C H A P T E R 1 - Introduction to Sun Fire High-End Software

C H A P T E R 1

Introduction to Sun Fire High-End Software

Sun Fire high-end systems are members of the Sun Fire high-end server system family known collectively as the Sun Fire E25K/E20K/15K and 12K systems. Sun Fire high-end system software, currently System Management Services (SMS) 1 .5, runs in the Solaris Operating Systems, see Chapter 4 for more information about Solaris Operating Systems.

A Sun Fire high-end system is often referred to as the platform. System boards within the platform can be logically grouped together into separately bootable systems called dynamic system domains, or simply domains. Up to 18 domains can exist simultaneously on a single platform for E25K and 15K systems; up to 9 domains on the E20K and 12K systems.

The system controller (SC) in the Sun Fire high-end system provides critical services and resources required for the operation and control of a Sun Fire system. SMS software installed on the SC provides for control and monitoring of the domains, as well as the platform itself. SMS provides a command-line interface (CLI) for the various functions and features it contains. SMS software is factory-installed on new systems, and users of pre-existing systems are encouraged to upgrade. See Chapter 5 for more information about SMS software.

An alternative graphical user interface (GUI) for many of the commands in SMS is provided by Sun Management Center software. See Chapter 7 for more information about Sun Management Center software.

Dynamic reconfiguration (DR) software enables you to reconfigure a domain dynamically, so that currently installed system boards can be logically attached to, or detached from, the operating system, while the domain continues running in multiuser mode. A system board can be physically swapped in and out when it is not attached to a domain, even while the system continues running in multiuser mode. See Chapter 6 for more information about dynamic reconfiguration software.

New Features

SMS 1.5 introduces the following new features:

Support for Solaris 10 or higher on domains

VCMon

System controllers secure by default

Support for Solaris Security Toolkit 4.1.1

2-GByte DIMMs

NSA domain security

Improved memory refresh rate

Availability 2.0 feature set 1