ERS II and ERS/FT II, Chapter 1

ERS II and ERS/FT II
Chapter 1 - Introduction

Overview

The Cubix Series II Subsystems are enclosures designed to house multiple 80386, 80486, and Pentium computers in a single, managed platform. The computers contained in the Series II Subsystems are single board PCs that are primarily used as network resources rather than desktop workstations for individual users. A single subsystem may contain up to eight PCs. These computers are typically used as hosts for remote communication sessions, fax servers, e-mail servers, and file servers.

The Series II Subsystems includes the ERS II and the ERS/FT II

ERS II

The ERS II subsystem contains a sixteen slot ISA style backplane that can be divided into eight separate bus groups. By installing a single board computer in each group, the maximum density of eight complete PCs within a single ERS II is obtained. Each ERS II includes a power supply, provisions for disk drives, and an integrated multiplexor that allows a single monitor, keyboard, mouse, and floppy diskette drive to be shared by all of the processors in the subsystem.

The ERS II is available as a rack mount unit for installation in a Cubix System 1010 Cabinet. Up to four Cubix Subsystem Series products may be installed in one System 1010, allowing up to 32 computers to coexist within a single cabinet. A table top version of the ERS II is also available.

An optional Cubix product, the Intelligent Environmental Sensor (IES) module, may be installed in a backplane slot of an ERS II. The IES monitors subsystem and processor health and functions as an interface between the ERS II and the Cubix IES Supervisory System, which provides SNMP instrumentation and integration with the Cubix Management System (CMS).

ERS/FT II

The ERS/FT II is a fault tolerant version of the ERS II that supports both ISA and EISA backplane configurations. In addition to the features of the ERS II, the ERS/FT II provides dual power supplies. Another feature specific to the ERS/FT II is that each computer housed in the ERS/FT II is powered separately. Therefore, maintenance may be performed on one computer without interrupting the other computers in the ERS/FT II.

Whereas the ERS II optionally supports installation of an IES module in a bus slot, the ERS/FT II includes an imbedded IES. Functionally, the IES module used in the ERS II is the same as the imbedded IES. However, integrating the IES into the subsystem eliminates the need for the IES module to occupy a slot in the backplane of the ERS/FT II.

The ERS/FT II also provides diagnostic features not available with the ERS II.

Processor Boards

The Series II Subsystems are designed around the concept of housing single board computers in a small, manageable space. Cubix manufactures single board computers designed for this purpose. These computers are the BC Series processor boards.

BC Series

A BC Series processor is an AT style computer on a single board. The product family includes 80386, 80486, and Pentium based boards. Each BC board includes the processor and the standard PC components, including system memory, video support, keyboard and mouse controller, IDE hard disk controller, floppy drive controller, and serial and parallel ports. To eliminate the need for a separate Ethernet board to provide a network interface for each computer in the subsystem, the BC boards include an integrated Ethernet controller. The Pentium product also includes a SCSI interface.

The Series II Subsystems backplanes may be divided into multiple groups of slots. Each group must contain a minimum of two slots, creating a maximum density of eight groups per subsystem. Placing a BC board in one of the two slots in each group provides eight complete computers, each with one expansion slot, in a single enclosure.

QL Series

Cubix also manufactures a specialty processor board designed specifically as a dial-in Novell NetWare workstation. Unlike the BC Series processors, the QL Series are slave boards and must be installed in the backplane of a NetWare file server or router. (Note that this server or router could be a BC board running NetWare.)

The advantage of the QL Series is that two complete NetWare workstations are included on each board, allowing a higher processor density per subsystem to be attained. Both 80386 and 80486 QL products are available.