Communicator e3000 MPE/iX Release 7.0 (C.70.00) (30216-90312)

32 Chapter3
New Networking
MPE/iX A-Class and N-Class Console
MPE/iX A-Class and N-Class Console
by John Spitzer & Jeff Bandle
Commercial Systems Division
Introduction
The release of MPE on the PA-RISC N-Class and A-Class platforms demonstrates HP’s
Commercial Systems Division’s commitment to supporting the new PCI based I/O
architecture for HP e3000 platforms. The change to the PCI I/O architecture affects all
devices that are connected to the system. Because this is a new platform for MPE, there
are significant changes to the hardware and software used to access and use the system
console. This article describes how the new platform affects console commands and
operations. Although the hardware and software are changed, you will see minimal
changes that affect how the console ports on this platform are used.
Before the MPE operating system is started, all console access is made through
connections to the platform’s Core I/O card. This article gives a high level overview of the
functions present on the Core I/O card and detailed description of the functions used to
access the console features.
Console Function Summary
The Core I/O card is a component installed in the N-Class and A-Class systems that
contains all the I/O components necessary to configure a bootable system (not including
disks and tapes drives and terminals). The core I/O card contains the following functions:
Guardian Service Processor
The Guardian Service Processor (GSP) provides the functionality required for basic
console operations to control the hardware before the OS is booted and to provide the
connectivity to manage the system. The functions supported by the GSP are similar in
nature to those provided by the Access Port (AP) interface on previous platforms. For
example, display selftest chassis codes, execute boot commands, determine installed
hardware, etc. The GSP has significant additional functionality that significantly improves
the security and accessability of the console. By using functions built into the Core I/O
card, the N-class and A-class systems can easily be fully managed from any remote
location
Serial ports
The three external serial ports perform the same general purposes as on previous
platforms.
• Local console: This port provides a connection for a C1099A terminal. This port
provides direct access to the system. The C1099A is the model of terminal that is
supported on the console port of the N-Class and A-Class platforms. This terminal
supports both the block mode and character mode application that are necessary to
configure and manage the system. The local console port is also the default port where
console messages are sent. These messages are typically the logon/logoff messages and