IBM 9077 manual Preface, Team That Wrote This Redbook

Preface

The GRF is a high-performance switched IP Router which provides high-speed data communication links between IBM RS/6000 SP and external networks or hosts. It acts as a special-purpose SP node that routes IP traffic between SP nodes on the SP Switch and the outside world. Connected directly to the SP Switch, the router offers significantly improved SP I/O performance. When packaged with an IBM SP system, the GRF router is referred to as the SP Switch Router.

This redbook helps you install, tailor and configure the SP Switch Router, IBM machine type 9077. The SP Switch Router is also known as the "Gigarouter" or High Performance Gateway Node (HPGN).

The first part of the book gives an overview of the GRF architecture and how the router was integrated into the SP. It emphasizes the advantages of choosing a dedicated router node in some configurations, as opposed to using standard nodes for the routing task. This part also describes some routing fundamentals, particularly focusing on concepts like IP- and switch-routing.

The second part presents sample configurations that were carefully chosen to match frequently occurring customer situations. The basic configurations shown are building blocks for more complex networking topologies that include the SP Switch Router and may inspire more sophisticated configurations. All configurations described were tested and provide some comparable performance figures.

This publication is intended to give IBM customers, system engineers, and marketing personnel a broad understanding of this new architecture and what it is used for.

The Team That Wrote This Redbook

This redbook was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the International Technical Support Organization, Poughkeepsie Center.

Dr Hajo Kitzhöfer is an Advisory International Technical Support Organization (ITSO) Specialist for RS/6000 SP at the Poughkeepsie Center. He holds a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Ruhr-University of Bochum (RUB). Before joining ITSO, he worked as an SP Specialist at the RS/6000 and AIX Competence Center, IBM Germany. He has worked at IBM

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