Riverstone Networks RS 8000/8600 Switch Router Getting Started Guide 2-11
Introduction
Hardware Overview
2.4.2
Backplane
The backplane occupies the rear of the chassis and connects the power supplies, Control Modules, and line cards
together. The power supplies use the backplane to provide power to the rest of the system. The line cards and Control
Modules use the backplane to exchange control information and packets. The backplane is installed at the factory.
Contact Riverstone Networks, Inc. if you wish to replace the backplane.
2.4.3
Fan Module
The RS contains a fan module to provide a cooling air flow across the Control Module(s) and line cards. The fan
module is located on the left side of the Control Modules and line cards. The RS 8000 fan module contains two fans;
the RS 8600 fan module contains six fans. The fan module is installed at the factory, but you can replace the module
yourself, if necessary.
Note
To ensure that the fan module can provide adequate cooling, always provide a
minimum of 3 inches of clearance on each side of the chassis.
2.4.4
Control Module
The Control Module is the RS’s central processing unit. It contains system-wide bridging and routing tables. Traffic
that does not yet have an entry in the L2 and L3/L4 lookup tables on individual line cards is sent to the Control Module.
After processing traffic, the Control Module updates the L2 and L3/L4 tables on the line cards that received the traffic.
The line cards thus “learn” about how to forward traffic.
Note
If you plan to install a redundant Control Module, see
Section 4.9,
"Using
Redundant Control Modules"
Figure 2-3
shows the front panel of the Control Module.
Figure 2-3 Front panel of the Control Module
10/100 Mgmt
Console
RST
SYS
OK
ERR DIAG
HBT
Hot
Swap
Online Offline
G8M-CM2-128
CONTROL MODULE
