This chapter describes the function and physical components of the Cx-brick. Specifically, it includes the following information:
The Cx-brick is a new brick type for the SGI Origin 3000 series product line; it is equivalent to four Origin 3000 series C-bricks and one R-brick in one 4U-high enclosure (see Figure 3-1).
The hardware that is equivalent to four C-bricks is contained on four IP53 node boards; one IP53 node board is equal to one C-brick. The Cx-brick supports the following two types of IP53 node boards:
Four-processor node board that has 8 MB of L2 cache per processor and up to 8 DIMMs.
Zero-processor node board that has up to 8 DIMMs (no L2 cache).
The hardware that is equivalent to the R-brick is contained on a single printed circuit board (PCB). The key component on this PCB is the router ASIC, which is the same ASIC used in the R-brick. This router ASIC enables the internal IP53 node boards to connect to other Cx-bricks via the NUMAlink 3 interconnect. This PCB also transfers I/O and system control signals between I/O devices and the IP53 node boards via XIO ports.
The Cx-brick has the same modular features of the current Origin 3000 series bricks and is fully compatible with the 3000 series architecture. For example, the Cx-brick has the following characteristics:
Uses the same fans and L1 display as the Origin 3000 series bricks
Is rack mountable in an Origin 3000 series rack
Uses the same Bedrock and router ASICs
Supports MIPS processors
Note: The Cx-brick does not support Intel processors. Receives power (48 VDC) from a power bay
Uses the same control system (L1 and L2 controllers)
Supports partitioning
Is compatible with SGI's current graphics product line offerings: InfiniteReality and InfinitePerformance
Uses the IRIX operating system (versions 6.5.18 or greater)
Table 3-1 lists some of the differences between the Cx-brick and the C- and R-bricks.
Table 3-1. Brick Comparison Chart
Characteristic | Cx-brick | C-brick | R-brick |
|---|---|---|---|
Processors | 0 to 16 | 2 or 4 | N/A |
Processor boards | 4 IP53 node boards | 2 PIMMs | N/A |
Memory | 1 GB to 32 GB | 1 GB to 8 GB | N/A |
DIMMs | 8 per node board | 8 per brick | N/A |
NUMAlink ports | 4 internal and 4 external | 1 external | 8 external |
XIO ports | 1 to 4 external (1 per IP53 node board) | 1 | 0 |
The following sections provide more detail about the components that make up the Cx-brick (see Figure 3-2):
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Warning: To prevent personal injury, or damage to your system, only trained SGI system support engineers (SSEs) can service the internal components of the Cx-brick.
The Cx-brick consists of one to four IP53 node boards. Each IP53 node board has the following components:
1 Bedrock application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that enables communication between the processors, memory, network, and I/O devices.
0 or 4 processors (labeled A, B, C, and D in Figure 3-2).
8 MB of L2 cache for each processor to reduce memory latency.
2 MegArray connectors (1 XIO and 1 NUMAlink 3) to connect the IP53 node board to the router board.
2, 4, 6, or 8 dual-inline memory modules (DIMMs) that provide from 1 GB to 8 GB of local memory. The Cx-brick supports 512 MB and 1 GB single DIMM sizes (see Table 3-2).
Table 3-2. Memory DIMM Specifications
Memory Kit
Single DIMM Size
DDR SDRAM Technology
1 GB with premium integrated directory memory
512 MB
128 Mbits
2 GB with premium integrated directory memory
1 GB
256 Mbits
Your SGI support service engineer (SSE) can increase or decrease the size of memory by adding or removing DIMM pairs.
The router board of the Cx-brick contains the following components:
Router ASIC (same ASIC as used in the R-brick) that makes up the NUMAlink 3 interconnect. The NUMAlink 3 interconnect routes messages between the compute nodes in the system.
L1 controller that monitors and manages your Cx-brick, and generates status and error messages that appear on the liquid crystal display (LCD) located on the Cx-brick front panel (see Figure 3-3).
Four NUMAlink 3 connectors that connect to router boards in other Cx-bricks or to R-bricks.
Two internal XIO connectors. Each internal XIO connector connects to a separate XIO jumper board that has two external XIO connectors. The two XIO jumper boards provide a total of four external XIO connectors for the Cx-brick.
Four sets of MegArray connectors (one set for each IP53 node board). Each set of connectors consists of one XIO connector and one NUMAlink 3 connector.
One 48V-to-2.5V converter for the router ASIC.
The Cx-brick contains a power entry module (also known as the inlet board) that receives 48 VDC power from the power bay and converts it to 12 VDC (for the node boards). The power entry module, which controls fan speed, also contains the following items:
Four sets of 48V-to-12V converters (one set for each IP53 node board).
Power switch to power on and power off the Cx-brick.
Power connector to connect the Cx-brick to the power bay.
Console serial port (DB-9 connector) for the system console connection.
L1 port (USB connector) for the L1–to–L2 controller connection.
Connector that connects the power entry module to the L1 display.
Eight power LEDs (described in “External Components”).
The Cx-brick is a 4U-high brick that contains the following front-panel items (see Figure 3-3):
L1 display is a 2-line by 12-character liquid crystal display (LCD) that displays status and error messages that the L1 controller generates.
On/Off button with LED enables you to manually power on and power off the Cx-brick.
LEDs:
On/Off button LED illuminates green when the internal components are powered on.
Service required LED illuminates orange to indicate that an item is not functioning properly (for example, a fan is off), but the Cx-brick is still operating.
Failure LED illuminates red to indicate that a failure has occurred and the Cx-brick is down.
Reset switch resets the Cx-brick internal processors and ASICs. This reset will cause a memory loss. (See non-maskable interrupt [NMI] to perform a reset without losing register data.)
NMI switch resets the Cx-brick internal processors and ASICs and writes the contents of the registers and memory to a /var/adm/crash file. (This switch is not used by the memory-only Cx-brick.)
Three fans provide N+1 redundant cooling for the brick.
The Cx-brick has the following rear-panel items (see Figure 3-4):
Four NUMAlink connectors connect the Cx-brick to other Cx-bricks and/or R-bricks. NUMAlink 6 (port F) and NUMAlink 1 (port A) connect to another Cx-brick. NUMAlink 7 (port G) and NUMAlink 8 (port H) connect to R-bricks.
Note: For a system that contains four Cx-bricks, all four NUMAlink ports connect to Cx-bricks. Each NUMAlink connector has two LEDs: one LED illuminates yellow to indicate that the Cx-brick and the brick to which it is connected are powered on and the other LED illuminates green to indicate that the link is established between the Cx-brick and the brick to which it is connected.
Four XIO connectors can connect the Cx-brick to IX-, PX-, and/or X-bricks. The XIO connector numbers indicate the IP53 node board to which it connects; for example, XIO0 connects to IP53 node board 0. XIO1 connects to IP53 node board 1, and so on.
Each XIO connector has two LEDs: one LED illuminates yellow to indicate that the IP53 node board and the brick to which it is connected are powered on and the other LED illuminates green to indicate that the link is established between the IP53 node board and the I/O brick to which it is connected.
One power connector connects the Cx-brick to a power bay via a DC power cable.
One power switch powers on the L1 controller when moved to the 1 position; moving it to the 0 position powers off the L1 controller.
One L1 port connects the Cx-brick's L1 controller to the L2 controller.
One Console port connects the Cx-brick's L1 controller to a system console.
Sixteen heartbeat LEDs: each IP53 node board has four LEDs that indicate processor activity. (For example, N0 A is the LED for processor A of IP53 node board 0.)
Four INT LINK LEDs indicate that the connections between the four Bedrock ASICs and the router board are okay. (For example, INT LINK 0 is the LED for the connection between the Bedrock ASIC on IP53 node board 0 and the router board.)
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One LED for 12-V power illuminates green when the power switch is in the On (1) position and the power bay supplies 12 VDC to the brick.
One LED for 48-V power illuminates green when the power bay supplies 48 VDC to the brick at the request of the L1 controller.
One LED for the router board indicates that the router board is receiving its required power.
One LED for the power inlet module (also referred to as the power entry module) indicates that the inlet board is receiving its required power.
Four LEDs, one for each IP53 node board, indicate that each IP53 node board is receiving its required power.
The IP53 node boards have the following node address space identifier (NASID) assignment (see Figure 3-5):
Table 3-3 lists the technical specifications of the Cx-brick.
Table 3-3. Cx-brick Technical Specifications
Characteristic | Specification |
|---|---|
Height | 6.8 in. (172.72 mm) |
Width | 17.5 in. (444.5 mm) |
Depth | 27.5 in. (698.5 mm) |
Weight | 70 lb (31.75 kg) |
DC input power | +48 VDC (~1100 Watts DC) |
Table 3-4 lists the specifications of the Cx-brick ports.
You can configure the Cx-brick to match your computational needs. Table 3-5 lists the configurable components of the Cx-brick and the available options.
Table 3-5. Configurable Items of Cx-brick
Configurable Component | Option |
|---|---|
IP53 node board | Number of boards per Cx-brick: 1, 2, 3, or 4 Number of processors per board: 0 or 4 |
Memory | Number of DIMMs per IP53 node board: 2, 4, 6, or 8 Size of DIMMs: 512 MB or 1 GB |
The following rules apply to the Cx-brick:
The number of available XIO ports is equivalent to the number of IP53 node boards.
The two DIMMs that compose a DIMM pair must be the same capacity; however, each of the bank pairs can differ in memory capacity.
The four processors contained on an IP53 node board must be the same speed; however, the IP53 node boards within a Cx-brick can contain processors of varying speeds.
When the Cx-brick contains four 0-processor node boards, it is referred to as a memory-only Cx-brick. This brick must have a direct connection via ports A and F to another Cx-brick that contains at least four processors.