Lucent Technologies 5 manual Processor Module

MERLIN LEGEND Communications System Release 5.0	Issue 1
System Manager’s Guide 555-650-118	June 1997

3System Components

Control Unit Page 3-2

Inside the back of each carrier is a component called the backplane, which holds the circuitry that makes it possible for the modules to “talk” to each other and for the processor module to handle the traffic among the modules.

Every system has a basic carrier that holds the following modules in its slots:

■Power supply module (not numbered)

■Processor module (slot 00)

■Up to five line/trunk and extension modules (slots 01–05)

If you need more trunks and/or extensions than can fit in the basic carrier, you can connect up to two expansion carriers to the basic carrier. Like the basic carrier, each expansion carrier’s leftmost slot holds a power supply module; the remaining six slots hold line/trunk and extension modules. (The processor module in the basic carrier serves the expansion carriers too.) The six slots for line/trunk and extension modules in the expansion carriers are numbered as follows:

■First expansion carrier (slots 06−11)

■Second expansion carrier: slots (12−17)

Processor Module 3

The processor module is the “brains” of the system, a miniature computer that controls system features and diagnostics, as well as the traffic among the modules (see Figure 3–1). The processor module provides three jacks, one for Station Message Detail Recording (labeled SMDR), one for system programming and maintenance using a PC (labeled ADMIN), and one for software maintenance by Lucent Technologies technicians only (this one is plugged shut).

The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) interface slot on the processor module is where you insert a PCMCIA memory card. A memory card is very similar to a floppy diskette used in a PC, but it is about the size of a credit card. There are different types of memory cards used with the system, each with a different label (see the next section for more information).

The processor module has a single-character display for numbers and symbols that help Lucent Technologies technicians to understand any problems with the system software and to maintain the system. The module also has a red light that indicates hardware failures.