| SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 Servers Overview Guide |     |
| C H A P T E R 3 |
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About Software |
This chapter explains the following software functions.
The Oracle Solaris OS has the following features:
For details of the Oracle Solaris OS, see the manual on the following URL.
Irrespective of the capabilities of the software suite, the Oracle Solaris OS has the following functions for communicating with the SPARC Enterprise server hardware:
In the M8000/M9000 servers, a physical system board (PSB) can be logically divided into one part (no division) or four parts by a partitioning function unique to the system.
A PSB that is logically divided into one part (no division) is called a Uni-XSB, and a PSB that is logically divided into four parts is called a Quad-XSB.
The physical unit configuration of each divided part of a PSB is called an extended system board (XSB).
In the M8000/M9000 servers, a domain can be configured with any combination of these XSBs.
M8000/M9000 servers support insertion and removal of PCI cards for specific PCI Express and PCI-X hot-plug controllers. Before removing the PCI card, be sure to cancel the settings and isolate the card by using the Oracle Solaris OS cfgadm(1M) command, and make sure that the card is physically removable.
For details of PCI hot-plug, see the SPARC Enterprise M3000/M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers Administration Guide.
The XSCF firmware is a System Control Facility including a dedicated processor that is independent from the processors in the server. This section describes XSCF firmware features and provides an overview of XSCF firmware functions.
The XSCF is firmware that is preinstalled, and operates on the XSCFU as standard equipment. As long as input power is being supplied to the server, the XSCF constantly monitors and manages the server even if the power to domains is turned off. In addition, the XSCF provides a user interface from which users can operate and manage the server.
The XSCFU has a serial port and LAN port as external interfaces. A terminal such as a personal computer or workstation can be connected to the XSCF through a serial connection or Ethernet connection.
The servers can be operated and managed from the command line-based XSCF Shell or browser-based XSCF Web provided by the XSCF.
Only the XSCF Shell can be used through the serial connection. Both the XSCF Shell and XSCF Web can be used through the Ethernet connection.
The XSCFU supports a redundant configuration (duplicate configuration) for high reliability.
The XSCF that is currently in control of the server is called the active XSCFU, and the other XSCF is called the standby XSCF or standby XSCFU since it serves as the backup XSCF to the active one.
The active XSCF and standby XSCF monitor each other to implement a failover mechanism to switch between the active XSCF or standby XSCF when one of them detects and error in the other.
For details on functions provided by the XSCF, see XSCF Functional Overview, and the SPARC Enterprise M3000/M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers XSCF User’s Guide.
The XSCF Shell is a command line-based user interface that can be used from a terminal, such as a personal computer or workstation, connected to the XSCF through a serial connection or Ethernet connection.
With the serial connection, the terminal is connected directly to the server to use shell commands provided by the XSCF. Also, the console redirection function of the XSCF enables the terminal to be used as an OS console.
With the Ethernet connection, the terminal is connected to the XSCF via Secure Shell (SHH) or telnet to use shell commands provided by the XSCF.
The following are the main operations that can be performed with the XSCF Shell:
XSCF Web is a browser-based user interface that can be used from a terminal, such as a personal computer or workstation, connected to the server through an Ethernet connection.
However, the XSCF Web cannot be used through a serial connection. If the browser function of a terminal is used for a connection to the XSCF, BUI operations can be performed.
This section provides an overview of the main functions supported by the XSCF.
For details on each function, see the SPARC Enterprise M3000/M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers XSCF User’s Guide.
The main tasks of the XSCF are control and monitoring of the entire system, such as configuration management and monitoring of the server’s cooling components (FAN units), domain status monitoring, power-on and power-off of peripheral units, and error monitoring. Also, the XSCF provides a partitioning function for domain configuration and management.
The XSCF constantly monitors the server status so that the system can operate stably.
When any error is detected in the system, the system status monitoring mechanism immediately collects error information about the hardware (hardware log) and analyzes it to identify the error location and check the error status. The XSCF displays the status, and it degrades the relevant component or domain as necessary or it resets the system, thereby preventing the error from occurring again.
The XSCF provides high reliability, high availability, and high serviceability for the entire system.
The XSCF manages user accounts for the XSCF. The operating range in the XSCF Shell and XSCF Web can be limited based on user account types and settings. Moreover, the XSCF provides an IP address filtering function for permitting access to the XSCF and an encryption function using SSH and SSL. Operator errors and unauthorized access during system operation are recorded in a log. The system administrator can use these functions to investigate the cause of a system problem.
The XSCF provides functions as XSCF operations for displaying the system configuration status, creating and changing a domain configuration definition, and starting and stopping domains. Also, the XSCF provides the DR function, which assists in dynamically changing a system board configuration during domain operation. Thus, domain resources can be optimized for job operations. Moreover, the XSCF in linkage with the Oracle Solaris OS manages CPU, memory, and I/O resources.
The XSCF constantly monitors the system status so that the system can operate stably. When any error is detected in the system, the XSCF immediately collects error information about the hardware (hardware log) and analyzes it to identify the error location. To continue operation, the XSCF degrades the relevant component or domain as necessary according to error conditions or it resets the system, thereby preventing the problem from occurring again. The user can take prompt action for problems since easy-to-understand and accurate information on hardware errors and fault locations are thus provided to the user.
The XSCF provides functions for monitoring the server through an Ethernet connection so that the user can remotely manage the server. Moreover, a function for reporting error information to the system administrator and a remote console input-output function are supported. System availability is thus increased.
The XSCF manages hardware resources on configured domains and system boards. Resource management provides Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) and Capacity on Demand (COD) functions.
DR enables users to add, remove or exchange system boards while the domains that contain these boards remain up and running. It also enables dynamic reconfiguration of domains.
For details on DR, see the SPARC Enterprise M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) User’s Guide.
The COD feature allows you to configure spare processing resources on your server in the form of one or more COD CPUs which can be activated at a later date when additional processing power is needed.
For details, see the SPARC Enterprise M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers Capacity on Demand (COD) User’s Guide
The airflow indicator indicates the amount of air exhausted from the server while the M8000/M9000 servers are up and running. The values do not include the peripheral devices.
To display the amount of exhaust air, use the showenvironment air command.
| Note - The showenvironment air command displays the calculated airflow based on the fan speed such as Low speed or High speed etc. The fan speed is displayed by the showenvironment Fan command. |
For details of the showenvironment(8) command, refer to the man page. For installation details of the SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers from Oracle and Fujitsu, see the SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 Servers Site Planning Guide and the SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 Servers Installation Guide.
You can also obtain the exhaust air data using the SNMP agent function. To obtain the data of exhaust air using the SNMP agent function, install the latest XSCF extension MIB definition file to the SNMP manager. For details on the XSCF extension MIB definition file, see the SPARC Enterprise M3000/M4000/M5000/M8000/M9000 Servers XSCF User’s Guide.
| SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 Servers Overview Guide | 819-4204-15 | |
Copyright © 2007, 2010, FUJITSU LIMITED. All rights reserved. Oracle and/or its affiliates provided technical input and review on portions of this material.