IBM RS/6000 SP, Problem Determination Manual

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This soft copy for use by IBM employees only.
Chapter 4. The Switch
Most of the switch-related problems require a clear understanding of the switch
components. This chapter explains those components, gives examples about
configuration and topology files, and explains how to handle switch problems
and interpret switch log files.
4.1 Overview
In the following section, the term switch is used generically to cover both the
High Performance Switch and the new SP Switch. Where the comments apply to
only one of these switches, the appropriate name will be used.
The assumption is also made that the switch board described is not the LC8
Switch board which can be installed in the half height frames (49 inch frame);
this only provides connections to 8 nodes. This switch board will be discussed
in detail later on.
The switch consists of 3 main hardware components:
• The switch board containing the switch chips
•
The switch cables to connect the switch to the nodes and other switches
• The switch adapters for each node that is to be part of the switch network
Each switch board has 32 sockets available to connect to either nodes, or other
switches (that will be part of the same network). Sixteen sockets are available
for the nodes, and 16 sockets are available for the external communications to
the other switches.
These socket connectors are known as Jack Sockets, which are abbreviated in
much of the documentation to
Jxx (where xx is the number that identifies a
particular socket).
J3 through to J34 are available for these types of communications. J1 and J2
are used for alternative communications, such as the serial connection. The
power source is the other usage of these connections.
Figure 41 on page 88 shows an example of these connections for the High
Performance Switch.
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Copyright IBM Corp. 1996
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