Differences Between Sun Fire 15K Software and Sun Enterprise 10000 Software

Many Sun Fire 15K system administrators have significant experience with Sun Enterprise 10000 (Starfire) servers. This chapter provides a quick overview of major differences between the software on the two servers.

The Sun Enterprise 10000 server system is the predecessor of the Sun Fire 15K server system, and the two systems share a number of architectural features. Most importantly, they both feature a single-chassis platform that contains sufficient processors, memory, and input-output (I/O) channels for many separately configured domains to run completely separated applications in separate instances of the Solaris operating environment within the same physical chassis.

For both Sun Enterprise 10000 servers and Sun Fire 15K server systems, software monitors and enables control of the entire platform.

• Sun Enterprise 10000 server platform software is called System Service Processor (SSP) Software. The SSP software runs in the Solaris operating environment on a physically separate Sun workstation.
• Sun Fire 15K server platform software, called System Management Services software, runs on a single-board computer called a system controller (SC). A second system controller is often configured inside the chassis as well so that platform monitoring and management operations can failover to the spare SC in case a problem develops with the main SC.

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System Management Services Software

System administrators familiar with SSP software will have little trouble adapting to SMS software. Both use similar command-line interface (CLI) commands to perform platform management. SMS software has several advantages over SSP software.

• SMS software is more flexible than SSP software.
• SMS software is more secure than SSP software.
• SMS software is sufficient for complete platform management.

Unlike SSP software, there is no equivalent of the SSP hostview (1M) graphical user interface (GUI). To perform Sun Fire 15K server monitoring and management with a GUI, use Sun Management Center software. See Chapter C H A P T E R - 7 for more information about Sun Management Center software.

Since the Sun Fire 15K system controller is housed inside the Sun Fire 15K server chassis, there is no equivalent to the control boards found on the SSP. Instead, Management Network hardware and software controls communication between the SC and individual domains. The Sun Fire 15K Management Network is a closed network with no user interaction. Although no user involvement is required, it is necessary to configure a block of available IP addresses for the Management Network before the Sun Fire 15K server is put into service. For a checklist that includes this step, refer to the Sun Fire 15K System Site Planning Guide shipped with the Sun Fire 15K server.

In addition to increases in size and performance, Sun Fire 15K servers use a different system architecture, featuring the Sun Fireplane interconnect, a higher-bandwidth centerplane and bus architecture. As a result, the nomenclature for identifying devices and attachment points differs from that of Sun Enterprise 10000 servers. This nomenclature change also affects Dynamic Reconfiguration and Sun Management Center operations.

For enhanced security between domains, Sun Fire 15K servers use and enforce a community separation model. This security model is different from that used on Sun Enterprise 10000 servers. Refer to System Management Services Administrator Guide for more information about community separation.

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Administering Solaris Domains

The same Solaris operating environment runs on Sun Fire 15K server domains and system controllers as on other Sun hardware platforms. This commonality is advantageous for customers who are adding Sun Fire 15K servers to an existing Sun network, and to system administrators who are already familiar with the Solaris operating environment running on workstations and other servers.

The Solaris software release incorporates Sun Fire 15K software commands, drivers, and support files, including domain-side Dynamic Reconfiguration and Management Network software components.

Installation documentation for the Solaris operating environment has been revised to accommodate platforms that support multiple domains, such as Sun Fire 15K servers and Sun Enterprise 10000 servers. As a result, the separate installation instructions for Sun Enterprise 10000 servers found in the Hardware Platform Guide are now contained in the Solaris installation documentation and in the System Management Services Administrator Guide.

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Dynamic Reconfiguration Software

Dynamic Reconfiguration software enables you to move, remove, and add physical resources such as system boards and processors to and from operating domains. Unlike SMS software, DR operations can be performed on both the platform system controller, affecting multiple domains, and by logging directly onto an individual domain.

Dynamic Reconfiguration on Sun Fire 15K servers is more powerful and more streamlined than on Sun Enterprise 10000 servers, but the underlying concepts and operations are similar. One of the most notable differences is that operations requiring multiple commands in a prescribed sequence on Sun Enterprise 10000 servers now take place in the background when you use a single command such as moveboard (1M).

Syntax differs somewhat between the two servers when operations are performed while logged onto the system controller. DR operations performed while logged onto an individual domain, however, are similar.

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Sun Management Center Software

Sun Management Center software on Sun Fire 15K servers is very similar to Sun Management Center software on Sun Enterprise 10000 servers. There are, however, two important differences:

• Because the physical architecture of the two platforms is substantially different, Sun Management Center will report different properties and values for many hardware components. These properties are displayed in different tables and with different names. The rules governing the alarms for these properties also have different names.
• In addition to the platform monitoring capabilities found on both servers, Sun Management Center on Sun Fire 15K servers enables you to perform platform management operations such as dynamic reconfiguration. These operations are explained in the Sun Management Center Supplement for Sun Fire 15K Systems.

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IDN and AP Software

Inter-Domain Networking (IDN) and Alternate Pathing (AP) software is available for Sun Enterprise 10000 servers but does not exist on Sun Fire 15K servers in the current release.

The AP functionality found in Sun Enterprise 10000 server software is superseded by functionality included in the Solaris operating environment.