Chapter 2. System Overview
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## Chapter 2. System Overview

This chapter provides an overview of the physical and architectural aspects of your Altix 330 system. System configurations and components are described and illustrated. This chapter includes the following sections:

- “Physical Features”

- “Functional Architecture”

- “System Configurations”

## Physical Features

The Altix 330 system is the latest advancement in the SGI NUMAflex approach for low to mid-range NUMAlink modular computing. It is designed to deliver maximum sustained performance in a compact system footprint. Independent scaling of computational power, I/O bandwidth, and in-rack storage lets you configure a system to meet your unique computational needs. The small footprint and highly modular design of the Altix 330 system makes it ideal for computational throughput, media streaming, or complex data management. See Figure 2-1 and Figure 2-2 for external views of the Altix 330 server.

Figure 2-1. Altix 330 System Front View

The Altix 330 system can be expanded from a standalone single-module system with 2GB of memory and one PCI/PCI-X slot, to a high-performance system that contains 16 processors, a NUMAlink router module, up to 128 GB of memory, and eight standard PCI/PCI–X slots. For most configurations, the Altix 330 system is housed in one 17U rack or one 39U rack as shown in Figure 2-3; however, for small system configurations, the Altix 330 system can be placed on a table top.

Figure 2-2. Altix 330 Rear View

Larger systems are housed in 17U racks or 39U racks, see Figure 2-3. The racks have casters that enable you to remove the system from the shipping container and roll it to its placement at your site.

See Chapter 1, “Quick Start and Installation” for more information about installing your system. Check with your SGI service representative for additional physical planning documentation that may be available.

For information about the technical specifications of your system, see Appendix A in this manual.

Figure 2-3. Example of SGI Altix 330 Rack Systems

## Functional Architecture

The Altix 330 system is based on the SGI NUMAflex architecture, which is a shared-memory system architecture that is the basis of SGI HPC servers and supercomputers. The NUMAflex architecture is specifically engineered to provide technical professionals with superior performance and scalability in a design that is easy to deploy, program, and manage. It has the following features:

Shared access of processors, memory, and I/O. The Super Hub (SHub) ASICs and the NUMAlink-4 interconnect functions of the NUMAflex architecture enable applications to share processors, memory, and I/O devices.

- Each SHub ASIC in the system acts as a memory controller between processors and memory for both local and remote memory references.

- The NUMAlink interconnect channels information between all the modules in the system to create a single contiguous memory in the system that enables every processor in a system direct access to every I/O slot in the system.

Together, the SHub ASICs and the NUMAlink interconnect enable efficient access to processors, local and remote memory, and I/O devices without the bottlenecks associated with switches, backplanes, and other commodity interconnect technologies.

System scalability. The NUMAflex architecture incorporates a low-latency, high-bandwidth interconnect that is designed to maintain performance as you scale system computing, I/O, and storage functions. For example, the computing dimension in an Altix 330 server system can range from 1 to 16 processors in a single system image (SSI).

Efficient resource management. The NUMAflex architecture is designed to run complex models and, because the entire memory space is shared, large models can fit into memory with no programming restrictions. Rather than waiting for all of the processors to complete their assigned tasks, the system dynamically reallocates memory, resulting in faster time to solution.

The Altix 330 system can be configured using a module-to-module connection topology, as described in Figure 2-4. For more detailed information about this type of configuration, see the section “System Configurations”.

Figure 2-4. Module-to-Module Connection Topology Block Diagram Example

The Altix 330 system can be optionally configured using a NUMAlink-4 router. This is also referred to as single-plane router configuration. Using the router, up to eight Altix 330 modules can be interconnected for a system with up to 16 processors using a single system image.

In a single-plane router configuration a single NUMAlink-4 connection is made to the NUMAlink connector on the back of (up to) eight Altix 330 modules. See Figure 2-5 for an example diagram of a maximum configuration single-plane router connection.

Figure 2-5. Optional Single-Plane Router Configuration Block Diagram

## Main System Components

The components shown in Figure 2-4 are 1U modules that can be configured as one system using the following devices:

- Base compute module. All Altix 330 systems contain at least one base compute module that contains the following components:

  - One or two Intel Itanium 2 processors; each processor has integrated L1, L2, and L3 caches

  - Up to 16 GB of local memory

  - One PCI/PCI–X slot

  - One DVD-ROM removable media drive

  - One or two hard disk drives

  - One SHub ASIC (the crossbar between the processors, local memory, the network interface, and the I/O interface).

For more information about the base compute module, see Chapter 3, “Base Compute Module”.

- CPU Expansion module. The only difference between the base compute module and the CPU expansion module is that the CPU expansion module does not contain any standard disk drives.

When the system consists of a base compute module only, the maximum number of processors is 2 and the maximum amount of memory is 16 GB. To increase the number of processors and/or memory in the system, the base compute module can connect to an additional CPU expansion module or multiple modules using an optional router module.

## System Configurations

Table 2-1 lists the minimum and maximum ranges of the configurable items for the Altix 330 system.

Table 2-1. Altix 330 Configuration Ranges

| Configuration Minimum | Configuration Maximum
--- | --- | ---
Compute modules | 1 | 8
Processors | 1 | 16
Memory capacity | 2 GB | 128 GB
Internal disk storage | One disk drive | 16 disk drives
Internal PCI/PCI–X slots | 1 | 8
External storage devices | None | Customer-configurable
Compute rack | None | 1

### Optional Router Configurations

Altix 330 systems with three to eight modules must be connected using one (single-plane) optional router module.

The router module or R-brick is an eight-port 2U high module that functions as a high-speed switch to route network packets between Altix 330 modules within a system. This creates a NUMAlink interconnect fabric (as opposed to a module-to-module topology which is used in two-module system configurations). For more information on router module features, see Chapter 5, “Optional Router”.

Figure 2-5 shows the Altix 330 router configuration concept from a block diagram perspective.

### Storage Options

Each base compute module contains standard I/O connectors and two disk-drive bays. You can add additional storage to the system as follows:

- For a SCSI (small computer system interface) JBOD (just a bunch of disks) solution, SGI offers the TP900 storage module, that can be added to an Altix 330 (with optional SCSI PCI card).

- For a Fibre Channel solution that supports RAID configurations, SGI offers an optional Fibre Channel PCI card and the InfiniteStorage S330 storage system.

- The server system also supports a number of tape devices; check with your SGI sales or support representative for available options.

Optional storage devices are discussed in the subsections that follow.

#### SGI TP900 Storage Module

The TP900 storage module, shown in Figure 2-6, is a 2U-high 8-drive storage system that provides compact, high-capacity, high-availability JBOD storage. The enclosure backplane connects the 8 drives on one SCSI bus. As an option, the storage module can also be configured on two SCSI buses (2 strings of 4 drives).

This storage module has the following features:

- It mounts in a standard 19-inch rack; it is available in factory-installed configurations.

- It uses SCSI Parallel Interface 3 (SPI-3) capable Low Profile (1-inch high) 3.5-inch disk drives.

- Its drive carriers accept SGI-qualified 10,000- or 15,000-RPM SCSI disk drives.

For more information about the TP900 storage module, see SGI Total Performance 900 Storage System User's Guide (007-4428-00x).

Figure 2-6. SGI TP900 Storage Module

#### InfiniteStorage S330 Options

The SGI InfiniteStorage S330 is a high-bandwidth RAID Fibre Channel storage system. It uses fibre channel attached Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk drives exclusivley. The SGI S330 RAID storage system has the following basic features:

- Outstanding performance, built on multi-channel end-to-end Fibre Channel technology.

- Support for Serial ATA drive array technology.

- Continuous availability, with constant monitoring and optional redundancy of all active components.

- Dynamic scalability, making it easy to grow all subsystem resources without disruption.

- Superior connectivity, allowing simultaneous connections to multiple servers directly or by way of storage area networks (SANs). Support for optical host connections.

- Vast storage capacity with support for large numbers of drives.

- Storage management facilities for installation, configuration, expansion, and monitoring.

- Redundant power supplies and hot-swappable components.

- Easily upgradeable to meet a variety of performance requirements.

- Integrated RAID controllers.

- Battery backup for cache data.

For more information on this optional product, see the SGI InfiniteStorage S330 RAID User's Guide, (007-4798-00x).

#### Optional Tape Drives

The Altix 330 system supports optional or third-party tape drives. For current tape solutions for your server visit:

http://sales.corp.sgi.com/products/storage/tape.html

or check with your SGI sales or service representative.

### Power Components

The Altix 330 system can consist of the following power components:

- One or more power distribution units (PDUs) (see Figure 2-7). An additional PDU is added to the system when more than 10 AC power receptacles are needed within the rack.

  The PDU inputs AC voltage from an external power receptacle and it can output AC voltage to the base compute modules, CPU expansion modules, TP900 storage and other optional modules.

Figure 2-7 shows the power connections for a sample Altix 330 system.

Figure 2-7. Power Connection Example for Altix 330 System

### Rack

The Altix 330 system supports two rack types: a short rack and a tall rack. The racks are measured in standard units (U); one U is equal to 1.75 in. (4.45 cm). The short rack is a 17U rack and the tall rack is a 39U rack (see Figure 2-8).

The components within the rack are identified by the lowest U number that they occupy. For example, the top module shown in Figure 2-8 is identified as U7 in the short rack and U14 in the tall rack.

Figure 2-8. Unit Numbering Within Racks

Both rack types are industry-standard 19-inch racks, and they support two types of mounting rails (slide rails and shelf rails) that hold the modules within the rack. For example, the Altix 330 modules use slide-mounting rails (see Figure 2-9). The TP900 storage and other optional modules use shelf rails, which are two parallel L-shaped mounting rails within the rack (see Figure 2-10).

Figure 2-9. Altix 330 Slide Rails Example

Figure 2-10. Shelf Rails Example

Both rack types (see Figure 2-11), have front doors, but no rear doors. The racks also have cable entry/exit areas at the bottom of the racks. The 39U racks have cable management hardware in the rear.

Both rack types are mounted on four casters, two of which are swivel casters. The casters enable the rack to be rolled out of a shipping crate and to its placement at your site.

The base of the racks have seismic tie-down attachment points. The base of the tall rack also has leveling pads.

Figure 2-11. Front Views of Short and Tall Racks

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Chapter 1. Quick Start and Installation |  | Chapter 3. Base Compute Module