
8.6 Cache-Based Directory Protocols: The Sequent NUMA-Q 637
FiberChannel switch
FIGURE 830 I/O subsystem of the Sequent NUMA-Q. I/O is globally addressable, and I/O data
transfers among nodes can travel through FiberChannel via PCI buses or through the SCI ring used for
memory operations.
ring network. I/O transfers can occupy substantial bandwidth, interfering with
memory accesses. NUMA-Q therefore provides a separate communication substrate
through the PCI buses for interquad I/O transfers, which is the default I/O path. A
"FiberChannel" link connects to a PCI bus on each node. These links are connected
to all the shared disks in the syste ...