Here is the procedure for setting up the three new BHD front-ends (c1bhd, c1sus2, c1ioo - replacement). This plan is based on technical advice from Rolf Bork and Keith Thorne.

The overall topology for each machine is shown here. As all our existing front-ends use (obsolete) Dolphin PCIe Gen1 cards for IPC, we have elected to re-use Dolphin Gen1 cards removed from the sites. Different PCIe generations of Dolphin cards cannot be mixed, so the only alternative would be to upgrade every 40m machine. However the drivers for these Gen1 Dolphin cards were last updated in 2016. Consequently, they do not support the latest Linux kernel (4.x) which forces us to install a near-obsolete OS for compatibility (Debian 8).

Hardware

• Servers: SuperMicro 5018R-M [RECEIVED]
• IPC cards: Dolphin DXH510-A0 (PCIe x4 Gen1) [LLO will provide; I've asked Keith Thorne to ship them]
• I/O cards: One Stop Systems OSS-PCIe-HIB25-x4-H-H (PCIe x4 Gen2) [Rich Abbott will provide; part of the I/O chassis hardware we are receiving from aLIGO]
• I/O cables: One Stop Systems OSS-PCIe-CBL-x4-3M (PCIe x4 3m) [RECEIVED]
• IPC cables: Data Storage Cables C5252-40ME-O (fiber optic 40m) [RECEIVED]

Software

• OS: Debian 8.11 (Linux kernel 3.16)
• IPC card driver: Dolphin DX 4.4.5 [works only with Linux kernel 2.6 to 3.x]
• I/O card driver: None required, per the manual

Install Procedure

1. Follow Keith Thorne's procedure for setting up Debian 8 front-ends
2. Apply the real-time kernel patches developed for Debian 9, but modified for kernel 3.16 [these are UNTESTED against Debian 8; Keith thinks they may work, but they weren't discovered until after the Debian 9 upgrade]
3. Install the PCIe expansion cards and Dolphin DX driver (driver installation procedure)