Chapter 4. PCI and PCI-X Option Module
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## Chapter 4. PCI and PCI-X Option Module

This chapter describes the function and physical components of the 2U PCI/PCI-X option module, (known as the PA expansion module). This module adds up to six additional PCI/PCI–X card slots to your system. Specifically, this chapter includes the following information:

- “System Features”

- “External Components”

## System Features

The PA module includes the following features:

- Six PCI/PCI-X slots controlled by four separate buses.

- The L1 controller manages and monitors the functions of the module, such as system temperature. The system includes an L1 controller display system that processes error messages.

- The module can have one or (optionally) two power supplies. The second power supply is redundant to assure that your PA module will always have power.

- The NUMAlink ports connect the PA module directly to a single or dual Altix 330 compute module system. An optional router module is required when connecting the PA module to an Altix 330 system with three or more modules. See Chapter 5, “Optional Router” for additional information on the router.

- The console port is an RS-232 DB-9 serial connector used to connect an optional system console, which is used to monitor and manage your system.

Figure 4-1 shows a front panel and side view of the module.

Figure 4-1. Front and Side View of PA Module

## External Components

This following subsections describe the external components of the optional PA module. All controls, indicators and connectors are located on the front or rear panels of the module.

### Front Panel Items

This section describes the front panel controls and indicators, as shown in Figure 4-2.

Figure 4-2. Front Panel Items on PA Module

The front panel of the module has the following items:

- L1 controller display. A liquid crystal display (LCD) displays status and error messages that the L1 controller generates.

  | Note: See the SGI L1 and L2 Controller Software User's Guide (007-3938-00x) for details.

- Power button with LED. Press this button to power on the internal components. Alternatively, you can power on the internal components at a system console. The LED illuminates green when the internal components are on.

- Service-required LED. This LED illuminates yellow to indicate that an item has failed or is not operating properly, but the module is still operating.

- Failure LED. This LED illuminates red to indicate that a failure has occurred and that the module is down.

### Rear Panel Items

This section describes the rear panel connectors, PCI/PCI–X slots, and LEDs of the module, as shown in Figure 4-3.

Figure 4-3. Rear Panel Items on PA Module

The rear panel of the option module has the following items:

- Power connector. This connector connects the module to an AC power outlet.

- L1 port (USB type B). This Universal Serial Bus (USB) type B connector connects the module's L1 controller to an optional controller.

- Two NUMAlink-4 connectors. The NUMAlink connectors attach the module to one of the following modules: base compute module, expansion compute module, or router. This connection is made with a NUMAlink cable at 3.2 GB/s in each direction.

  - NUMAlink LED. The NUMAlink connector has two LEDs. These LEDs are located to the right of the NUMAlink connector. One LED lights yellow to indicate that the CMPX module and the module to which it is connected are powered on. The other LED lights green when the link between the CMPX module and the module to which it is connected is established.

- PCI/PCI–X slots. Bus 0 and 2 support one slot each, bus 1 and 3 support two slots each. Each slot can run at speeds up to 133 MHz. PCI-X protocol enables I/O devices to operate at clock speeds of up to 133 MHz, or 1 Gigabyte per second. Any bus serving two PCI/PCI-X cards is limited to a maximum transfer rate of 1064 MB per second. (For an updated list of supported PCI/PCI-X cards, see SGI Supportfolio at http://support.sgi.com.)

  | Note: If you run PCI and PCI–X cards on the same bus at the same time, the PCI–X card will run on PCI mode. And if you run cards of different speeds on the same bus, the highest speed card will run at the speed of the slower card. Placing a 100 MHz card in one slot of a bus, and a card running at 33 MHz in the second slot of the same bus, forces both cards to default to 33 MHz operation.

### External Configurations

The module can be configured together with the following items to expand the function of your server system:

- Every system must include a base compute module. The base compute module can have 1 or 2 processors, up to 16 GB of local memory, an optional DVD-ROM, one or (optionally) two system disk drives, and one PCI/PCI-X slot.

- The system expansion compute module, which can be interconnected to the base compute module via a NUMAlink-4 connection to the PA module, adds processors and memory.

- The TP900 storage module provides additional storage to the system. An optional SCSI controller is required for this unit. See SGI Total Performance 900 Storage System User's Guide (007-4428-00x), for information about this module. The server system supports other storage modules. For information, see “ Storage Options” in Chapter 2.

- The optional NUMAlink-4 router module connects three to eight Altix 330 modules and allows for maximum expansion of the system.

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Chapter 3. Base Compute Module |  | Chapter 5. Optional Router