© 2001, Myricom, Inc.
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Revision: 27 August 2001
5. Monitoring line card
M3-M Monitoring Line Card
The M3-M monitoring line card is powered from the dual +12V sources in the same way as the
port line cards, and likewise includes a small µC to monitor internal functions, voltages, and
temperatures. The monitoring line card is keyed by the position of the backplane connector so
that it can be inserted only in the top slot of an enclosure, and so that port line cards cannot be
inserted into this slot.
The main circuitry on this line card is a PowerPC microcontroller with dRAM, flash memory,
and dual Ethernet ports. The M3-M is supplied with standard firmware that runs under
VxWorks, a real-time operating system. The firmware can be updated via the Ethernet ports.
This main microcontroller can communicate internally within a switch enclosure via 26 separate
and independent serial links:
•
16 serial links to µCs on port line cards,
•
8 serial links to µCs associated with backplane XBars,
•
1 serial link to the fan-monitoring µC, and
•
1 serial link to its own small µC.
The front panel includes the usual Status LED, green for operating, and yellow for fault. There
are two LEDs for the +12V ‘A’ and ‘B’ internal power buses. Each of the RJ-45 10-Base
Ethernet ports has a LED indicator: off if not connected to an active port, green for connected,
and blinking green for traffic. The Ethernet MAC address is provided on a label on the front
panel. The Ethernet ports are dual-redundant, and have the same MAC address. The dual-
redundant, automatic-failover feature is implemented in the firmware.
The Ethernet ports require a DHCP server on the network to give this small computer an IP
address and subnet mask.
The standard firmware supports two software interfaces over the Ethernet connections, SNMP
and a web server. Current tools, documentation, the SNMP MIB, and the firmware is linked
