Products Owner's manual

52 • Chassis and Blade Installation R-Series Data Center Products User’s Guide
• Configure the Blade Switching BackPack for Various Modes: Configuration
of your Blade Switching BackPack depends on that modes of operation you will
use. All modes can be used together, or individual modes can be used alone.
• Spare Switching Configuration: Multiple spare PC blades can be configured per
chassis. At the other extreme, one spare can be made available to support 14
chassis. A Spare blade is configured by connecting a short C/Port cable from its
C/Port connection to the SPARE IN connection on the chassis. For one spare to
support multiple chassis the SPARE OUT connector is daisy-chained to the
SPARE IN connector on the next chassis and so on. A short red cable for Spare
daisy-chaining is included with your chassis.
• Administrator Switching Configuration: For on-site control, the IT
administrator can connect a separate C/Port directly to the chassis’ administrator
C/Port input. This console is separate from the computer that is used to control the
chassis. For administering PC blades in more than one chassis, the Administrator
C/Port Output connection can be daisy-chained to the Administrator C/Port Input
connection on the next chassis and so on (as many as 14 chassis can be linked). A
short yellow cable for Administrator C/Port daisy-chaining is included with your
chassis.
• Supervisor Switching Configuration: This feature is configured in the same
way as the Administrator mode.
• 8 x 8 Switching: This capability lets as many as eight C/Ports switch between any
eight blades in a single chassis. This capability also lets one or more users share
multiple blades dynamically. Control over the 8 x 8 matrix of connections is
through the Sentral software. Note that 8 x 8 functionality cannot be
daisy-chained to build larger matrices. You can also use the 8 x 8 mode as a
method to provide more than one spare per chassis.
• Install and run Sentral: The Blade Switching BackPack is controlled by
ClearCube Sentral. Installation of the tools on the controlling computer is via a
CD-ROM drive.
Figure 24 on page 37, Figure 25 on page 38, and Figure 26 on page 39 show examples
of three chassis connected together to support Spare, Administrator, Supervisor, and
8 x 8 modes.
The administrator's console connects to the Primary chassis through an Ethernet
connection to the RMC. The primary chassis is then daisy-chained to all other
secondary chassis in the rack via a simple cable daisy-chaining method, using the
RS-485 bus. Secondary chassis do not need an installed RMC.
Each RMC can support as many as 14 chassis (the Primary chassis plus 13 Secondary
chassis). Software components of the ClearCube Management Suite communicate
with each RMC via a unique static IP address. If your system includes more than 14
chassis or you have more than one group of chassis to manage, you need to configure
NOTE
Your Chassis Accessory Kit includes snap-on ferrite cores that
must be added to both ends of the red and yellow daisy-chain
cables in order to meet FCC and CE requirements for radiated
emissions.