This guide provides an overview of the installation, architecture, general operation and descriptions of the major components that compose the SGI® Altix® 450 family of systems. It also provides the standard procedures for powering on and powering off the system, basic troubleshooting and maintenance information, and important safety and regulatory specifications.
This guide is written for owners, installers, system administrators, and users of SGI Altix 450 computer systems. It is written with the assumption that the reader has a good working knowledge of computers and computer systems.
 | Warning: To avoid problems that could void your warranty, your SGI or other approved system support engineer (SSE) should perform any replacement of parts, or service of your SGI Altix 450 system not covered in the following list of items that you can perform yourself: |
Unpacking, setting up and connecting the system rack(s) and individual rack units IRU(s).
Using your system console and your L1 controller to enter commands and perform system functions such as powering on and powering off, as described in this guide.
Adding and replacing system blades and DIMM memory as described in this guide.
Adding and replacing PCI, PCI–X and PCI express cards, as described in this guide.
Replacing fan modules and power supplies in the individual rack unit (IRU) enclosures.
Adding and replacing DVD or disk drives in the base IA/IA2 (I/O) blade.
Using the On/Off switch and other switches (the reset and non-maskable interrupt [NMI] switches) on the system IA or IA2 blade (base I/O).
Using the ESI/ops panel (operating panel) on optional mass storage bricks. See the user's guide for your optional SGI mass storage enclosure.
The following topics are covered in this guide:
Chapter 1, “System Installation” guides an installer through the steps of unpacking and positioning the system rack(s). Rack mounting guidelines and basic cabling for the IRUs is also covered.
Chapter 2, “Operation Procedures”, provides instructions for operation of the system including powering on and powering off your system.
Chapter 3, “System Overview”, provides environmental and technical information needed to properly set up and configure the Altix 450 series system.
Chapter 4, “System Control ”, describes the function of the L1 and L2 controllers and provides instructions for operating the controllers.
Chapter 5, “Rack Information”, describes the rack sizes and features.
Chapter 6, “Maintenance and Upgrade Procedures”, provides instructions for installing or removing the customer-replaceable components of your system.
Chapter 7, “Troubleshooting and Diagnostics”, provides recommended actions if problems occur on your system.
Appendix A, “Technical Specifications and Pinouts” provides physical, environmental, and power specifications for your system. Also included are the pinouts for the non-proprietary connectors.
Appendix B, “Safety Information and Regulatory Specifications” lists all regulatory information related to use of the Altix 450 system in the United States and other countries. It also provides a list of safety instructions to follow when installing, operating, or servicing the product.
The following SGI documents are relevant to the Altix 450 series system:
SGI L1 and L2 Controller Software User's Guide
(P/N 007-3938-00x)This guide describes how to use the L1 and L2 controller commands at your system console to monitor and manage your SGI system.
SGI InfiniteStorage 120 Mass Storage Hardware Topics
(P/N 007-4853-00x)This document provides a hardware overview of the SGI non-RAID 12-drive optional mass storage enclosure used with Altix 450 systems.
Reconfigurable Application-Specific Computing User's Guide
(P/N 007-4718-00x)This guide discusses the optional SGI reconfigurable application-specific software computing (RASC) program that delivers scalable, configurable computing elements for the SGI Altix family of servers and superclusters.
Man pages (online)
Man pages locate and print the titled entries from the online reference manuals.
You can obtain SGI documentation, release notes, or man pages in the following ways:
See the SGI Technical Publications Library at http://docs.sgi.com . Various formats are available. This library contains the most recent and most comprehensive set of online books, release notes, man pages, and other information.
The release notes, which contain the latest information about software and documentation in this release, are in a file named README.SGI in the root directory of the SGI ProPack for Linux Documentation CD.
You can also view man pages by typing man <title> on a command line.
SGI systems include a set of Linux man pages, formatted in the standard UNIX “man page” style. Important system configuration files and commands are documented on man pages. These are found online on the internal system disk (or on a DVD) and are displayed using the man command. For example, to display the man page for the xscsidisktest command, type the following on a command line:
man xscsidisktest |
References in the documentation to these pages include the name of the command and the section number in which the command is found.
For additional information about displaying man pages using the man command, see man(1).
In addition, the apropos command locates man pages based on keywords. For example, to display a list of man pages that describe disks, type the following on a command line:
apropos disk |
For information about setting up and using apropos, see apropos(1).
The following conventions are used throughout this document:
Convention | Meaning |
Command | This fixed-space font denotes literal items such as commands, files, routines, path names, signals, messages, and programming language structures. |
variable | The italic typeface denotes variable entries and words or concepts being defined. Italic typeface is also used for book titles. |
user input | This bold fixed-space font denotes literal items that the user enters in interactive sessions. Output is shown in nonbold, fixed-space font. |
[ ] | Brackets enclose optional portions of a command or directive line. |
... | Ellipses indicate that a preceding element can be repeated. |
man page(x) | Man page section identifiers appear in parentheses after man page names. |
GUI element | This font denotes the names of graphical user interface (GUI) elements such as windows, screens, dialog boxes, menus, toolbars, icons, buttons, boxes, fields, and lists. |
SGI provides a comprehensive product support and maintenance program for its products, as follows:
If you are in North America, contact the Technical Assistance Center at
+1 800 800 4SGI or contact your authorized service provider.If you are outside North America, contact the SGI subsidiary or authorized distributor in your country.
If you have comments about the technical accuracy, content, or organization of this document, contact SGI. Be sure to include the title and document number of the manual with your comments. (Online, the document number is located in the front matter of the manual. In printed manuals, the document number is located at the bottom of each page.)
You can contact SGI in any of the following ways:
Send e-mail to the following address: techpubs@sgi.com
Contact your customer service representative and ask that an incident be filed in the SGI incident tracking system.
Send mail to the following address:
Technical Publications
SGI
1140 East Arques Avenue, M/S 50-1-946
Sunnyvale, California 94085
SGI values your comments and will respond to them promptly.