System Configuration Card; Lights Out Management (Lom); Environmental Monitoring And Control (Em&C) System - Sun Microsystems Fire E2900 Manual

The Sun Fire E2900 does not have redundant fans for cooling the main system boards. Given the tight
space constraints in the chassis there is no room for redundant fans to cool these boards. To minimize
the impact of failure of one of these fans, intelligence has been built in to the cooling system.
All fan rotation is monitored and faults indicated when rotation speed begins to drop – typically towards
end of life. The main fans run in two modes; 1) externally controlled 'off' or 'maximum speed' ; or 2) an
internally controlled speed to match the ambient temperature at the fan location. Normally the main fans
are run on internal control to reduce noise and extend life.
Whenever the system is running, the temperature of key components is monitored. Should any
component or board temperature reach a warning limit, the main fans will be set to maximum to increase
cooling. This may occur, for example, if there is something locally blocking a portion of the air inlet. If
there is a failure of the data center or central office air conditioning system and the ambient temperature
starts to rise then the main fans will increase speed automatically to compensate. However as soon as a
warning limit is reached, all fans will be set to maximum speed.
Furthermore, it is rare for a cooling fan to have a sudden complete failure. More common is for a
component--such as the lubrication for a bearing--to start to wear, causing the fan to gradually slow
down. When this is detected, the failing fan will issue an alert. When they receive this alert, operations
staff can place a call for an engineer to replace the failing fan. When a fan failure alert is detected, all
the other fans will be set to maximum speed to increase air flow and compensate the failing fan.

System Configuration Card

The Sun Fire E2900 contains a System Configuration Card (SCC). This card retains the server's MAC
address, hostid, and NVRAM settings that identifies the server to the network and to software for
licensing purposes. Should a Sun Fire E2900 need to be replaced by another Sun Fire E2900, changing
the SCC will make the new system appear to have the same identity as the one it replaces.

Lights Out Management (LOM)

With the LOM module, the Sun Fire E2900 server can be configured to allow administrators to monitor
the system board, fan power/rpm, and temperature via a dedicated LOM serial port, combined
console/LOM serial port, or alarm software that can be tied into SNMP. The LOM module also has a
remote power on/off cycle.
Environmental Monitoring and Control (EM&C) System
The environmental monitoring and control (EM&C) system helps protect the system against:
• Extreme temperatures
• Lack of adequate air flow
• Power supply problems
February 2005 Sun Confidential – Internal Use Only 29