I/O Subsystem
I/O SubsystemI/O Subsystem
I/O Subsystem
Each I/O chassis provides twelve I/O slots. Superdome PA-8600 and Superdome PA-8700 support I/O chassis with 12 PCI
66 capable slots, eight supported via single (1x) ropes (266 MB/s peak) and four supported via dual (2x) ropes (533 MB/s
peak). Superdome PA-8800 supports I/O chassis with 12 PCI-X 133 capable slots, eight supported via single enhanced (2x)
ropes (533 MB/s peak) and four supported via dual enhanced (4x) ropes (1066 MB/s peak).
Each Superdome cabinet supports a maximum of four I/O chassis. The optional I/O expansion cabinet can support three
I/O chassis enclosures (ICE), each of which supports two I/O chassis for a maximum of six I/O chassis per I/O expansion
cabinet.
Each I/O chassis connects to one cell board and the number of I/O chassis supported is dependent on the number of cells
present in the system. A Superdome system can have more cells than I/O chassis. For instance, an 8-cell Superdome can
have one to eight I/O chassis. Each partition must have at least one I/O chassis with the number of I/O chassis not
exceeding the number of cells.
A 4-cell Superdome supports four I/O chassis for a maximum of 48 PCI slots.
An 8-cell Superdome supports eight I/O chassis for a maximum of 96 PCI slots. Since a single Superdome cabinet only
supports four I/O chassis, an I/O expansion cabinet and two I/O chassis enclosures are required to support all eight I/O
chassis.
A 16-cell Superdome supports 16 I/O chassis for a maximum of 192 PCI slots. Since two Superdome cabinets (left and
right) only support eight I/O chassis, two I/O expansion cabinets and four I/O chassis enclosures are required to support all
16 I/O chassis. The four I/O chassis enclosures are spread across the two I/O expansion cabinets, either three ICE in one
I/O expansion cabinet and one ICE in the other, or two ICE in each.
Core I/O
Core I/OCore I/O
Core I/O
Superdome's core I/O provides the base set of I/O functions required by every Superdome partition. Each partition must have
at least one core I/O card in order to boot. Multiple core I/O cards may be present within a partition (one core I/O card is
supported per I/O backplane); however, only one may be active at a time. Core I/O will utilize the standard long card PCI
form factor but will add a second card cage connection to the I/O backplane for additional non-PCI signals (USB and
utilities). This secondary connector will not impede the ability to support standard PCI cards in the core slot when a core I/O
card is not installed.
Any I/O chassis can support a Core I/O card that is required for each independent partition. A system configured with 16
cells, each with its own I/O chassis and core I/O card could support up to 16 independent partitions. Note that cells can be
configured without I/O chassis attached, but I/O chassis cannot be configured in the system unless attached to a cell.
The core I/O card's primary functions are:
Partitions (console support) including USB and RS-232 connections
10/100Base-T LAN (general purpose)
Other common functions, such as Ultra/Ultra2 SCSI, Fibre Channel, and Gigabit Ethernet, are not included on the core I/O
card. These functions are, of course, supported as normal add in cards.
The unified 100Base-T Core LAN driver code searches to verify whether there is a cable connection on an RJ-45 port or on an
AUI port. If no cable connection is found on the RJ-45 port, there is a busy wait pause of 150 ms when checking for an AUI
connection. By installing the loopback connector (description below) in the RJ-45 port, the driver would think an RJ 45 cable
was connected and would not continue to search for an AUI connection, hence eliminate the 150 ms busy wait state:
Product/Option Number
Product/Option NumberProduct/Option Number
Product/Option Number
Description
DescriptionDescription
Description
A7108A
RJ-45 Loopback Connector
0D1
Factory integration RJ-45 Loopback Connector
I/O Expansion Cabinet
I/O Expansion CabinetI/O Expansion Cabinet
I/O Expansion Cabinet
The I/O expansion functionality is physically partitioned into four rack mounted chassis-the I/O expansion utilities chassis
(XUC), the I/O expansion rear display module (RDM), the I/O expansion power chassis (XPC) and the I/O chassis enclosure
(ICE). Each ICE supports up to two 12-slot I/O chassis.
QuickSpecs
HP 9000 Superdome Servers
HP 9000 Superdome ServersHP 9000 Superdome Servers
HP 9000 Superdome Servers
(PA-8600, PA-8700 and PA-8800)
(PA-8600, PA-8700 and PA-8800)(PA-8600, PA-8700 and PA-8800)
(PA-8600, PA-8700 and PA-8800)
Configuration
DA - 11721 North America — Version 13 — April 1, 2005
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