Silicon Graphics ICE XA, Hardware User'S Manual, Page: 74 / 96

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5: SGI ICE XA Administration/Leader Servers
Overview
User interfaces consist of the Compute Cluster Administrator, the Compute Cluster Job Manager,
and a Command Line Interface (CLI). Management services include job scheduling, job and
resource management, Remote Installation Services (RIS), and a remote command environment.
The administrative controller server is connected to the system via a Gigabit Ethernet link, (it is
not directly linked to the system’s InfiniBand communication fabric).
Note that the system management software runs on the administrative node, RLC and service
nodes as a distributed software function. The system management software performs all of its
tasks on the ICE XA system through an Ethernet network.
The administrative controller server (also known as the system admin controller) is at the top of
the distributed management infrastructure within the SGI ICE XA system. The overall SGI ICE
XA series management is hierarchical (see the following subsection “System Hierarchy” and also
Figure 5-1 on page 58), with the RLC(s) communicating with the compute nodes via CMC
interconnect.
System Hierarchy
The SGI ICE XA system has a four-tier, hierarchical management framework. The ICE XA
systems contain hardware and software components as follows:
• System Admin Controller (SAC) - one per system
• Rack Leader Controller (RLC) - one per 8 CMCs
• Chassis Management Controller (CMC) - one per blade enclosure
• 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch (note that some system racks may contain more than one
48-port switch)
• Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) - one for each of the following:
– Compute node (note that some blades may contain more than one logical node)
– SAC
– RLC
– Service node
– 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch