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1 Introduction to the High-performance Server

The modular scaleable architecture of your high-performance rack server supports symmetrical
multiprocessing (SMP) and a variety of operating systems. The server comes with Peripheral
Component Interconnect (PCI) and Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) buses. The server board
set consists of eight individual boards.
• CPU baseboard
• Two memory modules
• Front side bus terminator module
• PCI hot-plug (PHP) I/O baseboard
• I/O riser card
• Front panel board
• Midplane
• LVDS (low-voltage differential signal) SCSI hot-swap peripheral bay backplane
The CPU baseboard is mounted horizontally toward the front of the chassis, and the PHP I/O
baseboard is mounted horizontally towards the rear of the chassis. The baseboards plug into
connectors on the midplane mounted between them. The midplane interconnects the baseboards
with the memory modules and power supplies. The front panel board is mounted in front of the
CPU baseboard in the same plane. It provides the user interface, server management, cooling
system control, and power control.
OM07311
Figure 1-1. High-performance Server