HP Fabric Clustering System HP-UX Administrator's Guide, March 2008

Glossary
12X link – An InfiniBand link capable of 30 Gb/s in each direction simultaneously. It consists of 12 signal
pairs, each running at 2.5 Gb/s. 30 Gb/s technology and is downward compatible with 10 Gb/s
(4X). 12x links will become available at the end of 2003
1X link – An InfiniBand link capable of 2.5 Gb/s in each direction simultaneously. 1X technology is
upward compatible with 4X (10Gb/s) and 12X (30 Gb/s) links.
4X link - An InfiniBand link capable of 10 Gb/s in each direction simultaneously. A 4x link consists of 4
signal pairs, each running at 2.5 Gb/s. 10 Gb/s links are the current level of InfiniBand technology.
Agent A software-driven process running on a communications or networking device that allows that
device to participate in a network management system. For example, an SNMP agent running
on a router provides the ability for the router to exchange information with an SNMP network
management system through the use of the SNMP protocol.
ARP Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) maps TCP/IP network addresses to MAC physical addresses.
This ensures proper host-IP address routing.
Base LID The numerically lowest Local Identifier (LID) for a set of ports on a subnet.
CA See Channel Adapter
Channel Adapter The Channel Adapter (CA) is the component in an end node that connects to the fabric. A CA
is classified as either a Host Channel Adapter (HCA) or a Target Channel Adapter (TCA). See
also Host Channel Adapter and Target Channel Adapter.
CLI Command Line Interface.
DMA Direct Memory Access is an efficient way of transporting data between systems. It allows one
system to dump data directly into the memory of another system, thus bypassing the CPU and
freeing CPU resources for other uses.
DTE-DCE Configures the wiring of the RS-232 port. When DCE (Data Communication Equipment) is
selected, data is received on Pin3 and transmitted on Pin2 (DB-9 connector). When DTE (Data
Terminal Equipment) is selected, Pin3 is the transmit and Pin2 is the receive.
FSPF Fabric Shortest Path First is a popular link-state path-selection protocol. It takes into account
the number of switch links, or hops, a connection has to make in selecting a network path. The
number of switch links is used to calculate “cost”.
GID Group ID (GID) assigned to every HP Fabric interface port. The 16-byte GID value is unique
across the fabric. The GID is the result of a combined GUID and LID. The GID and QPN are
used to identify the IPoIB interface at the port.
Multiple GIDs may be associated with a single port.
GUID Globally Unique Identifier. A number that uniquely identifies a device or component on the
network layer. It identifies the target subnet and the port in that subnet. Every channel adapter
has a GUID. The GUID and LID result in a Global ID (GID) address in accordance with the
IPv6 standard.
HCA See Host Channel Adapter
Host Channel
Adapter
Host Channel Adapter modules are a method of supporting HP Fabric scalability in the server
without redesigning the system motherboard. HP Fabric HCA modules are similar to Fibre
Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) in that they create scalable, extensible connectivity outside
the server. In HP Fabric configurations, HCAs are used to extend the input/output (I/O)
connectivity normally provided by a bus physically located in the server.
IBML InfiniBand Management Link. Provides management for multiple InfiniBand modules in a
single chassis.
ICMP Internet Control-Message Protocol (ICMP) is a message control and error-reporting protocol
between a host server and a gateway to the Internet.
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) assesses international standards and conformity
to these standards for all electrotechnology disciplines.
223