Chapter 1. Gigabit Ethernet Board Features and Capabilities
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## Chapter 1. Gigabit Ethernet Board Features and Capabilities

Gigabit Ethernet is technology that allows computer systems to communicate at speeds up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps).

This board is supported in the following systems:

- SGI Altix XE210

- SGI Altix XE240

- SGI Altix 450

- SGI Altix 4700

This chapter includes the following sections:

- “Board Features”

- “Cabling”

- “Configuration Limits”

## Board Features

The Gigabit Ethernet board is available in two formats: the quad-port Fiber-Optic Gigabit Ethernet board and the quad-port Copper Gigabit Ethernet board.

These boards are described in the following sections:

- “Fiber-Optic Board Features ”

- “Copper Board Features ”

Fiber-Optic Gigabit Ethernet is defined in the IEEE standard P802.3z. The Fiber-Optic Gigabit Ethernet board is compatible with this approved standard. Copper Gigabit Ethernet is defined in the IEEE standard P802.3ab. The Copper Gigabit Ethernet board is compatible with this approved standard.

### Fiber-Optic Board Features

The Fiber-Optic Gigabit Ethernet board includes these features:

- PCI Express (PCI-E) bus with a x4 Lane width

- Duplex LC fiber small form factor (SFF) connector

- Four Ethernet ports

- 2000 Mbit/s in full duplex mode per port

- High performance, reliable, low power, dual integrated MAC /SERDES chip controller

- Dual, high-speed RISC processor per channel for advanced packet classification

- Hardware acceleration that can off-load tasks from the host processor. The controllers can off-load TCP/UDP/IP checksum calculations and TCP segmentation.

- Support for Jumbo Frames (9KB)

For full technical specifications of the board, see Appendix A, “Specifications”.

| Note: The hardware MAC addresses for the four ports are lowest at the top of the card and highest at the bottom of the card.

Figure 1-1 shows the quad-port fiber-optic Gigabit Ethernet board.

Figure 1-1. Fiber-Optic Gigabit Ethernet Board

### Copper Board Features

The copper Gigabit Ethernet board includes these features:

- Gigabit Ethernet (1000Base-T), Fast Ethernet (100Base-TX), Ethernet (10Base-T)

- Quad Ethernet ports

- Full-duplex and Simplex Gigabit Ethernet interface as defined in the IEEE P802.3ab approved standard

- RJ45 UTP connector for Category-5 copper cabling

- 2000 Mbit/s in full duplex mode per port

- High performance, reliable, low power, dual integrated MAC + PHY chip controller

- Dual, high-speed RISC processor per channel for advanced packet classification

- Hardware acceleration that can off-load tasks from the host processor. The controllers can off-load TCP/UDP/IP checksum calculations and TCP segmentation.

- Support for Jumbo Frames (9KB)

  | Note: The hardware MAC addresses for the four ports are lowest at the top of the card and highest at the bottom of the card.

For full technical specifications of the board, see Appendix A, “Specifications”.

Figure 1-2 shows the quad-port Copper G igabit Ethe rnet board.

Figure 1-2. Copper Gigabit Ethernet Board

## Cabling

The cabling for the Gigabit Ethernet board is described in the following sections:

- “Fiber-Optic Board Cabling”

- “Copper Board Cabling”

### Fiber-Optic Board Cabling

The fiber-optic Gigabit Ethernet board is connected to the network using fiber-optic cable. The cable, which is not included in the shipment, must be a 50-micron or 62.5-micron multimode duplex cable with an LC connector.

Table 1-1 lists SGI fiber-optic cables.

Table 1-1. SGI 62.5-Micron Cable Options for Fiber-Optic Gigabit Ethernet

Length | Marketing Code
--- | ---
3 m (9.8 ft) | X-F-OPT-3M
10 m (39.3 ft) | X-F-OPT-10M
25 m (82 ft) | X-F-OPT-25M
100 m (328 ft) | X-F-OPT-100M

Table 1-2 lists operating ranges for 50-micron and 62.5-micron cables for a 1000-BASE-SX port. Fiber type is MM.

Table 1-2. Fiber-Optic Operating Range, 1000-BASE-SX Standard

Diameter (Microns) | Modal Bandwidth (MHz * km) | Range (Meters)
--- | --- | ---
62.5 | 160 | 2 to 220[a]
62.5 | 200 | 2 to 275[b]
50 | 400 | 2 to 500
5 | 500 | 2 to 550[c]
[a] The TIA 568 building wiring standard specifies 160/500 MHz * km multimode fiber. [b] The international ISO/IEC 11801 building wiring standard specifies 200/500 MHz * km multimode fiber. [c] The ANSI Fibre Channel specification specifies 500/500 MHz * km 50 micron multimode fiber, and 500/500 MHz * km fiber has been proposed for addition to ISO/IEC 11801.

This card only supports 1000-Base-SX.

### Copper Board Cabling

The Copper Gigabit Ethernet board is implemented using twisted pair cable. The cable, which is not included in the shipment, must be Category-5 cable plant (4-pair) with an RJ45 UTP connector at each end. Table 1-3 lists the SGI twisted pair cables. The operating range for 1000-Base-T is up to 100 m (328 ft).

Table 1-3. SGI Twisted Pair Cable

Length | Marketing Code
--- | ---
6 feet | CBL-GBE-RJ45-06FT-Z
10 feet | CBL-GBE-RJ45-10FT-Z
15 feet | CBL-GBE-RJ45-15FT-Z
25 feet | CBL-GBE-RJ45-25FT-Z
50 feet | CBL-GBE-RJ45-50FT-Z

To achieve the longer distances available with 1000-Base-T, use a switch with 1000-Base-T ports.

## Configuration Limits

Table 1-4 summarizes the configuration limits for the Fiber-Optic and Copper Gigabit Ethernet boards

Table 1-4. Configuration Limits

System | Maximum Per Bus | Maximum Number of Boards
--- | --- | ---
Altix XE210 | 1 | 1
Altix XE240 | 1 | 2 with a PCI-x riser, 4 with a PCI-E riser
Altix 450 | 1 | 8
Altix 4700 | 1 | 8

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About this book |  | Chapter 2. Connecting the Gigabit Ethernet Board to a Network