OCPRF100 MP Server System Technical Product Specification

Revision 1.0

6. System Software

This chapter describes three software components of the OCPRF100 MP server system product:

•System BIOS

•BIOS Setup Utility

•iFLASH

Detailed information about these components can be found in the OPRF100 MP Board Set Technical Product Specification

Drawing from previous Intel® products, the system BIOS provides standard PC-compatible features plus routines that support the extended hardware features of the OCPRF100 MP server system’s OPRF100 board set and chassis. These extended features include:

•Eight symmetric processors

•32 GB of shared memory using PC-100 registered DIMMs

•Four peer PCI buses

•10 hot-plug PCI slots (with four 66-MHz/64-bit slots and six 33-MHz/64-bit slots)

The BIOS configures the Profusion PCIset including the memory controller and PCI host bridges. It also supports the server management capabilities of the Intelligent Platform Management Bus (IPMB).

Adherence to industry standards enables a wide range of “shrink wrapped” operating systems and adapter choices. Intel has participated in industry initiatives to develop standards that address highly scalable machines.

A system vendor can customize the OCPRF100 MP server system product through the user binary facility. This facility provides for splash screens and other custom code that can differentiate a product offering. In addition to the space reserved for user binaries, over 1 MB of the system flash ROM is reserved for use by system vendors.

The system BIOS includes features that enhance the reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) of the product. The BIOS Power-on Self-test (POST) contains routines that check the integrity of processors, memory DIMMs, memory ports, and coherency filters. If these routines detect a failure, BIOS deconfigures the failing device and attempts to boot using the healthy

hardware that remains. Like previous Intel® platforms, BIOS provides a consistent way to handle, display, and record system errors that occur during POST or during run-time. Errors are recorded in a system event log (SEL) which is available in-band from a system processor and out-of-band over the IPMB.

Because the BIOS automatically configures system resources, many users will never need to execute a configuration utility. Nevertheless, the system provides a flash-resident setup utility that allows users to set preferences about system operation. This utility, called BIOS Setup, is

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