Operation
3-4
The SMB-10 is externalized from the chassis via an optional Ethernet Port
Interface Module (EPIM) located on the front of the Environmental Module.
Through an EPIM connection, full SNMP management of the MMAC-Plus is
available side-band from user data. Modules which share the SMB-10 bus
periodically send out loop-back packets to ensure the validity of SMB-10. If a fault
is detected on the SMB-10, the SMB-1 can be used as an alternate communication
channel by the modules.
System Diagnostic Controller
This diagnostic controller is composed of a Z-80 microprocessor and its
supporting logic. The diagnostic controller is designed to control the power-up
sequencing of modules, monitor the 9E423-24 input and output power
parameters, keep watch over the main host processor, monitor the temperature,
and control the SMB LANVIEW diagnostic LEDs. Although the system diagnostic
controller and the main host processor can operate independently of each other if
needed, they exchange information about each others status and overall module
condition. The information gathered by the diagnostic controller is available to
the network manager via local/remote management and the LCD located on the
environment module. The 9E423-24 is designed to continue functioning in the
event of a diagnostic controller fault.
DC/DC Converter
The DC/DC converter converts the 48 VDC on the system power bus to the
necessary operating voltages for its host network services module. The diagnostic
controller monitors and controls the operation of the DC/DC converter.
INB Interface
The INB Backplane is designed to transport fixed length data blocks between
modules in the MMAC-Plus using a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) design.
The MMAC-Plus INB bus delivers 2.0 Gbps of true data bandwidth with all
control and management communication being serviced on the 8 bit out-of-band
bus. The INB can time slice its bandwidth using one of three methods. The default
method is standard TDM round-robin bandwidth arbitration, the second method
is for modules to reserve a specific amount of bandwidth using MONARCH,
Cabletron’s INB Bandwidth Arbitrator, the third method permits the lowest slot
number to use any bandwidth not used by the previous two methods.