Silicon Graphics SGI Altix 450 User manual

SGI®Altix®450 System User’s Guide
Document Number 007-4857-002

CONTRIBUTORS
Written by Mark Schwenden
Illustrated by Chrystie Danzer
Production by Mark Schwenden
Engineering contributions by Rich Altmaier, Steve Bowen, Michael T. Brown, Dick Brownell, David Collins, Thomas Crapisi, Steve Dean, Hartmut Gottwald,
Paul Wiley, Gary Meyer, Galen Flunker, Paul Kinyon, Mark Koneazny, William Kellerman, Paul Pedersen, Gregory Thorson, and Gary Spilde.
COPYRIGHT
© 2007 SGI. All rights reserved; provided portionsmay be copyright in third parties, as indicated elsewhere herein. No permission is granted to copy, distribute,
or create derivative works from the contents of this electronic documentation in any manner, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Silicon
Graphics, Inc.
LIMITED RIGHTS LEGEND
The software described in this document is "commercial computer software" provided with restricted rights (except as to included open/free source) as specified
in the FAR 52.227-19 and/or the DFAR 227.7202, or successive sections. Use beyond license provisions is a violation of worldwide intellectual property laws,
treaties and conventions. This document is provided with limited rights as defined in 52.227-14.
The electronic (software) version of this document was developed at private expense; if acquired under an agreement with the USA government or any
contractor thereto, it is acquired as “commercial computer software” subject to the provisions of its applicable license agreement, as specified in (a) 48 CFR
12.212 of the FAR; or, if acquired for Department of Defense units, (b) 48 CFR 227-7202 of the DoD FAR Supplement; or sections succeeding thereto.
Contractor/manufacturer is SGI, 1140 East Arques Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94085.
TRADEMARKS AND ATTRIBUTIONS
SGI, the SGI logo, and Altix are registered trademarks, and NUMAlink and NUMAflex are trademarks, of SGI, in the United States and/or other countries
worldwide.
Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered
trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company, Ltd.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

007-4857-002 iii
Record of Revision
Version Description
-001 August 2006,
First release
-002 March 2007,
Engineering updates to cover RAID 1, DVD-R/W, 2D graphics and IA2.

Contents
007-4857-002 v
Contents
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii
Audience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii
Important Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii
Chapter Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Related Publications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Product Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Reader Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxii
1. System Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
System Installation Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Hazard Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
ESD Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Safety Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

vi 007-4857-002
Contents
Installing a Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Preinstallation Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Site Plan Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Tools Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Power Receptacle Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Unloading and Moving System Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Unloading the Equipment from the Truck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Inspecting the Shipping Crate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Transporting the Shipping Crate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Removing a Short Rack from the Shipping Crate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Unpacking and Installing the Tall Rack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Positioning and Leveling Racks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Unpacking and Inspecting Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Installing the IRUs in a Rack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Determining Space Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Determining Where to Attach Rails in a Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Rackmounting IRUs with Shelf Rails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Removing a Rackmounted IRU Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
NUMAlink Cabling the System IRUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Cabling the System IRUs to a Power Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Connecting an IRU Module to a Power Source (No Rack) . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Connecting System Modules to a Rack Power Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Connecting the System Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Operating Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Powering the System On and Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Preparing to Power On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Powering On With Optional System Console and L1/L2 Controller . . . . . . . . 39
Powering On Manually or With L1 Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Powering Off at the System Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Powering Off Manually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
L1 Front Panel Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Operating the L1 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Contents
007-4857-002 vii
2. Operation Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
ESD Precaution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
System Controller Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Console Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Connecting to the System Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Communicating with the System Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Powering the System On and Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Preparing to Power On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Powering On and Off at the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Powering On and Off from the L1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Powering-On and Off From the L2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Using Embedded Support Partner (ESP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Monitoring Your Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2D Graphics Video Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Installing Optional Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
I/O Blade Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Adding or Removing Disk Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Reconfigure the System Disk Drive(s) for RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3. System Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
System Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
System Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Modularity and Scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Distributed Shared Memory (DSM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Distributed Shared I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
ccNUMA Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Cache Coherency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Non-uniform Memory Access (NUMA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

viii 007-4857-002
Contents
System Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Bay (Unit) Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Rack Numbering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Optional System Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4. System Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Levels of System Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
System Controller Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
L1 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
L1 Controller Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
L1 Front Panel Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Ethernet Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Console Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Operating the L1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
L1 Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Viewing System Configuration (from an IRU’s Perspective) . . . . . . . . . . 86
Command Targeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Console Mode from L1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
L1 Console Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Viewing Information, Warnings, and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
L2 Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Configuring an L2’s IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Viewing System Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Setting Command Targeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Viewing Information, Warnings, and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Powering On, Powering Off, and Resetting the System From the L2 . . . . . . . . . 94
Console Mode from the L2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Console Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
L1 Mode From L2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Upgrading L1 Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Upgrading L1 Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5. Rack Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Contents
007-4857-002 ix
Altix 42U and 20U Rack Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Technical Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
6. Maintenance and Upgrade Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Maintenance Precautions and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Preparing the System for Maintenance or Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Returning the System to Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Installing or Removing Internal Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Replacing IRU Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Remove and Replace the System Control Display Panel . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Removing or Adding IRU Power Supplies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Removing and Replacing IRU Fans (Blowers). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Removing or Replacing a System Blade From the IRU . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Removing and Replacing a Compute/Memory Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Memory DIMM Group Placement and Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Remove and Replace the DVD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Overview of PCI Express Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Adding or Replacing PCI/PCI-X Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Installing PCI Cards in the Three-Slot Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Add or Remove a PCI Card in Base IA Blades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Installing or Replacing a Disk Drive in the IA Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Removing a System Disk Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Installing a System Disk Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
7. Troubleshooting and Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
Troubleshooting Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
L1 Controller Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
LED Status Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
IRU Power Supply LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
IRU NUMAlink Router Port LEDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
Compute/Memory Blade LEDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
SGI Electronic Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
A. Technical Specifications and Pinouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
System-level Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153

x007-4857-002
Contents
Physical Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Environmental Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Power Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
I/O Port Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Ethernet Port. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Serial Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
External SAS/SATA Port Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
USB Type A Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
B. Safety Information and Regulatory Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Safety Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Regulatory Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
CMN Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
CE Notice and Manufacturer’s Declaration of Conformity . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Electromagnetic Emissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
FCC Notice (USA Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Industry Canada Notice (Canada Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
VCCI Notice (Japan Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Chinese Class A Regulatory Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Korean Class A Regulatory Notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Shielded Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Electrostatic Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Laser Compliance Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Lithium Battery Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

List of Figures
007-4857-002 xi
List of Figures
Figure 1-1 30-amp Single-phase Power Receptacle for North American Sites . . . 9
Figure 1-2 32-amp Single-phase Power Plug for International Sites . . . . . 11
Figure 1-3 Dimensions of Tall Rack Shipping Crate . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 1-4 Dimensions of Short Rack Shipping Crate . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 1-5 Removing a Short Rack from the Shipping Crate . . . . . . . 17
Figure 1-6 Removing a Tall Rack from the Shipping Crate . . . . . . . . 19
Figure 1-7 Reattaching the Tall Rack Doors. . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Figure 1-8 Leveling Bolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Figure 1-9 Seismic Tie-down Attachment Points . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 1-10 IRU Connection Plate for Desktop Systems . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 1-11 Mounting Hole Pattern of Rack Rails . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 1-12 Installing the Shelf Rails in the Rack . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 1-13 Securing the Module to the Front of the Rack . . . . . . . . 27
Figure 1-14 NUMAlink Cabling an IRU to an Additional IRU . . . . . . . 30
Figure 1-15 Power-Supply Connectors on the IRU Module . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 1-16 Connecting an Unracked IRU System to a Power Source . . . . . 33
Figure 1-17 Connecting Multiple Modules to a PDU. . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 1-18 Optional Three-Phase PDU Example . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 1-19 Location of the L1 Console Port . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 1-20 PDU Circuit Breakers Example . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 1-21 Location of the Power Button . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 1-22 L1 Front Panel Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 2-1 IRU Power Supply Cable Location Example . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 2-2 Single-Phase Rack PDU Circuit Breaker Switches . . . . . . . 53
Figure 2-3 IRU L1 Controller Display Location Example . . . . . . . . 57

xii 007-4857-002
List of Figures
Figure 2-4 2D Graphics Card Location in IA2 Blade . . . . . . . . . 59
Figure 3-1 SGI Altix 450 System (Short Rack) . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Figure 3-2 SGI Altix 450 Server System (Tall Rack) . . . . . . . . . 69
Figure 3-3 Blade, IRU and Rack Components . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Figure 3-4 Functional Block Diagram of the Individual Rack Unit (IRU) . . . . 71
Figure 3-5 Altix 450 IRU System Components Example . . . . . . . . 77
Figure 4-1 SGI Altix 450 System Control Network (Example) . . . . . . . 80
Figure 4-2 L1 Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Figure 4-3 Ethernet Switch System Controller Block Diagram (Example) . . . . 83
Figure 5-1 Tall (42U) Altix Rack and Front Lock . . . . . . . . . 103
Figure 5-2 Short (20U) Altix Rack (Rear View) . . . . . . . . . . 104
Figure 6-1 Removing the L1 Controller Panel . . . . . . . . . . 111
Figure 6-2 Replacing the L1 Controller Panel . . . . . . . . . . 112
Figure 6-3 Removing an IRU Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Figure 6-4 Replacing an IRU Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Figure 6-5 IRU Fan Assembly (Blowers). . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Figure 6-6 Removing a Fan From the IRU . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Figure 6-7 Replacing an IRU Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Figure 6-8 Removing a Compute/Memory Blade From the IRU. . . . . . 119
Figure 6-9 Replacing a Compute/Memory Blade in the IRU. . . . . . . 120
Figure 6-10 DIMM Group Locations Diagram . . . . . . . . . . 122
Figure 6-11 DIMM Memory Slot Location Example . . . . . . . . . 123
Figure 6-12 DVD Removal from IA Blade . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Figure 6-13 DVD Drive Replacement in the IA Blade . . . . . . . . 126
Figure 6-14 Comparison of PCI/PCI-X Connector with PCI Express Connectors . 127
Figure 6-15 Removing a Card Carrier From the Three-Slot Blade . . . . . 129
Figure 6-16 Extracting the Carrier Metal Filler Plate . . . . . . . . . 130
Figure 6-17 Adjusting the Carrier Guide Bar . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Figure 6-18 Mounting Card in Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Figure 6-19 Mounting Half-height PCI Card into Carrier . . . . . . . . 133
Figure 6-20 Moving Carrier Guide Bar to Secure Half-height PCI Card . . . . 133
Figure 6-21 Installing the Bracket to Secure a Half-height PCI Card . . . . . 134
Figure 6-22 Installing a Card in a Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

List of Figures
007-4857-002 xiii
Figure 6-23 Seating the Card in the Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Figure 6-24 Removing the Card Access Panel From the IA Blade . . . . . .136
Figure 6-25 Replacing the IA Blade PCI Access Door . . . . . . . . .137
Figure 6-26 Location of Disk Drive Bays. . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Figure 6-27 Removing a Disk Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Figure 6-28 Replacing a Disk Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Figure 7-1 Compute Blade Status LED Locations . . . . . . . . . .149
Figure 7-2 Full Support Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Figure A-1 Ethernet Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Figure A-2 Serial Port Connector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160
Figure A-3 Pin Number Locations for External SAS/SATA Port . . . . . .162
Figure A-4 Pin Number Locations for USB Type A Connector . . . . . . .163
Figure B-1 VCCI Notice (Japan Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
Figure B-2 Chinese Class A Regulatory Notice . . . . . . . . . . .169
Figure B-3 Korean Class A Regulatory Notice . . . . . . . . . . .169

List of Tables
007-4857-002 xv
List of Tables
Table 1-1 Installation Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Table 1-2 IRU Space Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Table 5-1 Tall Altix Rack Technical Specifications . . . . . . . . .104
Table 5-2 Short Altix Rack Technical Specifications . . . . . . . . .104
Table 6-1 Customer-replaceable Components and Maintenance Procedures . . .109
Table 6-2 SGI PCIe Support Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Table 7-1 Troubleshooting Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
Table 7-2 L1 Controller Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Table 7-3 Power Supply LED States . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
Table A-1 Altix 450 System Configuration Ranges. . . . . . . . . .153
Table A-2 Altix 450 Tall Rack System Physical Specifications . . . . . .154
Table A-3 Altix 450 Short Rack System Physical Specifications . . . . . .155
Table A-4 Environmental Specifications (42U Rack) . . . . . . . . .156
Table A-5 Environmental Specifications (20U Rack) . . . . . . . . .156
Table A-6 Power Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
Table A-7 Ethernet Pinouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Table A-8 Serial Port Pinout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Table A-9 SAS/SATA Pin Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . .162
Table A-10 Pin Assignments for USB Type A Connector . . . . . . . .163

007-4857-002 xvii
About This Guide
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.
Audience
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.
Important Information
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).

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• Using the ESI/ops panel (operating panel) on optional mass storage bricks. See the user’s
guide for your optional SGI mass storage enclosure.
Chapter Descriptions
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.

Related Publications
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Related Publications
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

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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).