Technical data

Chapter 2: Chassis Tour

System Controller

There are two types of System Controllers used in the servers—a single module System

Controller (MSC) and a multimodule System Controller (MMSC) and display. The MSC

does not have the same functional abilities as the MMSC. For detailed information on

operating the System Controller, see Chapter 7, “Using the System Controller.”

MSC and Display

The MSC and display (Figure 2-4) provide environmental and status monitoring for an

individual system module.

MMSC and Display

The MMSC and display (see Figure 2-5) are the single-point administration interface for

the rackmount conﬁguration. The individual module controllers are tied to the

multimodule controller through an eight-pin serial connection from the module to the

multimodule controller board in the rack.

The MMSC and display are two separate units as shown in Figure 2-1 and Figure 2-2.

There should only be one multimodule display per conﬁguration to act as the

single-point administration for the rack conﬁguration. In addition, in a multirack

conﬁguration, the rack with the MMSC and display should always be placed in the

leftmost position (see Figure 1-2 and Figure 1-3 in Chapter 1).

Caution: The front panel display provides a convenient method to power on, shutdown,

reset, and to issue a nonmaskable interrupt (NMI) to the entire rack conﬁguration. Use

extreme care when issuing these commands from the display. Make sure that all affected

users are notiﬁed before a system-wide command is executed.