Toshiba Applications Application Bulleti

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Strata® DK

Application Bulletin

December, 1999
ABDK-0005

Remote Expansion Cabinet Applications

This bulletin introd uces two new configurati ons of the Str ata DK424 Remote Expansion Cabinet: the Card
Cage and the Daisy Chain. They are designed to give you more flexibility and economy in satisfying your
customers’ requirements. One application uses a spare DK424 or DK280 Expansion Cabinet as a Card
Cage to hold Remote Expansion Cabinet cards (RRCU). The second application uses one RRCU card at
the base location to support two RRCU cards in separate remote locations in a Daisy Chain configuration.

Basic configuration guidelines have been published in the Strata DK Installation and Maintenance
Manual. Use this bulletin to adjust your configuration. Both applications are hardware-only. There are no
software or programming requ irements for either. Card Cage and Daisy Chain configurati ons can be
combined in a sing l e inst al latio n.

Card Cage Configuration

The original configur ation rules call for all RRCU cards at the base location to be plugge d into the Base
Cabinet. These conservative rules are meant to reduce confusion, minimize proble ms in routing expansion
cables, and assure successf ul installations.

The following describes how to put RRCU cards in a cabinet other than the Base Cabinet. An RRCU card
derives only batter y and ground from the backplane into which it is plugged. As a non-timeslot card, it
neither uses nor interf ere s with the timeslot activity on the backplane. Therefore, it will work successfully
in any slot in any cabinet except the CPU slots of t he Base Cabinet. Available card slots must be within the
reach of the RDCL cable, one end of which must be connected to the data cable connector in the Base
Cabinet. The RDCL cable can reach from the base to the rightmost card slot in a cabinet as far as two
cabinet positions away. Figure 1 shows all the potential card slots for an RRCU shaded in gray.

4170131

Toshiba Americ a Info rm ation S ystems, Inc.

Teleco mm unication Syste m s D i vi si o n

9740 Irvine Blvd., Irvine, C A 92618-1697 [phone]

http://telecom.toshiba.com

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Card Cage Configurati on ABDK-0005

2
3
4
5
6

RCTU

RCTU

7

RDCL Cable

PWR

SUPPLY

PWR

SUPPLY

Base Cabinet

Cabinet 2

4798

Figure 1 RRCU Card Placement

As a non-timeslot ca rd with no software or administr at i on e ffect, the RRCU may occupy slot 7 or slot 8 in
the shaded shelves, as shown in Figur e 1. It may also occupy a slo t left vacant for timeslot considerations
such as the slot adjacent to a T-1 or PRI card. An RRCU configured according to these rules still consumes
a card slot in an active Expansion Cabinet and reduces system capacity. The exceptions to this are the
RCTUA, B and C/D systems in which slots 7 and 8 are spare.

It is possible to introduc e an Expansion Cabinet exclusively to hold and power RRCU cards without

reducing system capacity. This Expansion Cabinet and its power supply will funct ion as a “Card Cage.”
The original rules impose a limitation of f ive pairs of RRCUs per system. The Card Cage configuration

permits the installation of up to six pairs of RRCU cards per DK424. This means that all six Expansion
Cabinets can be remotely located without sacrificing slots in the Base Cabinet.

RRCU

PWR

SUPPLY

PWR

SUPPLY

Cabinet 3

Fiber to
Remote
Expansion
Cabinet

Cabinets 4~6

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There are two major dif f erences when installing an Expansion Cabinet as a Card Cage. First, it will not be
connected by ribbon cable to the Base Cabinet so the CPU will be unaware of its existence. Second, the
power supply must be jumpered as if the Card Cage were a Base Cabinet. The Card Cage may be
supported by a bat tery backup system in the same ma nner as a conventional Expansion Cabinet but its AC
On/Off switch will ope rate independently of the rest of the cabinet sta ck. See Figure 2.

Remote Expansion Cabinet Applications