The System Service Processor (often abbreviated as SSP) is a SPARC

SPARC

SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987....

-based computer that is used to control the Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...

 Enterprise 10000 platform. The term SSP is often used to describe both the computer hardware

Computer hardware

Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...

 and the software that are necessary to accomplish this task.

The following systems were supported for use as System Service Processors:

• Sun SPARCstation 5
  SPARCstation 5
  SPARCstation 5 or SS5 is a workstation sold by Sun Microsystems. It is based on the sun4m architecture, and is enclosed in a pizza-box chassis. A simplified, cheaper version of the SS5 was later released as the SPARCstation 4...
  
  
• Sun Ultra 5
  Sun Ultra series
  The original Sun Ultra series was a series of UltraSPARC-based workstations and servers developed and sold by Sun Microsystems from 1995 to 2001...
  
  
• Sun Enterprise 250
  Sun Enterprise
  Sun Enterprise is a range of UNIX server computers produced by Sun Microsystems from 1996 to 2001. The line was launched as the Sun Ultra Enterprise series; the Ultra prefix was dropped around 1998. These systems were based on the 64-bit UltraSPARC microprocessor architecture and related to the...
  
  
• Sun Netra T1

The System Service Processor software provided for the following functionality:

• Environmental monitoring and automated domain-shutdown in the event of an out-of-bounds condition, such as a CPU getting too hot.
• The creation and destruction of domains
• The ability to boot domains
• Domain console device
• Dynamic Reconfiguration of domains, in which CPU, memory, and/or Input-Output boards are added to or removed from a running domain.
• Assign multiple paths to Input-Output devices for increased availability
• Monitor and display platform environmental statistics, such as the temperatures, currents, and voltages present on System Boards
• Monitor and control power flow to the platform components such as System Boards and Control Boards
• Power On Self Test and similar platform diagnostics
• Logging and Notification for various platform events
• The creation and destruction of Inter Domain Networks (IDNs) which allow for TCP/IP
  Internet protocol suite
  The Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is commonly known as TCP/IP from its most important protocols: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol , which were the first networking protocols defined in this...
  
   connectivity between domains, across the platform's centerplane.
• Support for a dual power-grid option

Several utilities

Utility

In economics, utility is a measure of customer satisfaction, referring to the total satisfaction received by a consumer from consuming a good or service....

 were provided with the SSP software packages, including hostview, a program that provided an X Window System interface for platform maintenance, and several CLI programs.

Normally, two System Service Processors were used per platform. One was configured as Main and the other as Spare. Only the SSP in the role of Main, could control the platform at any given time. Failover between Main and Spare was performed automatically by the SSP software.

External links

• Sun Enterprise 10000 SSP 3.5 Collection