Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:37, 30 January 2009

Revision as of 01:05, 19 February 2009

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== Mechanical Specifications ==

[[Image:12U 14-Slot ATCA Shelf.jpg|thumb|right|12U 14 Slot AdvancedTCA Shelf]]

An AdvancedTCA board (blade) is 280  mm deep and 322  mm high. The boards have a metal front panel and a metal cover on the bottom of the [[Printed circuit board]] to limit [[Electromagnetic interference]] and to limit the spread of fire. The locking injector/ejector handle (lever) actuates a microswitch to let the Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) know that an operator wants to remove a board, or that the board has just been installed, thus activating the hot-swap procedure. AdvancedTCA boards support the use of [[PCI Mezzanine Card|PMC]] or [[Advanced Mezzanine Card|AMC]] expansion mezzanines.

The shelf supports RTMs (Rear Transition Modules). RTMs plug into the back of the shelf in slot locations that match the Front Boards. The RTM and the Front Board are interconnected through a Zone-3 connector. The Zone-3 connector is not defined by the AdvancedTCA specification.

Each shelf slot is 30.48  mm wide. This allows for 14 boards chassis to be installed in a 19" rack mountable system and 16 boards in an [[ETSI]] rack mountable system. A typical 14 slot system is 12U or 13U [[rack unit]]s high. The large AdvancedTCA shelves are targeted to the [[Telecommunication]] market so the airflow goes in the front of the shelf, across the boards from bottom to top, and out the rear of the shelf. Smaller shelves that are used in Enterprise applications typically have horizontal air flow.

The small-medium AdvancedTCA shelves are targeted to the [[Telecommunication]] market, for the lab research operation, some shelves have an open cover in order to make testing easier.

== Backplane Architecture ==

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The Shelf Manager monitors and controls the boards (blades) and [[Field Replaceable Unit]]s (FRU) in the shelf. If any sensor reports a problem the Shelf Manager can take action or report the problem to a System Manager. This action could be something simple like making the fans go faster, or more drastic such as powering off a board (blade). Each board (blade) and [[Field Replaceable Unit]] contains inventory information (FRU Data) that can be retrieved by the Shelf Manager. The FRU data is used by the Shelf Manager to determine if there is enough power available for a board (blade) or FRU and if the Fabric ports that interconnect boards (blades) are compatible. The FRU data can also reveal the manufacturer, manufacturing date, model number, serial number, and asset tag.

Each blade, intelligent FRU, and Shelf Manager contains an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC). The Shelf Manager communicated with the boards (blades) and intelligent FRUs with [[IPMI]] protocols running on redundant [[I²C]] buses. [[IPMI]] protocols include packet checksums to insureensure that data transmission is reliable. It is also possible to have non-intelligent FRUs managed by an intelligent FRUs. These are called Managed FRUs and have the same capabilities as an intelligent FRU.

The interconnection between the Shelf Manager and the boards (blades) is a redundant pair of Intelligent Platform Management Buses (IPMBs). The IPMB architecture can be a pair of buses (Bused IPMB) or a pair of radial connections (Radial IPMB). Radial IPMB implementations usually include the capability to isolate individual IPMB connections to improve reliability in the event of an IPMC failure.

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*3.4 [[PCI Express]] (and PCI Express Advanced Switching)

*3.5 [[RapidIO]]

== See also ==