step.)
001c05-L1> power up
If you want to power on the bricks connected to the CR–brick, enter the following command:
oo3c01-L1> * power up (* indicates all)
From the L1 prompt, display the brick configuration information by entering the following command:
001c05-L1> config
In L1 mode, you can obtain only limited information about the system configuration. A CR–brick only has information about its attached I/O brick and, if another CR–brick is attached to the I/O brick, information about that CR–brick and its attached I/O brick. An I/O brick only has information about its attached CR–brick and an R-brick only has information about itself.
The L1 controller display, located on the front of each brick, should display L1 running once the power-on procedure starts.
You can power off individual bricks or your entire server system using either the system console interface or the L1 controller of the primary CR-brick.
The power-off procedure at a system console varies with your server setup, as follows:
If you have a system console connected to a server with an ethernet or other hardware interface, you can toggle between L1 and console mode, power off your server with L1 controller commands, and monitor the power-off activity by changing to the console mode.
If your system console is running on a server via a serial interface connection, you can also toggle between L1 and console mode. This enables you to power off your server with L1 commands and view the activity by changing to the console mode.
For detailed instructions on using a system console in the L1 mode, see “Operating the L1” in Chapter 2.
The following instructions describe how to power off your system in the L1 mode.
The L1 controller display for each brick should display L1 running once the power-off procedure starts.
| Note: If you have a problem while powering off and an error message appears on your console display, see “L1 Controller Error Messages” in Chapter 13 to learn what the error message indicates and how to resolve the problem. |
To power off your system while in the L1 mode, follow these steps:
The prompt on your system shows the rack and slot number of the CR–brick to which you have connected your console. If you want to power off the CR–brick (001c05 in our example) indicated in the prompt, enter the following command. (If you want to power off the bricks connected to the CR–brick, proceed to the next step.)
001c05-L1> power down
If you want to power off the bricks connected to the CR–brick, enter the following command:
001c05-L1> * power down (* indicates all)
From the L1 prompt, display the brick configuration information by entering the following command:
001c05-L1> config
In L1 mode, you can obtain system configuration information within a specific set of inter connectivity limits. A CR–brick only has information about its attached I/O brick and, any other CR–bricks attached to it.
An I/O brick only has information about its attached CR–brick and an R-brick only has information about itself.
Embedded Support Partner (ESP) automatically detects system conditions that indicate potential future problems and then notifies the appropriate personnel. This enables you and SGI system support engineers (SSEs) to proactively support systems and resolve issues before they develop into actual failures.
ESP enables users to monitor one or more systems at a site from a local or remote connection. ESP can perform the following functions:
Monitor the system configuration, events, performance, and availability.
Notify SSEs when specific events occur.
Generate reports.
ESP also supports the following:
Remote support and on-site troubleshooting.
System group management, which enables you to manage an entire group of systems from a single system.
For additional information on this and other available monitoring services, see the section “SGI Electronic Support ” in Chapter 13.
You can monitor your Altix 3700 Bx2 server from the following sources:
On the L1 controller's display at the front of each brick (except the TP900 and D-brick2), as shown in Figure 1-5, you can monitor brick items. For example, you can see if the fans on a particular brick are operating properly.
You can connect an optional SGIconsole via an Ethernet port adapter or simple serial interface. You will need to connect either a local or remote workstation to monitor the servers via Ethernet.
These console connections enable you to view the status and error messages generated by the L1 controllers in your Altix 3700 Bx2 rack. You can also use these consoles to input L1 commands to manage and monitor your system.
Note: The SGIconsole enables you to use various software tools, such as VACM, Console Manager, and PCP, to manage and monitor your system. See the SGIconsole Start Here guide for descriptions of these tools and for references to other documents with information about these tools. You can connect a dumb terminal to the CR–brick console port. If you have multiple CR-bricks, connect the dumb terminal to the bottom-most CR–brick in the rack. This connection enables you to view the status and error messages generated by the L1 controller and to enter L1 commands to manage and monitor your system.
See the section “Console Hardware Requirements” in Chapter 2, and the SGIconsole Hardware Connectivity Guide, P/N 007-4340-00x for additional information on the optional SGI console.
Besides adding a system console, you can add or replace the following hardware items on your Altix 3700 Bx2 series server:
Peripheral component interface (PCI) cards into your IX-brick or PX-brick.
Disk drives to your IX-brick, TP900 disk storage module, or D-brick2 storage module.
The sections that follow discuss these activities in more detail.
| Warning: You can add or replace only the items listed in this section. For your safety and for the protection of your server system, contact your SGI system support engineer (SSE) to install any hardware items not listed in this section. |
| Warning: Before installing, operating, or servicing any part of this product, read the “Safety Information” in Appendix B. |
The PCI-X based I/O system, an industry standard for connecting peripherals to a processor, is the primary I/O system for the Altix 3700 Bx2 series server.
The IX-brick and PX-brick subsystems provide PCI and PCI-X support for the Altix 3700 Bx2 server system. The IX-brick provides 12 PCI slots. One of the 12 slots is reserved for a system PCI card. If additional PCI slots are required beyond the 11 remaining slots in the IX-brick, a PX-brick is configured into the system.
See “Adding or Replacing a PCI or PCI–X Card” in Chapter 12 for detailed instructions on installing or removing PCI cards.
The IX-brick supports the system boot functions and contains one or two low-profile disk drives. See “Installing or Replacing a Disk Drive in the IX-brick” in Chapter 12 for detailed instructions on installing or removing disk drives.
The TP900 is a SCSI-based disk storage module that provides JBOD (just a bunch of disks) mass storage and that has up to 8 disk drives in each storage module. See “Replacing a TP900 Drive Carrier Module” in Chapter 12 for detailed instructions on installing or removing disk drives.
The D-brick2 is a Fibre Channel-based disk storage enclosure that provides JBOD mass storage and that has up to 16 disk drives in each storage enclosure. See “Installing or Replacing a D-brick2 Drive Carrier Module” in Chapter 12 for detailed instructions on installing or removing disk drives.