Alpine Systems - Extreme Networks BlackDiamond 6804 Troubleshooting Manual

Hardware Architecture

Alpine Systems

Like the BlackDiamond systems, the Alpine systems are also based on a multislot modular chassis that
uses the inferno chipset, but the Alpine switches differ from the BlackDiamond switches on these points
(see Figure 6):
• Active backplane—Alpine switches use an active backplane that uses the same basic set of ASICs
(the switch engine ASIC and the address filtering and queue management ASIC) and memory
(packet memory for storing packets; OTP RAM, PQ RAM, and VPST RAM) that are used on the
BlackDiamond MSMs and I/O modules, so it offers wire-speed switching.
But unlike the BlackDiamond MSM, the Alpine backplane has no CPU and no MAC. It does provide
PBUS links to all I/O modules. The number of backplane slots for I/O modules determines the
Alpine system type (3802, 3804, 3808).
• SMMi processor module instead on MSM—The SMMi processor module is similar to the CPU
subsystem of the BlackDiamond MSM in that it is equipped with the following hardware
components: CPU subsystem, DRAM, NVRAM, and flash memory, console port connectors,
management interface, and a PCMCIA slot. But unlike the MSM, the SMMi contains no switching
fabric.
• I/O modules provide PHY and MAC functionality, but no onboard switching fabric—Each
standard I/O module has two PBUS links to the switching fabric on the Alpine backplane.
Figure 6: Alpine architecture (Alpine 3804 shown)
GM-4Xi
PHY MAC
PHY FM-32Ti
PHY
MAC
PHY
PHY
WAN Subsystem
MAC
CPU DRAM
2x 10/100base-TX
WM-4T1
22
Alpine 3804 - (32 Gb Fabric)
SE
ASIC
SE
ASIC
SE
ASIC
SE
ASIC
CPU Subsystem
Flash
256 MB
DRAM
NVRAM
PBUS
SMMi
AFQM
ASIC
OTP RAM
PQ RAM
VPST RAM
CPU
CPU
DN_029B
Advanced System Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guide