Symmetric multiprocessor machines have one or more CPU boards, each of which can accommodate two processors. For example, a four processor machine has two CPU boards, each having two processors. Commands, subroutines, or messages that refer to processors need to use an identification scheme. Processors are identified by physical and logical numbers, and by Object Data Manager (ODM) processor names and location codes.
Read the following to learn more about identifying processors:
ODM is a system used to identify various parts throughout a machine, including bus adapters, peripherals such as printers or terminals, disks, memory boards, and processor boards. See "Object Data Manager (ODM) Overview for Programmers" for more information about ODM.
ODM assigns numbers to processor boards and processors in order, starting from 0 (zero), and creates names based on these numbers by adding a prefix cpucard or proc . Thus, the first porcessor board is called cpucard0 , and the second processor on it is called proc1 .
ODM location codes for processors consist of four 2-digit fields, in the form AA-BB-CC-DD, as explained below:
These codes are illustrated in "Example Processor Configurations.
Processors can also be identified using logical numbers, which start with 0 (zero). Only enabled processors have a logical number.
The logical processor number 0 (zero) identifies the first physical processor in the enabled state; the logical processor number 1 (one) identifies the second enabled physical processor, and so on.
Generally, all operating system commands and library subroutines use logical numbers to identify processors. The cpu_state command (described below) is an exception and uses ODM processor names instead of logical processor numbers.
If a processor functions correctly, it can be enabled or disabled using a software command. A processor is marked faulty if it has a detected hardware problem. Thus, ODM classifies processors using three states. A processor can only be in one of the following states:
| enabled | Processor works and can be used by AIX. |
| disabled | Processor works, but cannot be used by AIX. |
| faulty | Processor does not work (a hardware fault was detected). |
Programming on Multiprocessor Systems: Overview