Sun Microsystems Sun Fire V20z - Manual (Page 13)

Chapter 1 Introduction to the Sun Fire V20z Server 1-3
1.3 Server Management
Strong server management capabilities are crucial to maintaining mission-critical
servers. Advance notification of problems and rapid diagnosis and correction are
critical functions to an environment in which a few servers bear most of the
workload. The Sun Fire V20z server and its extensive server management
capabilities lower costs by reducing failure and potentially eliminating hands-on
management.
1.3.1 Service Processor
The Sun Fire V20z server includes a dedicated service processor for complete
operating system independence and maximum availability of server management.
The service processor (SP) is an embedded PowerPC providing the following:
■ Environmental monitoring of the platform (such as temperatures, voltages, fan
speeds, and panel switches)
■ Alert messages when problems occur
■ Remote control of server operations (boot, shutdown, and reboot of the server’s
operating system, turning the server’s power on and off, stopping the server’s
boot process in BIOS, and upgrading the BIOS)
The service processor runs an embedded version of Linux, and all the server
management functions are developed as standard Linux applications. Its sole
purpose is to support server management; therefore, the full functionality of the
Linux platform is not available in the service processor. Many familiar applications,
such as ftp and telnet, are not provided as they are not required to support the
server management feature set.