The PCI 100Base-T Link Product
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Commercial Systems Division
Introduction
The N-Class and A-Class HP e3000 systems have a PCI-bus based hardware architecture, so new drivers (link products) have been developed to support new PCI-based peripheral devices. This includes a new 100Base-T LAN adapter card. PCI 100Base-T encompasses the new software driver and new add-on adapter card that are required to provide LAN connectivity for the N-Class and A-Class servers.
Product Overview
The PCI 100Base-T Link provides the following
The LAN connectivity solution for PCI-bus based HP e3000 systems
The same interface to all LAN network stacks (e.g., NS TCP/IP, DTC) as exists on HP-PB (NIO) HP e3000 systems
The PCI equivalent to HP-PB 100Base-T Fast Ethernet link product (B5427BA), which is a distinct and separate 100Base-T link product that runs only on HP-PB (NIO) HP e3000 systems.
Using PCI 100Base-T
There is no major difference in how the networking subsystems will operate compared to HP-PB (NIO) HP e3000 systems. Current network software products (such as NS TCP/IP, DTC Terminal I/O, and Streams/iX products and applications) will run their applications the same as they do on HP-PB systems, only they will now run over the PCI 100Base-T link product. This approach is fundamental to the HP e3000 PCI design philosophy: the underlying hardware/architecture changes should not impact upper layer software products or customer applications, and will be essentially transparent. Unlike the HP-PB 100Base-T Fast Ethernet link product, the software component for the new PCI 100Base-T link product will be bundled into FOS (MPE/iX 7.0 and later). This means that no additional software must be ordered or installed in order to run PCI 100Base-T on MPE/iX 7.0 and later. The PCI 100Base-T adapter add-on card (A5230A) must be ordered and installed separately.
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NOTE: The PCI 100Base-T adapter card is a single-port, add-on card. This card does not require firmware downloads and has no on-board memory. The card is capable of supporting both 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps speeds, and is configured in NMCONFIG. |
Configuring PCI 100Base-T links
As with HP-PB (NIO) 100Base-T Fast Ethernet, the 100Base-T links are configured in NMCONFIG using NMMGR. The NMMGR link configuration screen is for a generic 100Base-T link and can be used to configure 100Base-T on either HP-PB or PCI platforms. When the 100Base-T link is started via another network subsystem (e.g., :NETCONTROL START; NET=SYSLAN1), the network will automatically detect whether the underlying LAN link hardware is HP-PB or PCI, and will invoke the appropriate software driver.
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NOTE: There have been some minor changes regarding network configuration and NMMGR screens on MPE/iX 7.0. These changes are reflected in the HP e3000/iX Network Planning and Configuration Guide and NS 3000/iX NMMGR Screens Reference Manual, updated for MPE/iX 7.0 |
Conclusion
With the PCI 100Base-T link product and add-on adapter card, the N-class and A-class servers can support the same 100Base-T LAN connections and applications as HP-PB (NIO) HP e3000 systems.
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Multi-function core I/O card |
Chapter 4 PCI-SCSI Device Adapter Cards |