Chapter 2. System Network Addressing

This chapter describes the internal system management network addressing scheme for Altix UV 1000 and Altix UV 100 series systems.

It covers the following topics:

System Network Addressing Overview

The SGI Altix UV hostname assignment is based on the rack and u position of the blade or other component. The rack/u position must be uniform across all Altix UV systems that are attached to an system management node (SMN). In other words, a single Altix UV 1000 system that encompasses multiple racks will have racks numbers 1 to N in increments of 1, and u positions (upos) within each rack will range from 1 to 42, with an increment of 3 (there is an exception where upos 2 is also present). In the case of multiple Altix UV 100 systems, each Altix UV 100 is assigned a unique rack/upos in the same manner, so all Altix UV 100 systems are identifiable in this way.

The system management node (SMN) has three dedicated Ethernet ports to connect to the Altix UV systems, specifically, for the system control network and the primary BaseIO of each partition. There is one Ethernet port on the SMN that is to be attached to the customer network. The connections described in this manual are very specific. Sites are not allowed to also attach other unrelated customer equipment to these dedicated networks because this would interfere with Altix UV system management network.

The SMN detects and then assigns hostnames, IP addresses, and name binding for the Altix UV systems and any additional systems that have a dedicated BMC port connection to the single system image (SSI) segment. For more information, see “eth1smn” and “Multiple Altix UV Partitions or Systems on a Single SMN”. Because the Altix UV rack/upos convention for identification is used and the network connections are very specific, guidelines must be adhered to carefully.

System Management Node Ethernet Ports

The SMN is a SuperMicro SuperServer 6016T-URF 1U server, with two Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) ports residing on the motherboard, and two additional Ethernet ports provided via an adapter card. The ports are designated eth0 through eth3. The eth0 port is attached to the customer network. Its address is not assigned by the SMN software stack. Customers assign the IP address of the eth0 port. The ports eth1 through eth3 are dedicated to the system management network. To distinguish the SMN Ethernet ports from other ports on BaseIO blades or CMCs, the port is suffixed with "smn", for example eth0smn.

You can get product specification information and other documentation for the SuperMicro 6016T-URF server at http://www.supermicro.com/ or at http://docs.sgi.com/. Search on the title SuperServer 6016T-URF User's Manual or on the part number 860-0498-001.

eth1smn

eth1smn is the port for the private network known as the SSI network. This is a dedicated, known path between the SGI Management Center (SMC) application and each kernel instance, or single system image (SSI). If an Altix UV system is partitioned, each partition requires at least one BaseIO blade, and the primary BaseIO of each partition is connected to the SMN. eth1smn is also the network that connects the BaseIO baseboard management controller (BMC) to the SMN. This network is also used to attach non Altix UV system BMCs, such as, SGI Atlix XE series systems, the SGI C1103-TY12 system, SGI Altix UV 10, and SGI Rackable series systems, to the SMN, to allow the SMC a means to control these non Altix UV systems.

The IP address range for eth1smn is 172.21.0.0/16 with starting address 172.21.1.1. Within this range, a convention is followed to designate 172.21.1-128.x for BaseIO Ethernet and 172.21.129-254.x for non Altix UV BMCs.

eth2smn

eth2smn is the port for the private network known as the primary CMC network. The Altix UV 100 and Altix UV 1000 systems with multiple CMCs are very specifically configured into a small network, and the SMN is a peer on this network.

The range of IP addresses for devices attached to eth2smn is 172.19.0.0/16 with starting address 172.19.1.1.

eth3smn

eth3smn is the port dedicated to the secondary CMC network. The secondary CMC capability is currently not implemented. However, the IP space is still reserved.

The range of IP addresses for devices attached to eth3smn is 172.20.0.0/16 with starting address 172.20.1.1.

Altix UV CMC IP Address Assignment

The chassis management controllers (CMCs) are given IP addresses based on their location in the racks. The address is determined, as follows:

172.{19|20}.rh.rruuuuuu

Where:

  • 'rh' is the lower 8 bits of the rack number.

  • 'rr' is the upper two bits of the rack number, shifted down 2. Rarely used.

  • 'uuuuuu' is the upos (6 bits)

eth0 is the WAN interface (see Figure 1-5 and Figure 1-5). By default, SGI Altix UV systems are shipped with dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) .

eth2 is 172.19.0.1 on the SMN. 172.19.XX.YY is the IP address when the SMN assigns the IP address to the CMC.

eth3 is same as eth2 except it is 172.20.

eth1 is the same but 172.21.X.Y. This is the link to the single-system image (SSI) Altix UV BaseIO. The Altix UV SSI BaseIO will get IP address either from system management node (SMN) or the SGI Management Center (SMC), when installed. For this segment, the SMN do not use rack/upos since it is not relevant for SSI BaseIO.

Multiple Altix UV Partitions or Systems on a Single SMN

A single Altix UV system may be partitioned and have multiple kernels running. The BaseIO blade from each partition must have its eth0 and BMC ports attached to the system management node (SMN). To accommodate the additional cabling, a GigE switch is needed.

In a similar way, a single SMN can be configured to manage multiple Altix UV100 and Altix UV 1000 systems. One GigE switch is used for the SSI network, another switch for the CMC network.

The smnconfig tool performs discovery and address assignment in both of these configurations, if the cabling is connected per the guideline and the multiple Altix UV 100 and Altix UV 1000 systems have their CMCs uniquely designated with the rack/upos method.

Non Altix UV 100 or UV 1000 Systems on the SMN

In addition to managing Altix UV 100 and Altix UV 1000 systems, the SMN can also provide system management for other systems, such as the Altix UV 10, Altix XE systems, and so on. For these class of systems, the only connection to the SMN required is the BMC port from the motherboard to the SSI network. As described previously, the SSI network 172.21.0.0/16 is used to connect the UV BaseIO eth0 ports and the BaseIO BMC ports. The non Altix UV systems connect their BMC ports to this network and will be assigned addresses from the 172.21.129-254.x range.

SMN Firewall Capabilities

Because of system addressing requirements for the system management node (SMN), see “System Network Addressing Overview”, firewall capabilities should only be applied to the SMN wide area network (WAN) interface eth0smn. The interfaces eth1smn, eth2smn, and eth3smn (see “System Management Node Ethernet Ports”) should not be firewalled in any manner with one exception, as follows:

If you use a remote client (installing the client-only installation of SMC on a different server), then TCP ports 7620, 4672, and 7673 need to be opened up in the firewall. This is the only requirement for the WAN interface.