Front View

The following illustration shows a front view of the server with the front drive bay door open:

1 Diagnostic Codes LCD 9 3.5" Floppy Drive 2 Power On Button 10 5.25" CD ROM Drive 3 Control Button 11 Drive Bay Door Keylock 4 Standby Button 12 Drive Bay Door 5 Reset Button 13 Air Intake Vents 6 Infrared Sensor 14 Removable Side Panel 7 UPS LED 15 Side Panel Keylock 8 Power LED 16 Side Panel Floating Fasteners

Rear Panel

The rear panel contains the various ports and connectors as shown in the following illustration:

1 Keyboard Connector (PS/2) 8 Expansion Slot Openings 2 Mouse Connector(PS/2) 9 Stud for Antistatic Strap 3 Serial Port COM2 10 Removable UPS Battery Pack 4 Serial Port COM1 11 UPS External Circuit Breaker 5 SMC Modem Port 12 Uninterruptible Power Supply 6 Video Connector 13 AC Power Socket 7 Parallel Port

Hard Disk Subsystem

The hard disk subsystem is the area in which the hard disks are located. It occupies the lower portion of the disk drive chamber. It can be configured to accommodate up to 20 hard disk drives.

1 Disk Subsystem 2 Cooling Fan Assembly

Removable Media Drive Bay

The removable media drive bay is the area which can contain drives such as floppy, CD ROM and tape backup drives. The bay will accommodate up to four half-height 5.25-inch drives. Your system will contain at least one 3.5-inch 1.44-Mbyte floppy disk drive.

User access to the drive bay is through the lockable drive bay door on the front bezel. The lock on the door is fitted with a sensor which, when security is enabled, sounds an alarm if the door is opened without using the key to unlock it, i.e. if it is forced.

 

Motherboard

The motherboard contains the various disk controllers and other electronics necessary to control the server’s functions. It contains the memory and first two processors as well as PCI and EISA expansion slots.

 

Uninterruptible Power Supply

This power supply is designed to keep your system powered up for a limited period of time after, or during a power failure. It is equipped with an on-line removable battery pack and will give you enough time to shutdown the network and the server without losing valuable data. The power supply, including the battery pack, occupies the entire lower level of the server chassis.

The UPS will maintain power to the system for a minimum of 4 minutes in a fully-laden system, i.e. equipped with 20 hard disk drives. This time will be longer in a system equipped with fewer drives.

Cooling Fans

Your computer is equipped with six thermally controlled and alarmed cooling fans, three on each side of the machine. These will prevent overheating by maintaining an appropriate temperature inside the system.

In addition there are two cooling fans within the UPS unit.

Caution

You must maintain at least 15 cm space around the computer for adequate ventilation. Otherwise damage could result from overheating.

Setting Up Your System for the First Time

After you have unpacked the server and rolled it into position, use the jacking mechanism on the front castors to immobilise it. Then go through the following steps to start up the system:

Connect the monitor signal, keyboard and AC power cables to the sockets on the server’s back panel.

See the guide supplied with the monitor for details on its connections to an AC supply and general information about its signal cable.

Establish the appropriate link which will enable you to run the System Management Application (SMA), such as:

Direct link to another PC. In this case, use the supplied serial-to-PC cable to connect the SMC modem port to the serial port on the separate diagnostic computer.

Modem link to a computer at another location. Use the supplied serial-to-modem cable to connect the SMC port to the modem.

In some cases you can also run the SMA over the network itself, from one of the connected computers, depending on the operating system.

Switch the AC supply on, followed by the UPS isolation switch on the rear of the system. (For safety during transportation, this is locked in the off position with a strap).

The Uninterruptible Power Supply LED should display steady green (battery fully charged) or flash green (battery pack is charging). If the LED is flashing, it will take a maximum of 36 hours to charge the batteries from full discharge.

The system is now in Standby mode.

Locate and press the Power On button to switch the machine on.

When the system is up and running normally following boot-up and all software loaded, the display code on the front LCD panel will be 0000. If any codes appear other than normal procedure codes, then refer to the chapter dealing with Diagnostic codes towards the end of this handbook. Some codes are transitory, being way markers for the boot-up process.

Before proceeding further, read carefully the following pages in this chapter. They contain important information about the controls and their functions.

Using the Front Panel

This section describes the functions of the front panel during normal operation.

Caution

Do not place any large or heavy objects on the top, especially near to the front facia. Likewise avoid leaning on the machine. It may inadvertently cause the operation of one or more front panel buttons.

1 Diagnostic LCD 5 Reset Button 2 Power On Button 6 Infrared Sensor 3 Control Button 7 UPS LED 4 Standby Button 8 Power LED

Power On

Press this button to switch the system on from Standby mode. The Power LED will light up and the system will initiate its boot sequence. Diagnostic codes, expressed as hexadecimal numbers, will appear as a matter of course on the LCD screen on the Front Panel (see the chapter Diagnostic Codes Reference for details). The screen will display the SCSI ID number for each of the SCSI devices installed in your system. What happens after this depends on how your Apricot has been configured, i.e. which operating system or other software may be installed. Check with your supplier if you need more details.

 

Control

Press this button to silence alarms and clear LCD display codes that are produced because of internal errors and power failures (but not security alarms).

Pressing Control at the end of firmware initialisation forces the System Management Controller (SMC) to execute the code of the EPROM instead of the Flash ROM, even if the version in the Flash is newer than that of the EPROM. This allows you to boot from EPROM if there is something wrong with the Flash code.

Note

It is good practice to warn anyone who may be accessing the system remotely, i.e. using the SMA from a remote computer via the modem port, before you press the Standby button.

Standby

After you have instructed all network users to close their applications down and log off the network, hold this button down for a specific period of time before the system initiates a shutdown sequence to Standby mode. The system will display the code 1200 on the LCD and sound a tone. Continue to hold down the Standby button until the tone stops, at which time the shutdown sequence begins. In Standby mode, the mains electricity supply keeps the battery pack fully charged, but there is no DC power supplied to the system. Use the System Management Application (SMA) to specify, in seconds, how long you must hold down the button before the shutdown sequence begins (see the SMA User’s Guide). The default is 3 seconds.

Press Standby and Control simultaneously to cancel the current Standby sequence. (Only if last client is loaded)

Note

When accepted, the Standby timer requests that the operating system be shutdown, thus the final screen message will be "Shutdown or Restart OS." If Restart is selected the motherboard is reset and the POST sequence initiated. During this period the SMC timer is still running and can move the system into Standby at any point. To prevent possible data loss or corruption it is recommended to always select Shutdown in this situation.

Reset

Press this button to initiate a hardware reset, but only if it is absolutely necessary. The LCD will display 1400. You must hold the button down until the accompanying tone stops sounding. Use the System Management Application (SMA) to specify how long, in seconds, the reset tone will sound (see the SMA User’s Guide). The default is 3 seconds.

Press Reset and Control simultaneously to cancel the current reset sequence. (Only if last client is loaded)

Special Button Functions

Caution

Do not use these functions unless there is serious problem with the system and it is absolutely necessary.

Pressing Standby, Control and Reset simultaneously while the front drive bay door is unlocked switches the system into a mode in which these three buttons have special functions. The LCD displays 8888 to indicate this mode. The following paragraphs describe the special function of each button.

Standby or Reset - Pressing either of these buttons initiates a memory dump to the central processing unit by activating and then deactivating the Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) signal via the diagnostic processor. The effect of this action will depend on the operating system. You can then use the appropriate function of the network operating system to examine the contents of the dump.

Control - Pressing this button initialises the modem, which is connected to the SMC modem port on the back panel of the server. If the modem initialisation is successful, the LCD displays the code 0000. If the initialisation is unsuccessful, the LCD displays 0F4D or 0F4E.

Standby + Reset - Pressing these buttons simultaneously clears the LCD and then releasing them executes an independent SMC reset. This would only be necessary if a major problem or error had occurred in the system, which is unlikely.

All 3 - Displays SMC BIOS version on the LCD.

If you do not press any buttons for ten seconds, the system returns to normal mode.

UPS and Power LEDs

The UPS and Power LEDs indicate the state of the system as follows:

UPS LED

When this LED shows steady green, it means that the system is powered by mains electricity and the batteries are fully charged.

Flashing green means that system is powered by mains electricity and the batteries are in the process of charging. This will usually be the case after the system has been without mains electricity, i.e. disconnecting the plug or a power failure.

Steady amber indicates that the system is drawing its power off the batteries, i.e. there is no mains electricity. As soon as mains electricity fails, an alarm sounds.

Flashing amber indicates that the battery pack is about to fail.

Off shows that the batteries are disconnected because the circuit breaker switch on the back of the machine is in the Off position or the system is disconnected from the mains.

Power LED

Steady green means that the system is on and powered.

Security

Your Apricot is equipped with a security system to help prevent unauthorised persons tampering with the front panel buttons and gaining access to the interior of the system.

Security is enabled within the System Management Application (see the SMA User’s Guide, the Event Manager User’s Guide or the on-line help within the SMA software). Once security is enabled, the key to the removable drive bay door at the front of the machine serves as the security token:

If the door is closed and has been locked with the key, the screen is blanked, the keyboard is disabled, the security alarm is activated and will sound if there is a violation.

Unlocking the door unblanks the screen, enables the keyboard and deactivates the security alarm.

Note

When security is enabled and the door locked, you can use the KeyLOC infrared card to unblank the screen and enable the keyboard temporarily. The card will also silence a security alarm. Use the card again to blank the screen and disable the keyboard.

The following actions are security violations and will set off the alarm when the drive bay door is closed and locked and security is enabled:

Forcible opening (i.e. without the key) of the removable drive bay door.

Removal, with or without the key, of one or both of the side panels.

Pressing the , or buttons individually or in any combination.

To silence the alarm, use the key to unlock the drive bay door. If the door is already unlocked when the alarm sounds, first lock and then unlock the door. Alternatively, use the KeyLOC card to silence the alarm.

Automatic Failure Recovery

As with any computer system, your server may develop a hardware or software fault, which, for example, may only manifest itself intermittently, that causes the system to hang. If this happens, the server is capable of resetting itself automatically. This is particularly useful if the server is unattended some or all of the time.

Whether the server is able to rebuild the complete network environment, together with application programs, after an automatic reset depends on the operating system. The SMA contains several variables which govern the behaviour of automatic failure recovery:

Machine Status

Watchdog Timeout

Watchdog Timer Reboot Count

Watchdog Timer Timeout Action

You can make settings for these variables to enable, disable or modify their effects. The on-line Help system within the SMA contains details of all of these variables and how to make the appropriate settings.

The Flash Memory

The Flash is a special portion of read-only memory (ROM). It differs from conventional ROM in that its contents can be updated, but it still preserves its information when system power is off. The following components of your server contain their own portions of Flash memory:

The motherboard - This Flash stores the BIOS information for the motherboard.

The System Management Controller - This Flash stores the BIOS and firmware which control the SMC and the Front Panel.

The System Management Interface Card (SMIC) - This is the main Flash, also referred to as a Flash Disk. It contains bootable DOS, its own BIOS and a Flash Disk Utility program which affects the other portions of Flash memory. The Flash Disk Utility also runs the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU).

Your access to the Flash is via a RAMdrive. This enables you to treat the Flash almost as if it were a disk drive. The RAMdrive and the Flash Disk each have a capacity of 2 Mbytes. Because the Flash Disk contains the operating system files, the server can boot from it if the normal system hard disk boot process fails. You can also copy files to the Flash Disk, e.g. hardware component configuration (.CFG) files which the ECU uses. If you are using the RAMdrive to enter details of an add-in card, you must remember to update the Flash disk before closing.

The Flash Disk Utility

The RAMdrive is necessary is because the Flash Disk is write-protected and therefore you cannot copy anything directly to it. The purpose of the Flash Disk Utility is to enable updates to the information held in any portion of Flash memory, such as new BIOS versions or hardware information stored in the ECU.

To run the Flash Disk Utility locally, press F2 during the hardware boot sequence but before the operating system loads. This instructs the server to boot from the Flash Disk and load the utility. The screen then displays a menu with the following options:

Receive File - This option copies a file from the server to the workstation which is running the SMA. If you are not using the SMA and are running the utility locally, the file is copied from the Flash to a floppy disk. After you select 1 from the menu, select the file you want to copy and press the ENTER key.

Transfer File - This option is the opposite of Receive File, i.e. it copies a file from the SMA workstation to the server or, if you are running the utility locally, from a floppy disk to the Flash.

Run Configuration Utility - Select this option to run the ECU (see "Using the EISA Configuration Utility", earlier in this chapter).

Upgrade Motherboard BIOS - This option enables you to upgrade the motherboard’s BIOS with a new version of BIOS information. This information is in the form of a binary file. When you select this option, you have the choice of either copying the binary file to the RAMdrive and updating the BIOS in one operation or, if the correct binary file is already copied, just performing the update.

Upgrade SMIC BIOS and Upgrade SMC Firmware, are similar to option 4.

Upgrade Flash Disk - This option copies the contents of the RAMdrive to the Flash Disk, thereby making the Flash identical to the RAMdrive.

Caution

You must perform this step to copy information on add-in expansion cards back to the Flash Disk, after installing any card and making the necessary entries in the ECU on RAMdrive, All details will be lost to the system on a re-boot or reset.

Reset Flash Disk for Upgrade - This option does the opposite to option 8, i.e. copies the contents of the Flash to the RAMdrive, thereby making the RAMdrive identical to the Flash.

Edit a File - Use this option to load a file into the Microsoft Edit program for editing.

Exit - This option exits from the Flash Disk Utility and passes control back to the SMA.