Aug 12, 2022
System control unit – Introduction to Power E1080
1.3 System control unit
The system control unit (SCU) is implemented in a 2U high chassis and provides system hardware, firmware, and virtualization control functions through a pair of redundant Flexible Service Processor (FSP) devices. It also contains the operator panel and the electronics module that stores the system vital product data (VPD). The SCU is also prepared to facilitate USB connectivity that can be used by the Power E1080 server.
One SCU is required and supported for each Power E1080 server (any number of system nodes) and, depending on the number of system nodes, the SCU is powered according to the following rules:
Ê Two universal power interconnect (UPIC) cables are used to provide redundant power to the SCU.
Ê In a Power E1080 single system node configuration, both UPIC cables are provided from the single system node to be connected to the SCU.
Ê For a two, three, or four system nodes configuration, one UPIC cable is provided from the first system node and the second UPIC cable is provided from second system node to be connected to the SCU.
The set of two cables facilitate a 1+1 redundant electric power supply. In case of a failure of one cable, the remaining UPIC cable is sufficient to feed the needed power to the SCU.
Two service processor cards in SCU are ordered by using two mandatory #EDFP features. Each one provides two 1 Gb Ethernet ports for the Hardware Management Console (HMC) system management connection. One port is used as primary connection and the second port can be used for redundancy. To enhance resiliency, it is recommended to implement a dual HMC configuration by attaching separate HMCs to each of the cards in the SCU.
Four FSP ports per FSP card provide redundant connection from the SCU to each system node. System nodes connect to the SCU by using the cable features #EFCH, #EFCE, #EFCF, and #EFCG. Feature #EFCH connects the first system node to the SCU and it is included by default in every system node configuration. It provides FSP, UBIC, and USB cables, but no symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) cables. All the other cable features are added depending on the number of extra system nodes that are configured and includes FSP and SMP cables.
The SCU implementation also includes the following highlights:
Ê Elimination of clock cabling since the introduction of POWER9 processor-based servers Ê Front-accessible system node USB port
Ê Optimized UPIC power cabling Ê Optional external DVD
Ê Concurrently maintainable time of day clock battery
10 IBM Power E1080: Technical Overview and Introduction
Figure 1-5 shows the front and rear view of a SCU with the locations of the external ports and features.
Figure 1-5 Front and rear view of the system control unit
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