2P drawer

A chassis with backplane that supports one dual processor module, and five PCI/PCI-X slots and one AGP slot.

8P drawer

A chassis with backplane that supports four dual processor modules.

AGP

Accelerated Graphics Processor.

AMS

AlphaServer Management Station; a computer, software, and terminal server used to manage the system.

AMU

AlphaServer  Management Utility. A dedicated utility used to view, monitor and configure a particular AlphaServer ES47/ES80/GS1280.  AMU manages both partitions and physical platform connections.

APW

AlphaServer Partition Wizard.  A tool to assist the system manager to configure partitions.

Backplane manager

See MBM.

Cable interconnect module

A module in the 2P drawer that provides connectors for a modem port, USB port, and LAN port.  

CMM

CPU Management Module.  A plug-in card on the dual processor module that provides local module power and initialization control.

Corporate LAN

A conventional LAN (or WAN) that can be used for remote management by connecting to the Multi-Server LAN.

CPU Building Block module

See dual processor module.

CPU module

See dual processor module.

Dual processor module

A module containing two Alpha EV7 system chips, memory modules, voltage regulator modules (VRMs), and a CPU management module (CMM).

External LAN

See Corporate LAN.

EV7 system chip

The Alpha chip containing processor logic, second-level cache, two memory controllers, an I/O port, and four interprocessor ports, which function as the system interconnect.

Galaxy

OpenVMS software that is used to manage soft partitions.

Hard partition

A subset of a system’s computing resources that cannot exchange information or resources with any other partition on the system.  The boundaries are maintained by a switch in the EV7 system chip.  Faults are not propagated across hard partition boundaries.

High-performance I/O drawer

An enclosure that has eight high-speed (133 MHz) PCI-X buses, with four I/O riser modules.  

I/O drawers

Two variants are available.  See High-performance I/O drawer, Standard I/O drawer.

I/O expander module

A module in the 2P drawer used to provide backplane manager logic and controllers for CD-ROM, SCSI disks, LAN, keyboard, mouse, and modem.  

I/O port

Logic that provides an interface from the EV7 system chip to the IO7 chip on I/O riser modules.

I/O riser module

Module containing the IO7 chip that functions as the interconnect between the EV7 chip and PCI, PCI-X, and AGP buses.  The standard I/O drawer has one I/O riser module; the high-performance I/O drawer can have up to four I/O riser modules.

Instance

An operating system running in a partition.

Internal LAN

A local network within a single system for managing at the lowest level (MBM, CMM).  Implemented using an Ethernet hub.  A NAT box can interface the Internal LAN to the Multi-Server LAN.

Interprocessor (IP) connections

The physical connection between the IP ports of EV7 chips.  Interconnect logic is integrated into the EV7 system chip.  The interconnect between the processors on a dual processor module is implemented by etch on the module; the interconnect between the EV7 chips on dual-processor modules to chips on other dual-processor modules is implemented either by etch on the 8P backplane or by interprocessor cables.  By convention, north ports connect to south ports, and east ports connect to west ports.

Interprocessor (IP) ports

Ports in the EV7 system chip designated north, south, east, and west through which the processors communicate.

IO7 chip

The interface between an EV7 chip and I/O buses.  Each chip can support three PCI/PCI-X buses and one AGP bus.

LAN management hub

Hardware hub on the Internal LAN.

LFU

Loadable Firmware Update Utility; utility used to update firmware located in various places throughout the system.

Loadable Firmware Update Utility

See LFU.

MBM

Backplane manager. A module on the backplanes of both the 2P and 8P drawers that controls the CPU management modules (CMMs) and has logic to monitor and control environmental conditions in the drawer.

Memory controller

Integrated into the EV7 system chip.  Each of the two controllers drives four Rambus data channels and a fifth channel for error detection and correction.

Mesh

A grid of connected EV7 system chips.  All IP connections  at the edges of the grid are not necessarily complete. Compare Torus ring.

Multi-Server LAN

An Ethermet connected to each server's router (NAT box),  allowing the system manager  to manage one or more AlphaServers from the AlphaServer Management Station using high-level tools including SPM and AMU.  

NAT box

The Network Address Translator box.  Found on hp AlphaServer ES47/ES80/GS1280 systems, the NAT box is not part of the Internal LAN.  It is programmed to have a unique address on the Multi-Server LAN, and translate requests to this address to specific components within the Internal LAN via the LAN management hub.

OCP

Operator Control Panel.  One is located in the cabinet, and another is located in each I/O drawer.

Cabinet OCP

A control panel with an On, Off, and Secure switch , a switch for setting the cabinet ID, status LEDs, an LCD display, and Scroll, Select, and Clear pushbuttons for navigating system menus and executing commands.

I/O drawer OCP

A control panel with a pushbutton ID select switch for setting the I/O drawer ID, two status LEDs, and an LCD display for system status information.

Partition

A subset of a system’s computing resources, each of which is capable of running a copy, or instance, of an operating system.  See also Hard partition, Soft partition.

PBM

PCI Backplane Manager.  Monitors and controls the activity and environment in the I/O drawers.

PCI Backplane Manager

See PBM.

Platform

System.

Platform Management LAN

See Multi-Server LAN

PCM

Platform Console Manager.  Used to establish connections to consoles of managed systems and display the status and latest output of each console.

Power distribution unit

AC input boxes.

Power subrack

A cabinet    rack that can contain three 48 volt power supplies that provide 48 VDC and Vaux; used with the 8P drawers.

Private LAN

See Internal LAN.

RIMMs

Rambus in-line memory modules.

Server Management LAN

See Internal LAN.

Server Platform Manager

See SPM.

SIO

Standard I/O module.  An optional module in I/O drawers that provides controllers for CD-ROM, SCSI disks, keyboard, mouse, and modem.  

SMC LAN

See Multi-Server LAN.

Soft partition

A subset of a hard partition’s computing resources.  There are no hardware boundaries between soft partitions.  Using resource management software like OpenVMS Galaxy, resources may be moved through agreement of the operating system instances in each soft partition.  Hardware faults are propagated throughout the mesh of soft partitions.

SPM

Server Platform Manager.  The top-level management application that provides management functions to the user of the AlphaServer Management Station.  

SRM console

Firmware on the backplane manager module that provides a command-line interface for operator control of the system or of a partition.  The SRM console is responsible for booting the operating system and passing system configuration data, discovered during power-up, to it.

Standard I/O drawer

An enclosure, with eleven PCI/PCI-X slots and one AGP slot, that contains a single I/O riser module.  An optional standard I/O module may be present to control an optional CD-ROM drive and SCSI storage drives.

System building block

System management LAN

See Internal LAN.

Torus ring

A doughnut-shaped mesh in which all interprocessor ports are connected; east ports are connected to west ports, and north ports are connected to south ports.  Compare Mesh.

Vaux

Low voltage power present in the system whenever the power cord is plugged in and the circuit breakers are on. Vaux powers nodes on the system management LAN.  

VRM

Voltage regulator modules reside on the dual processor module and convert 48 V DC power into 1.5V, 1/8V and 2.5V DC power for use on the module.