System Service Processor
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{{no footnotes, date=April 2016 The System Service Processor (often abbreviated as SSP) is a
SPARC SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system develope ...
-based computer that is used to control the
Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, t ...
Enterprise 10000 platform. The term SSP is often used to describe both the
computer hardware Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the case, central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, graphics card, sound card, speakers and motherboard. ...
and the
software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...
that are necessary to accomplish this task.


Functionality

The System Service Processor software provided for the following functionality: * Environmental monitoring and automated domain-shutdown in the event of an out-of-bounds condition, such as a CPU getting too hot. * The creation and destruction of domains * The ability to boot domains * Domain console device * Dynamic Reconfiguration of domains, in which CPU, memory, and/or Input-Output boards are added to or removed from a running domain. * Assign multiple paths to Input-Output devices for increased availability * Monitor and display platform environmental statistics, such as the temperatures, currents, and voltages present on System Boards * Monitor and control power flow to the platform components such as System Boards and Control Boards * Power On Self Test and similar platform diagnostics * Logging and Notification for various platform events * The creation and destruction of Inter Domain Networks (IDNs) which allow for
TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the su ...
connectivity between domains, across the platform's centerplane. * Support for a dual power-grid option Several
utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...
were provided with the SSP software packages, including ''hostview'', a program that provided an
X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...
interface for platform maintenance, and several
CLI CLI may refer to: Computing * Call Level Interface, an SQL database management API * Command-line interface, of a computer program * Command-line interpreter or command language interpreter; see List of command-line interpreters * CLI (x86 instr ...
programs.


Implementation

Normally, two System Service Processors were used per platform. One was configured as ''Main'' and the other as ''Spare''. Only the SSP in the role of ''Main'' could control the platform at any given time. Failover between ''Main'' and ''Spare'' was performed automatically by the SSP software.


Supported hardware platforms

The following systems were supported for use as System Service Processors: * Sun SPARCstation 5 * Sun Ultra 5 * Sun Enterprise 250 * Sun Netra T1


See also

*
Baseboard Management Controller The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is a set of computer interface specifications for an autonomous computer subsystem that provides management and monitoring capabilities independently of the host system's CPU, firmware (BIOS or ...
* IBM
System Guard The RISC System/6000 (RS/6000) is a family of RISC-based Unix servers, workstations and supercomputers made by IBM in the 1990s. The RS/6000 family replaced the IBM RT PC computer platform in February 1990 and was the first computer line to see ...
, a service processor on most RS/6000 machines * Intel Management Engine


References

* Sun Enterprise 10000 SSP 3.5 User Guide, October 2001


External links


Sun Enterprise 10000 SSP 3.5 Collection
Sun Microsystems hardware Sun Microsystems software SPARC microprocessor products