About the 6500
PLUS
1-5
Hardware
Supports Other
VanguardMS
Products
A Modulus enclosure contains plug-in card versions of VanguardMS products,
including Network Access Products, providing common housing and power to
multiple products. A single Modulus enclosure can include, for example, 35xx DSU/
CSUs, 326x dial modems, or 33xx leased-line modems in addition to 65xx nodes.
Types of Modulus
Enclosures
There are four types of Modulus enclosures. The Modulus 8 and Modulus 18
enclosures are older models; the Modulus 9 and Modulus 21 enclosures are newer
models that are based on the Modulus 8/18 enclosures.
Modulus 8
Modulus 8 has 8 slots, holds four 6500
PLUS
product cards, and supports up to 24
ports. It is designed to be a desktop unit.
Modulus 18
Modulus 18 has 18 slots, holds eight 6500
PLUS
product cards, and supports up to 48
ports. It is designed to be installed in an industry-standard 19-inch rack.
Modulus 9
Modulus 9 has 9 slots, holds four 6500
PLUS
product cards, and supports up to 24
ports. It is designed as a desktop unit.
Modulus 21
Modulus 21 has 21 slots, holds nine 6500
PLUS
product cards, and supports up to 54
ports. It is designed to be installed in an industry-standard 19-inch rack.
Note
Two processor cards are needed to support 54 ports.
Backplanes To accommodate the variety of products that you can install in Modulus enclosures,
VanguardMS has a line of product-specific backplanes to carry the signal and data
flow between the cards and the external environment and to provide cable
connections to the product card. Backplanes connect to the 6500
PLUS
cards on the
inside of the enclosure. Both the Modulus 8/18 and the Modulus 9/21 enclosures
have 25-pin DB25 connectors on the outside. (Older versions of Modulus 9/21
enclosures/backplanes have 26-pin DB26 connectors).
You can mount more than one backplane in a Modulus 8/18 and Modulus 9/21
enclosure to form independent nodes, but signals between backplanes cannot be
physically bridged. In other words, you cannot bridge two 24-port backplanes to
form a single backplane.
For general information on setting up Modulus 8/18 enclosures and inserting
6500
PLUS
cards into the enclosures, refer to the Modulus Planning and Installation
Guide (Product Code 80300). For Modulus 9/21 enclosures, see the Modulus 9 and
21 Installation and Operation Guide (Part No. 09564, Rev B).