Reliability, Availability, And Serviceability - IBM xSeries 200 Hardware Maintenance Manual

Reliability, availability, and serviceability

Three of the most important considerations in server
design are reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS).
The RAS features help to ensure the integrity of the data
that is stored on the server, the availability of the server
when needed, and the ease with which you can diagnose
and repair problems.
The following is an abbreviated list of the RAS features
that the server supports. Many of these features are
explained in the following chapters of this book.
v Reliability features
– Boot block recovery
– Cooling fans with speed-sensing capability
– Customer-upgradable basic input/output system
(BIOS)
– ECC front-side buses (FSBs)
– ECC L2 cache
– ECC memory
– Parity checking on the small computer system
interface (SCSI) and peripheral component
interconnect (PCI) buses
– Advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI)
– Power-on self-test (POST)
– Synchronous dynamic random access memory
(SDRAM) with serial presence detect (SPD)
v Availability features
– Advanced desktop management interface (DMI)
features
– Alarm on LAN
- Chassis intrusion
- Operating system (OS) hangs
– Auto-restart initial program load (IPL) power supply
– Automatic error retry or recovery
– Automatic server restart
– Automatic restart after power failure
– Built-in, menu-driven configuration programs
– Built-in, menu-driven SCSI configuration programs
(some models)
– Built-in, menu-driven setup programs
– Failover Ethernet support
– Menu-driven diagnostic programs on CD-ROM
– Monitoring support for temperature, voltage, and fan
speed
– Server management
– ServeRAID
– Standard advanced system management (ASM) PCI
adapter provides control for remote system
management
– Upgradable BIOS, diagnostics, ASM PCI adapter
microcode, and POST
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Hardware Maintenance Manual: xSeries 200
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capability
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adapter support