IBM 2109 Model M12, User Manual

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Switch blade assembly
The switch blade assembly is a blade in the chassis of the 2109 Model M12. Each
switch blade assembly provides 16 external Fibre Channel ports that run at 1 Gbps
and 2 Gbps. A full switch consists of up to four switch blade assemblies and
provides up to 64 ports in multiples of 16 ports.
The switch blade assembly is responsible for Fibre Channel switch circuitry and
houses the switch application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), backplane
serial-deserializer (SERDES), external SERDES, and status LEDs for external
SERDES such as port speed and port state, as well as the SFP fiber optic media.
The SERDES performs two key functions. It receives the serial data stream of the
system and converts it to a parallel stream. It also transmits parallel data streams to
serial data streams.
Each switch blade assembly is hot-swappable and can be installed while the switch
is running. Long pins, short pins, or both are used on the backplane to assure
proper ground-voltage-signal sequencing. Field effect transistor (FET) switches,
such as QuickSwitches, are used to isolate the PCI interfaces.
When a switch blade assembly is inserted, the power regulation circuitry inhibits the
on-board dc converter (DCC) and maintains the switch blade assembly as turned
off. The CP, under software control, enables the DCC and thus turns on the switch
blade assembly. When the switch blade assembly is ready it interrupts the CP for
initialization.
Each switch blade assembly has an on-board serial EEPROM that is only
accessible through the I
²
C bus interface. This serial EEPROM can be accessed by
a CP to determine information, including:
v
OEM serial number
v
IBM serial number
v
Manufacturing date
v
Manufacturing location
v
Part number
v
Revision
v
Error logs
Switch blade assembly design
The switch blade assembly has the following dimensions:
v
42.06 cm (16.56 in.) high
v
29.74 cm (11.71 in.) wide
v
3.58 cm (1.41 in.) deep
Each switch blade assembly is connected to the backplane through high
performance connectors.
The switch blade assembly provides 16 external Fibre Channel ports. Each of the
16 ports per blade assembly are auto-sensing, speed matching at 1 Gbps and 2
Gbps, support trunking, and are universal (E_port, F_port, and FL_port). Port speed
can be managed through the management interface.
Introduction
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