53-1002998-01

752

®
26 July 2013

Fabric Watch
Administrator’s Guide

Supporting Fabric OS v7.2.0

Copyright © 2000, 2002-2013 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ADX, AnyIO, Brocade, Brocade Assurance, the B-wing symbol, DCX, Fabric OS, ICX, MLX, MyBrocade, OpenScript, VCS, VDX, and
Vyatta are registered trademarks, and HyperEdge, The Effortless Network, and The On-Demand Data Center are trademarks of
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. Other brands, products, or service names
mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or implied, concerning
any equipment, equipment feature, or service offered or to be offered by Brocade. Brocade reserves the right to make changes to
this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no responsibility for its use. This informational document describes
features that may not be currently available. Contact a Brocade sales office for information on feature and product availability.
Export of technical data contained in this document may require an export license from the United States government.
The authors and Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. shall have no liability or responsibility to any person or entity with
respect to any loss, cost, liability, or damages arising from the information contained in this book or the computer programs that
accompany it.
The product described by this document may contain “open source” software covered by the GNU General Public License or other
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terms applicable to the open source software, and obtain a copy of the programming source code, please visit
http://www.brocade.com/support/oscd.

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E-mail: [email protected]

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Document History

Title Publication Number Summary of Changes Date

Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0001559-02 New document May 2000

Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000186-02 n/a March 2002
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000504-02 n/a April 2003
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000524-02 n/a April 2003
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000524-03 Updated default values and restructured December 2003
the document.
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000524-04 Rewrote the document completely and April 2004
added new features.
Reorganized procedures into steps,
rewrote many sections to improve clarity.
Added technical and editorial changes.
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000524-05 Updates to support Fabric OS v4.4.0 September
features and Brocade 3016 and 4100 2004
switches.
Rewrote Chapter 4, “Configuring Fabric
Watch.”
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-0000524-06 Renamed book. Combined the March 2005
Introduction and Concepts chapters into
a single chapter. Added support for
Brocade 200E, Brocade 3014, and
Brocade 48000.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000047-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v5.1.0 November 2005
features and Brocade 4900 and 7500
switches.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000243-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v5.2.0 September
features and the FC4-16IP and FC4-48 2006
port blades. Removed references to
Brocade 3014 and 3016, as embedded
switches are not supported in Fabric OS
v5.2.0.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000438-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v5.3.0, June 2007
implementation of IPv6.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000601-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v6.0.0. September
2007
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000601-02 Updates to support Fabric OS v6.1.0. March 2008
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000601-03 Reorganized many sections to improve November 2008
clarity.
Updates to support Fabric OS v6.2.0:
Virtual Fabric, port movement, fan
monitoring behavior, link reset, and DCX-
4S.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1001342-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v6.3.0: July 2009
portThConfig, portFencing, and
sysMonitor commands and Brocade
8000 support.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide iii

53-1002998-01
 Title Publication Number Summary of Changes Date

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1001770-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v6.4.0: March 2010
portThConfig, sysMonitor, thConfig, and
portFencing commands (recommended
for use in configuring class areas instead
of the fwConfigure command);
recommended class settings added.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1002153-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v7.0.0: April 2011
• Removed deprecated commands:
fwconfigure and fwshow.
• Removed RAPI trap support.
• Added information about “in-
between” thresholds.
• Updated portthconfig command
recommendations.
• Changed Port Fencing section.
• Added the thMonitor command,
which supports the SFP class.
• Added information about 16 Gbps
and QSFP SFPs.
• Added packet loss monitoring
enhancements for the VE_Port.
• Removed support for “changed”
action.
• Removed support for “seconds”
time base.
• Added pause / continue feature.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1002153-02 Updated the Copyright section. December 2011
Added support for Brocade 6505.
Updates to support Fabric OS v7.0.1:
• Chapter 1—Added universal
temporary license support
information.
• Chapter 7—Added port fencing
thresholds for state change and link
reset areas.
• Chapter 8—Added information
about the switch status on the
power supply for the Brocade DCX
8510-8.
• Chapter 9—Removed information
regarding custom defined
percentage values using Web Tools.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1002752-01 Very minor updates (this is the last December 2012
release for Fabric Watch; being replaced
by MAPS in next Fabric OS version)
• Continuous alerting mode has been
removed from Fabric Watch.
• A modification to the ITW counter.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1002752-02 Corrected errors and omissions in the March 2013
guide.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1002998-01 Corrected errors and omissions in the July 2013
guide.

iv Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002998-01
Contents

About This Document

How this document is organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Supported hardware and software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
Deprecated hardware platform support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
What’s new in this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii
Document conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii
Text formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Notes, cautions, and warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Key terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Other industry resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Getting technical help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

Chapter 1 Fabric Watch

Fabric health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fabric Watch overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Role-based access control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Fabric Watch licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Universal temporary license support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Reasons to customize Fabric Watch settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Event behavior configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Alert configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Time base configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Threshold and action configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Post-processing of messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Class, area, and element hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Switch monitoring components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Fabric events monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Performance monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Security monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SFP monitoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Port monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
System resource monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Switch policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Logical switch support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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53-1002998-01
 Threshold monitoring using SNMP tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
MIB capability configuration parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Fabric Watch event settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Fabric Watch notification types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
E-mail alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
SNMP traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
RASlog (switch event) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Locked port log. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Fabric Watch audit messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Data values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Fabric Watch support in Access Gateway mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 2 Fabric Watch Thresholds

Threshold values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
In-between buffer values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Threshold triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Above event trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Below event trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Audit and RASlog messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Time bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Time base set to none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Time base set to other than none. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Fabric Watch alarm behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Chapter 3 Fabric Watch Threshold Components

Fabric Watch classes, areas, and elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 4 Fabric Watch Activation

Interfaces for activating Fabric Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Activating Fabric Watch using a Telnet session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Activating Fabric Watch using SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Activating Fabric Watch using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Chapter 5 Fabric Watch Configuration

Fabric Watch configuration tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Setting Fabric Watch custom and default values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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 E-mail notification configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Showing e-mail configuration information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Disabling an e-mail alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Enabling an e-mail alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Sending a test e-mail message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Setting the recipient e-mail address for an e-mail alert . . . . . . 33
Setting the relay host IP address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Displaying the relay host configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Removing the relay host configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Notification configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Configuring alarm notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Chapter 6 Fabric, Security, SFP, and Performance Monitoring

Fabric monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Fabric class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Fabric monitoring setting guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Fabric class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Security monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Security class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Security monitoring default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
SFP monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
SFP class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
SFP monitoring default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Performance monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . 41
Performance Monitor class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Performance monitoring setting guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Performance Monitor class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
thConfig command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
thConfig command examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
16 Gbps SFP and QSFP monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Recommended settings for Fabric, SFP, Performance,
and Security classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Chapter 7 Port Monitoring

Port class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Port class guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Physical port setting guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Port class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Port configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Custom port settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Using the nosave command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

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 portThConfig command procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Port type: physical port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
E_Port subclass setting guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
E_Port class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass setting guidelines . . . . . . . . 58
FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass default settings . . . . . . . . . . 59
VE_Port class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Port type: E_Port, FOP_Port, or FCU_Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Setting the port persistence time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Port fencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Port fencing configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Port fencing configuration using BNA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Recommended port configuration settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Chapter 8 System Monitoring

Environment monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Environment class area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Environment monitoring setting guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Environment class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Resource class settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Resource class area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Resource class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
System monitoring using the sysMonitor command. . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Using the nosave command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Examples of the sysMonitor command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Environment class settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Resource class settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
CPU and memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Examples of the CPU and memory commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Recommended environment and resource monitoring settings . . . 74
Switch monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Switch status policy planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
FRU monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
FRU class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Configuring FRUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Specifying triggers for FRU alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Recommended FRU settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Chapter 9 Fabric Watch Configuration Using Web Tools

Using Web Tools to configure Fabric Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Opening the Fabric Watch window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
System monitoring using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Fabric Watch threshold configuration using Web Tools . . . . . . 83
Configuring alarms for FRUs using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Configuring alarm filters using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Fabric Watch alarm information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
E-mail notification using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

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 Chapter 10 Fabric Watch Reports
Fabric Watch reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Switch Availability Monitor report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Generating a Switch Availability Monitor report. . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Switch Health report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Generating a Switch Health report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Switch Status Policy report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Generating a Switch Status Policy report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Port Detail report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Generating a Port Detail report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Index

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x Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
53-1002998-01
Tables

Table 1 Fabric Watch classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Table 2 Fabric Watch configuration tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Table 3 Fabric class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Table 4 Fabric class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Table 5 Security class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Table 6 Security class area default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Table 7 SFP class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Table 8 SFP class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Table 9 Performance Monitor class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Table 10 Performance Monitor class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Table 11 End-to-End Performance Monitor class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Table 12 Configuration options for thConfig command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Table 13 16 Gbps and QSFP configurable SFP types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Table 14 Recommended settings for Fabric, SFP, Performance, and Security classes . . 48
Table 15 Port class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Table 16 Port class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Table 17 E_Port class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Table 18 FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Table 19 VE_Port class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Table 20 Port fencing class and subclass areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Table 21 Recommended port fencing thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Table 22 Recommended configuration for the Port class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Table 23 Environment class area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Table 24 Environment class default settings for temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Table 25 Resource class area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Table 26 Resource class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Table 27 Recommended Environment and Resource class settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Table 28 Switch status policy factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Table 29 FRU class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Table 30 Recommended FRU settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Table 31 Alarm notification tab fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Table 32 Fabric OS commands to view Fabric Watch reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Table 33 Port Detail report columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

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Figures

Figure 1 In-between buffer values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Figure 2 Above event trigger with buffer zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 3 Time base set to none . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Figure 4 Event trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Figure 5 Configuring Fabric Watch using SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 6 Example OID tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Figure 7 Fabric Watch window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

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About This Document

In this chapter
• How this document is organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
• Supported hardware and software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
• What’s new in this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
• Document conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
• Additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
• Getting technical help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
• Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

How this document is organized

This document is organized to help you find the information that you want as quickly and easily as
possible.
This document contains the following components:
• Chapter 1, “Fabric Watch,” provides an introduction to Fabric Watch and the benefits of its use.
It also defines concepts that are useful in Fabric Watch configuration.
• Chapter 2, “Fabric Watch Thresholds,” explains the concept of high and low thresholds and
buffer values and provides examples of various threshold settings.
• Chapter 3, “Fabric Watch Threshold Components,” describes the components (class, area, and
element) associated with every monitored behavior.
• Chapter 4, “Fabric Watch Activation,” describes the Fabric Watch requirements, provides an
overview of the interfaces, and explains the methods of accessing Fabric Watch through each
interface.
• Chapter 5, “Fabric Watch Configuration,” provides a comprehensive table that lists the
commands you can use to create custom threshold configurations. This chapter discusses
configuration files, setting the port persistence time, custom and default values, and e-mail
notifications.
• Chapter 6, “Fabric, Security, SFP, and Performance Monitoring,” describes how to configure
high and low thresholds for Fabric Watch event monitoring for SFP, Fabric, Performance, and
Security classes using the thConfig command.
• Chapter 7, “Port Monitoring,” describes how to configure high and low thresholds, buffers,
triggers, and actions on specified ports using the portThConfig command.
• Chapter 8, “System Monitoring,” describes how to configure system memory and CPU values
using the sysMonitor command. This chapter also lists the switch status policy factors that
affect the health of the switch, describes how to set and view switch status policies, and
details how to configure FRUs.

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 • Chapter 9, “Fabric Watch Configuration Using Web Tools,” provides information about how to
use Web Tools to configure Fabric Watch settings, an alternative to using the command line
interface.
• Chapter 10, “Fabric Watch Reports,” describes the reports available through Fabric Watch and
the methods of accessing each report.

Supported hardware and software

Although many different software and hardware configurations are tested and supported by
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. for Fabric OS 7.2.0, documenting all possible
configurations and scenarios is beyond the scope of this document.

Deprecated hardware platform support

The following hardware platforms are not supported in the Fabric OS 7.2.0 release. These platforms
can interoperate with switches running Fabric OS 7.0.0, but cannot load Fabric OS 7.2.0.
• Brocade 4100
• Brocade 4900
• Brocade 5000
• Brocade 7500/7500E
• Brocade 7600
• Brocade 8000
• Brocade 48000
The following blades are not supported in any chassis operating with Fabric OS 7.2.0:
• FA4-18
• FC4-16IP
• FC4-16
• FC4-32
• FC4-48

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What’s new in this document
• “Deprecated hardware platform support” on page xvi updated to remove support for the
Brocade 8000 switch.
• Updated Table 24 on page 70 to remove information about Brocade 8000 default settings for
temperature.
• Updated “Logical switch support” on page 8.
• Added new section “Monitoring the filter performance class” on page 44.

Document conventions
This section describes text formatting conventions and important notices formats.

Text formatting
The narrative-text formatting conventions that are used in this document are as follows:
bold text Identifies command names
Identifies the names of user-manipulated GUI elements
Identifies keywords and operands
Identifies text to enter at the GUI or CLI
italic text Provides emphasis
Identifies variables
Identifies paths and Internet addresses
Identifies document titles
code text Identifies CLI output
Identifies syntax examples
For readability, command names in the narrative portions of this guide are presented in mixed
lettercase: for example, switchShow. In actual examples, command lettercase is often all
lowercase. Otherwise, this manual specifically notes those cases in which a command is case
sensitive.

Notes, cautions, and warnings

The following notices and statements are used in this manual. They are listed below in order of
increasing severity of potential hazards.

NOTE
A note provides a tip, guidance, or advice, emphasizes important information, or provides a
reference to related information.

ATTENTION
An Attention statement indicates potential damage to hardware or data.

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 CAUTION
A Caution statement alerts you to situations that can be potentially hazardous to you or cause
damage to hardware, firmware, software, or data.

DANGER
A Danger statement indicates conditions or situations that can be potentially lethal or extremely
hazardous to you. Safety labels are also attached directly to products to warn of these conditions
or situations.

Key terms
For definitions specific to Brocade and Fibre Channel, refer to the Brocade Glossary.
For definitions of SAN-specific terms, visit the Storage Networking Industry Association online
dictionary at http://www.snia.org/education/dictionary.

Additional information
This section lists additional Brocade and industry-specific documentation that you might find
helpful.
To get up-to-the-minute information, go to http://my.brocade.com to register at no cost for a user ID
and password.
White papers, online demonstrations, and data sheets are available through the Brocade website
at:
http://www.brocade.com/products-solutions/products/index.page
For additional Brocade documentation, visit the Brocade website:
http://www.brocade.com
Release notes are available on the MyBrocade website and are also bundled with the Fabric OS
firmware.

Other industry resources

For additional resource information, visit the Technical Committee T11 website. This website
provides interface standards for high-performance and mass storage applications for Fibre
Channel, storage management, and other applications:
http://www.t11.org
For information about the Fibre Channel industry, visit the Fibre Channel Industry Association
website:
http://www.fibrechannel.org

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Getting technical help
Contact your switch support supplier for hardware, firmware, and software support, including
product repairs and part ordering. To expedite your call, have the following information available:
1. General Information
• Switch model
• Switch operating system version
• Error numbers and messages received
• supportSave command output
• Detailed description of the problem, including the switch or fabric behavior immediately
following the problem, and specific questions
• Description of any troubleshooting steps already performed and the results
• Serial console and Telnet session logs
• Syslog message logs
2. Switch Serial Number
The switch serial number and corresponding bar code are provided on the serial number label.
For specific serial number locations, refer to the Brocade 6520 Hardware Reference Manual.
3. World Wide Name (WWN)
Use the licenseIdShow command to display the WWN of the chassis.
If you cannot use the licenseIdShow command because the switch is inoperable, you can get
the WWN from the same place as the serial number, except for the Brocade DCX. For the
Brocade DCX, access the numbers on the WWN cards by removing the Brocade logo plate at
the top of the nonport side of the chassis.

Document feedback
Quality is our first concern at Brocade and we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and
completeness of this document. However, if you find an error or an omission, or you think that a
topic needs further development, we want to hear from you. Forward your feedback to:
[email protected]
Provide the title and version number of the document and as much detail as possible about your
comment, including the topic heading and page number and your suggestions for improvement.

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 Chapter

Fabric Watch 1

In this chapter
• Fabric health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• Fabric Watch overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
• Role-based access control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
• Fabric Watch licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
• Reasons to customize Fabric Watch settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
• Class, area, and element hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
• Switch monitoring components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
• Logical switch support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
• Threshold monitoring using SNMP tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
• Fabric Watch event settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
• Fabric Watch notification types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
• Fabric Watch audit messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
• Data values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
• Fabric Watch support in Access Gateway mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Fabric health
Fabric health refers to the capability of the fabric to route data. A healthy fabric enables effective
data transmission between networked devices.
One of the more obvious criteria for fabric health is the condition of the network hardware. A switch
or port failure can prevent data packets from reaching their destination. Network traffic can also
influence fabric health.
If the number of packets routed through a port exceeds the port bandwidth, it causes network
delays and packet loss. Receive (Rx) and Transmit (Tx) performance areas are used to monitor the
bandwidth utilization to help keep traffic flowing to avoid congestion.
Because of the varied factors involved in determining fabric health, Fabric Watch can help you to
detect, identify, and resolve fabric health issues by continuously monitoring possible issues and
reporting any potential concerns. Fabric Watch automatically provides detailed reports on detected
issues and helps you correct failures.

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 1 Fabric Watch overview

Fabric Watch overview

Fabric Watch is an optional storage area network (SAN) health monitor that allows you to enable
each switch to constantly monitor its SAN fabric for potential faults and automatically alerts you to
problems long before they become costly failures.
Fabric Watch tracks a variety of SAN fabric elements and events. Monitoring fabric-wide events,
ports, and environmental parameters enables early fault detection and isolation as well as
performance measurement. You can configure fabric elements and alert thresholds on an
individual-port basis and you can also easily integrate Fabric Watch with enterprise system
management solutions.
Fabric Watch provides customizable monitoring thresholds. You can configure Fabric Watch to
provide notification before problems arise, such as reporting when network traffic through a port is
approaching the bandwidth limit. This information enables you to perform pre-emptive network
maintenance, such as trunking or zoning, and avoid potential network failures.
Fabric Watch lets you define how often to measure each switch and fabric element and specify
notification thresholds. Whenever fabric elements exceed these thresholds, Fabric Watch
automatically provides notification using several methods, including e-mail messages, SNMP traps,
and log entries.

Role-based access control

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) defines the capabilities that a user account has based on the
role the account has been assigned. For each role, there is a set of predefined permissions on the
jobs and tasks that can be performed on a fabric and its associated fabric elements. Fabric OS
v6.1.0 and later use RBAC to determine which commands a user can issue.
Each feature is associated with an RBAC role and you will need to know which role is allowed to run
a command, make modifications to the switch, or view the output of the command. To determine
which RBAC role you need to run a command, review the section “Role-Based Access Control
(RBAC)” of the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.

Fabric Watch licensing

Fabric Watch is an optionally licensed feature of Fabric OS. Once you purchase a Fabric Watch
license for a platform, the license remains valid for the life of that platform and across firmware
versions that are supported on that platform. Fabric Watch requires either the Fabric Watch license
or the Fabric Vision license.
Fabric OS includes basic switch and fabric support software, and support for optionally-licensed
software that is enabled using license keys. Refer to the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide for more
information about licensing and how to obtain the Fabric Watch license key.

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 Reasons to customize Fabric Watch settings 1

Universal temporary license support

The Fabric Watch license is available as a universal temporary or a regular temporary license,
meaning the same license key can be installed on any switch running Fabric OS version 6.3 or later.
Universal temporary license keys can only be installed once on a switch, but can be applied to as
many switches as required. Temporary use duration (the length of time the feature will be enabled
on a switch) is provided with the license keys.

Reasons to customize Fabric Watch settings

Customization is recommended to achieve the following objectives:
• Selecting one or more event settings
• Selecting an appropriate message delivery method for critical and noncritical events
• Selecting appropriate thresholds and alarm levels relevant to each class element
• Defining the appropriate Time Base event triggering based on the class element traits
• Eliminating message delivery that has little or no practical value to the SAN administrator
• Consolidating multiple messages generated from a single event
Before you begin an implementation, make some decisions surrounding the major configuration
tasks: monitoring and configuring thresholds, actions, events, time bases, and alerts. These tasks
are discussed in the following sections.

Event behavior configuration

You must first use the fwSetToCustom command to switch from default to custom settings, and
then use the advanced configuration options provided with the portThConfig, thConfig, and
sysMonitor commands to configure event behavior, actions, and time bases at the port level.

Alert configuration
When Fabric Watch is improperly configured, a large number of error messages can be sent over a
short period of time, making it difficult to find those messages that are actually meaningful. If this
happens, there are a few simple ways to improve the configuration.
When large numbers of unimportant messages are received, examining the source can identify
those classes that need to be reconfigured. To reduce the number of unimportant messages,
consider the following reconfiguration options:
• Recheck the threshold settings. If the current thresholds are not realistic for the class and
area, messages may be sent frequently without need. For example, a high threshold for
temperature monitoring set to less than room temperature is probably incorrectly configured.
These messages could cause other important messages to be missed.
• Examine the notification settings. If you are not interested in receiving messages under certain
conditions, ensure that the notification setting for that event is set to zero.
Brocade recommends using either SNMP trap alerting to your system management console or
event log entry in conjunction with syslog forwarding configured on your switches.

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 1 Class, area, and element hierarchy

Time base configuration

The time base specifies the time interval between two samples to be compared. The
fwSetToCustom command allows you to switch from default to custom settings. Valid intervals are
day, hour, or minute. Refer to “Setting Fabric Watch custom and default values” on page 30 for
more information.

Threshold and action configuration

Before you begin to configure thresholds, decide if you want to have different levels of alerts for
E_Ports, FOP_Ports, and FCU_Ports, and configure the ports individually. Always set up thresholds
one fabric at a time and test the configuration before you apply the threshold configuration to more
switches or fabrics.

NOTE
You cannot configure different thresholds for server and storage ports, because threshold
configuration is an area-wide setting and cannot be configured on an element (port).

Monitoring
Do you want to monitor all class areas, or implement the monitoring in incremental stages? If you
monitor class areas incrementally, you should configure Fabric Watch to monitor the classes in the
following order:
1. Monitor Fabric class areas using the thConfig command.
Refer to Chapter 6, “Fabric, Security, SFP, and Performance Monitoring,” for details.
2. Monitor Port class areas using the portThConfig command.
Refer to Chapter 7, “Port Monitoring,” for details.
3. Monitor FRU class areas using the fwFruCfg command.
Refer to Chapter 8, “System Monitoring,” for details.

NOTE
For each class area, there are setting guidelines and recommendations for whether you should
leave the setting at the default or change the settings. If a change is recommended, the reason for
the change and the suggested settings are provided in each of the configuration chapters. The
default settings are listed in these chapters as well.

Post-processing of messages
After you have configured thresholds and alerts, determine to where the messages will be sent.
Then, monitor the messages frequently and take the appropriate actions.

Class, area, and element hierarchy

Fabric elements and events are organized in a hierarchy by class, area, and element. There is a
class, area, and element associated with every monitored behavior. Classes are the highest level in
the system, subdivided into one or more areas. Areas contain one or more elements.

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 Switch monitoring components 1

An example of a very simple Class --> Area --> Element hierarchy follows.
Port
--> Cyclic redundancy check (CRC)
-->port 0
For specific information about classes, areas, and elements, refer to Chapter 3, “Fabric Watch
Threshold Components”.

Switch monitoring components

Fabric Watch software enables you to monitor the independent components that are listed in this
section.

Fabric events monitoring

The Fabric class groups areas of potential problems arising between devices, such as zone
changes, fabric segmentation, E_Port down, fabric reconfiguration, domain ID changes, and fabric
logins. A Fabric-class alarm alerts you to problems or potential problems with interconnectivity. You
can customize Fabric class and area parameters using the thConfig command.
For complete information about fabric monitoring, refer to “Fabric monitoring guidelines and
default settings” on page 35.

Performance monitoring
Performance monitoring groups areas that track the source and destination of traffic. Use the
Performance Monitor class thresholds and alarms to determine traffic load and flow and to
reallocate resources appropriately.
You can customize Performance Monitor class and area parameters using the thConfig command.
The fmConfig command Manages frame monitor configuration, replacing deprecated advanced
performance monitoring commands. Use the fmConfig command to configure, install, and display
frame monitors across port ranges on a switch. Refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference for
details.
The Performance Monitor class is divided into the following areas:
• EE (end-to-end) Performance Monitor - Monitors RX and TX performance between two devices.
• Filter Performance Monitor - Measures the number of frames transmitted through a port that
match specific values in the first 64 bytes of the frame. Because the entire Fibre Channel
frame header and many of upper protocol's header fall within the first 64 bytes of a frame,
filter-based monitoring can measure different types of traffic transmitted through a port.

NOTE
Performance Monitoring is not supported on VE_Ports, EX_Ports, and VEX _Ports.

For complete information about performance monitoring, refer to “Performance monitoring

guidelines and default settings” on page 41.

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 1 Switch monitoring components

Security monitoring
The Security class monitors different security violations on the switch and takes action based on
the configured thresholds and their actions. You can customize Security class and area parameters
using the thConfig command.
For complete information about security monitoring, refer to “Security monitoring guidelines and
default settings” on page 37.

SFP monitoring
The SFP class groups areas that monitor the physical aspects of an SFP, such as voltage, current,
RXP, and TXP in physical ports, E_Ports, FOP_Ports, and FCU_Ports. An SFP class alarm alerts you
to an SFP fault. You can customize SFP class and area parameters using the thConfig command.
Use the thMonitor command to monitor the Brocade 10 Gbps and 16 Gbps SFP modules and 16
Gbps QSFPs. By default, the 10 Gbps SFP and the 16 Gbps SFP and QSFP are disabled. Refer to
“16 Gbps SFP and QSFP monitoring” on page 44 for more information.

NOTE
SFPs connected to any GbE ports are not monitored by Fabric Watch.

For complete information about SFP monitoring, refer to “SFP monitoring guidelines and default
settings” on page 39.

Port monitoring
Port monitoring monitors port statistics and takes action based on the configured thresholds and
actions. You can configure thresholds per port type and apply the configuration to all ports of the
specified type using the portThConfig command. Configurable ports include physical ports,
E_Ports, optical F_Ports (FOP_Ports), copper F_Ports (FCU_Ports), and Virtual E_Ports (VE_Ports).

NOTE
The execution of the portThConfig command is subject to Virtual Fabric or Admin Domain
restrictions that may be in place. Refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference for more information
and for details about the portThConfig command.

For complete information about port monitoring, including configuration examples, port setting
guidelines, and default settings, refer to “Port Monitoring” on page 49.

Port persistence
The data collected in port monitoring can vary a great deal over short time periods. Therefore, the
port can become a source of frequent event messages (the data can exceed the threshold range
and return to a value within the threshold range).
Fabric Watch uses port persistence for a port event that requires the transition of the port into a
marginal status. Fabric Watch does not record any event until the event persists for a length of time
equal to the port persistence time. If the port returns to normal boundaries before the port
persistence time elapses, Fabric Watch does not record any event.
To set the port persistence time, refer to “Setting the port persistence time” on page 62.

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 Switch monitoring components 1

Port fencing
A port that is consistently unstable can harm the responsiveness and stability of the entire fabric
and diminish the ability of the management platform to control and monitor the switches within the
fabric. Port fencing is a Fabric Watch enhancement that takes the ports offline if the user-defined
thresholds are exceeded. Supported port types include physical ports, E_Ports, optical F_Ports
(FOP_Ports), copper F_Ports (FCU_Ports), and Virtual E_Ports (VE_Ports).

NOTE
Port fencing is not enabled by default. You must manually enable port fencing. Refer to “Port fencing
configuration” on page 63 for instructions.

When a port that has exceeded its user-defined thresholds is fenced by the software, the port is
placed into the disabled state and held offline. After a port is disabled, the user must manually
enable the port for frame traffic to resume on the port.

System resource monitoring

System resource monitoring enables you to monitor your system’s RAM, flash, and CPU. You can
use the sysMonitor command to perform the following tasks:
• Configure thresholds for Fabric Watch event monitoring and reporting for the environment and
resource classes. Environment thresholds enable temperature monitoring, and resource
thresholds enable monitoring of flash memory.
• Use the RAM to configure memory or CPU usage parameters on the switch or display memory
or CPU usage. Configuration options include setting usage thresholds which, if exceeded,
trigger a set of specified Fabric Watch alerts. You can set up the system monitor to poll at
certain intervals and specify the number of retries required before Fabric Watch takes action.
For complete information about system resource monitoring, including setting guidelines and
default settings, refer to “System monitoring using the sysMonitor command” on page 71.

Switch policies
Switch policies are a series of rules that define specific health states for the overall switch. Fabric
OS interacts with Fabric Watch using these policies. Each rule defines the number of types of errors
that transitions the overall switch state into a state that is not healthy. For example, you can specify
a switch policy so that if a switch has two port failures, it is considered to be in a marginal state; if it
has four failures, it is in a down state.
You can define these rules for a number of classes and field replaceable units, including ports,
power supplies, and flash memory.
Refer to “Switch status policy planning” on page 75 for information on configuring switch policies.
Refer to Chapter 10, “Fabric Watch Reports,” for information on viewing the current switch policies
using the Switch Status Policy report.

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 1 Logical switch support

Logical switch support

Fabric Watch can monitor the switch health on eight logical switches. You can configure thresholds
and notifications for ports that belong to a particular logical switch. Each logical switch has its own
Fabric Watch configuration and triggers notifications based on its local configuration.
Fabric Watch supports port movement from one logical switch to another. Whenever a port is
moved, thresholds associated with the port are deleted from the logical switch from which the port
was moved, and created for the logical switch to where the port is moved.
Fabric Watch does not support threshold areas such as link loss or signal loss or state changes for
logical interswitch links (LISLs) as it does for normal E_Ports.

Threshold monitoring using SNMP tables

Understanding the components of SNMP makes it possible to use third-party tools to view, browse,
and manipulate Brocade switch variables remotely. Every Brocade switch and director supports
SNMP.
When an event occurs and its severity level is at or below the set value, the Event Trap traps
(swFabricWatchTrap), are sent to configured trap recipients.
Once the switch status policy changes, Fabric Watch sends a connUnitStatusChange SNMP trap.
Any Fabric Watch RASlog is converted into an swEventTrap.
Refer to the Fabric OS MIB Reference for information about the following:
• Understanding SNMP basics
• How to enable or disable the sending of traps from the various MIBs
• SNMP trap bit mask values
• Loading Brocade Management Information Bases (MIBs)

MIB capability configuration parameters

The mibCapability option turns certain MIBs and associated SNMP traps on or off. If a specific MIB
is disabled, the corresponding traps are also disabled. If any trap group is disabled, the
corresponding individual traps are also disabled.
Refer to the “SW-MIB Objects” chapter of the Fabric OS MIB Reference for detailed information
about the following SNMP tables that can be used to manage thresholds:
• swFwClassAreaTable
• swFwThresholdTable

Fabric Watch event settings

Fabric Watch uses two types of settings: factory default settings and user-defined custom settings.
• Factory default settings are automatically enabled. These settings vary depending on hardware
platform, and cannot be modified.
• You can create custom configurations to suit your unique environment.

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 Fabric Watch notification types 1

You must first use the fwSetToCustom command to switch from default to custom settings, and
then use the advanced configuration options provided with the portThConfig, thConfig, and
sysMonitor commands to configure event behavior, actions, and time bases at the port level.
Use the advanced configuration option provided with the portThConfig, thConfig, and sysMonitor
commands to view and modify custom and default values for specified classes and areas in Fabric
Watch. You can customize the information reported by Fabric Watch by configuring event behavior
types, threshold values, time bases, and event settings. These area attributes are used to define
and detect events in Fabric Watch.

Fabric Watch notification types

Fabric Watch provides event notifications in several different formats to ensure that event details
are accessible from all platforms and operating systems. In response to an event, Fabric Watch can
record event data as any (or all) of the following alarm options.

E-mail alert
An e-mail alert sends information about a switch event to a one or multiple specified e-mail
addresses. An e-mail alert can send information about any error from any element, area, and class
(only one e-mail recipient can be configured per class). The e-mail specifies the threshold and
describes the event, much like an error message. You can configure multiple e-mail recipients per
class using the fwMailCfg command. You must separate the e-mail addresses with a comma and
include the complete e-mail address. For example, [email protected] is a valid e-mail address; abc@12
is not.
For a recipient to receive the e-mail alert, you must configure one of the following settings:
• Use the dnsConfig command to configure DNS settings to connect the switch to a DNS server.
• In case a DNS server is not available, e-mail alerts can be forwarded through a relay host. You
can configure the relay host IP address using the fwMailCfg command.
Enabling e-mail alerts for the Changed threshold state in several areas can quickly result in a
significant amount of e-mail. Fabric Watch discards e-mail alerts when more than 100 are
generated within a minute, which minimizes memory use.

SNMP traps
In environments where you have a high number of messages coming from a variety of switches, you
might want to receive them in a single location and view them using a graphical user interface
(GUI). In this type of scenario, the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) notifications
might be the most efficient notification method. You can avoid having to log in to each switch
individually as you would have to do for error log notifications.
SNMP performs an operation called a trap that notifies a management station using SNMP when
events occur. Log entries can also trigger SNMP traps if the SNMP agent is configured. When the
SNMP agent is configured to a specific error message level, error messages at that level trigger
SNMP traps.

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 1 Fabric Watch notification types

An SNMP trap forwards the following information to an SNMP management station:

• Name of the element whose counter registered an event
• Class, area, and index number of the threshold that the counter crossed
• Event type
• Value of the counter that exceeded the threshold
• State of the element that triggered the alarm
• Source of the trap
You must configure the software to receive trap information from the network device. You must also
configure the SNMP agent on the switch to send the trap to the management station. You can
configure SNMP notifications using the snmpConfig command and you can configure notifications
using Fabric Watch.
For information on configuring the SNMP agent using the snmpConfig command, refer to the Fabric
OS Command Reference.

SNMP trap counters

• When a counter is in the “in-between” state, Fabric Watch sends an informational SNMP trap.
Refer to “In-between buffer values” on page 14 for an explanation of the concepts of
“in-between” boundaries and above high, below high, above low, and below low thresholds.
• When a counter is above the high threshold or below the low threshold, Fabric Watch sends a
warning SNMP trap except for the power supply area of the environment (ENV), CPU, and
Memory classes. The severity of a Fabric Watch SNMP trap for CPU and memory will always be
informational.
Refer to “Threshold values” on page 13 for a more thorough explanation of thresholds.

RASlog (switch event)

Following an event, Fabric Watch adds an entry to the internal event log for an individual switch.
RASlog stores event information but does not actively send alerts. Use the errShow command to
view the RASlog.

Locked port log

Following an event, the port log locks to retain detailed information about an event, preventing the
information from being overwritten as the log becomes full. This notification audit stores event
information but does not actively send alerts, which is done automatically when some thresholds
are exceeded and an alert is triggered.
For more information about locking, unlocking, and clearing the port log, refer to the Fabric OS
Command Reference.

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 Fabric Watch audit messages 1

Fabric Watch audit messages

Fabric Watch events caused by configuration value changes are tagged as Audit messages. When
managing SANs you may want to filter or audit certain classes of events to ensure that you can view
and generate an audit log for what is happening on a switch, particularly for security-related event
changes. These events include login failures, zone configuration changes, firmware downloads,
and other configuration changes—in other words—critical changes that have a serious effect on the
operation and security of the switch.
Important information related to event classes is also tracked and made available. For example,
you can track changes from an external source by the user name, IP address, or type of
management interface used to access the switch.

NOTE
Audit messages are generated for port fencing configuration changes, whether port fencing is
enabled or disabled.

You can set up an external host to receive Audit messages so you can easily monitor unexpected
changes. For information on error messages generated by Fabric Watch, refer to the Fabric OS
Message Reference. For information on configuring an Audit Log, refer to the “Audit Log
Configuration” section of the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.

Data values
A data value represents a measured value or a state value, described as follows:
• Measured value is the current, measurable value of a fabric or fabric element, such as
environmental temperature.
• State value, which is the only qualitative data value, provides information on the overall state
of a fabric component. Instead of numerical data, state values contain information on whether
components are faulty, active, or in another state.

NOTE
Either measured values or state values can be used; mixed values are not supported.

Fabric Watch compares the measured values to a set of configurable limits to determine whether
fabric monitoring has occurred and whether to notify you. You must set appropriate threshold
boundaries to trigger an event.
State values are handled differently, as Fabric Watch monitors state values for certain states which
you can select. When a state value transitions to one of the monitored states, an event is triggered.
Time bases specify the time interval between two samples to be compared. You can set the time
base to day (samples are compared once a day), hour (samples are compared once an hour), or
minute (samples are compared every minute). Second samples are not advisable. This
configurable field affects the comparison of sensor-based data with user-defined threshold values.
Refer to “Time bases” on page 16 for more information.

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 1 Fabric Watch support in Access Gateway mode

Fabric Watch support in Access Gateway mode

Both the Advanced Performance Monitoring (APM) license and the Fabric Watch license must be
installed on the platform configured in Access Gateway (AG) mode to use the frame monitoring and
end-to-end (EE) monitoring capabilities. The APM license provides the counters and the Fabric
Watch license provides the monitoring and alert mechanisms for these counters. Refer to “Setting
the high threshold of the RX area of an EE monitor” on page 43 for configuration information.
The following classes are not supported in Access Gateway mode:
• Fabric
• Security
• E_Port (Port subclass)
• VE_Port (Port subclass)

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 Chapter

Fabric Watch Thresholds 2

In this chapter
• Threshold values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
• Time bases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
• Threshold triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
• Fabric Watch alarm behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Threshold values
High and low threshold values are the values at which potential problems might occur. For
example, in configuring a temperature threshold, you can select the temperatures at which a
potential problem can occur because of overheating or freezing.
With Fabric Watch v6.4 and later, the concept of high and low thresholds have been expanded to
include four threshold categories, listed below. There are two setting types (the threshold and the
above and below trigger) for four configuration possibilities. A combination of these settings can
cause the following actions to occur:
• Above high threshold—Fabric Watch takes this action when the current value is above the high
threshold.
• Below high threshold—Fabric Watch takes this action when the current value is between the
high and low threshold. This replaces the previous “in-between” action, which no longer exists.
• Above low threshold—This action is only applicable to port classes (physical port, FOP_Port,
FCU_Port, and VE_Port). Fabric Watch takes this action when the current value crosses the low
threshold towards the high threshold.
• Below low threshold—Fabric Watch takes this action when the current value is below the low
threshold.

NOTE
The above low threshold action applies only to the portThConfig command. It does not apply to the
thConfig and sysMonitor commands.

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In-between buffer values

The below high threshold is the term used to configure “in between” buffer values, as shown in
Figure 1. In this example, the high threshold value is 5 and the buffer value is 1. Therefore, the
“in-between” boundary value is 4. Enter the portThConfig command using the following
parameters.
portthconfig --set port -area crc -highth -value 5 -trigger below -action raslog
-buffer 1

Above high threshold

Above action = 5
_______________________________________________________________________________
HIGH THRESHOLD, BUFFER = 1
_______________________________________________________________________________
Low action
Below high threshold
In-between
Above low threshold
Above action
______________________________________________________________________________
LOW THRESHOLD, BUFFER=1
______________________________________________________________________________
Low action
Below low threshold

FIGURE 1 In-between buffer values

Threshold triggers
This section describes how Fabric Watch compares a fabric element’s data value against a
threshold value to determine whether or not to trigger an event. It describes how a specified buffer
zone affects event triggering.
For Fabric Watch to monitor data values for one of the following conditions, the alarm setting must
be set to a nonzero value.

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 Threshold triggers 2

Above event trigger

Set the Above event trigger for an element that requires only high threshold monitoring. In the
Above event trigger, Fabric Watch triggers an event immediately after the data value becomes
greater than the high threshold.
Define a buffer zone within the operational limit of an area to suppress multiple events when the
counter value goes above the high threshold and fluctuates around it. The next event will not occur
until the counter value falls below the buffer zone created by the high threshold. Figure 2 shows an
Above event trigger with a buffer zone. The Above event trigger occurs when the counter crosses
the high threshold (event 1 in Figure 2). When the data value becomes less than the high threshold
and buffer value, Fabric Watch triggers a second event (event 2) to indicate that it has returned to
normal operation. The second event will not be triggered until the counter value falls below the high
threshold and buffer values.

FIGURE 2 Above event trigger with buffer zone

Below event trigger

The Below event trigger generates an event when a data value becomes less than the low
threshold boundary.
When a buffer is defined, the event will be triggered only when the value goes below the lower
threshold. A second event will not be generated until the value crosses the buffer region set above
the lower threshold.

Audit and RASlog messages

Fabric Watch generates an Audit message along with a RASlog message when the current
threshold exceeds the high threshold limit configured for the following thresholds:
• SCSI reservation
• Class 3 discards (C3TXT0)
• Switch memory usage
• Switch flash usage
• Switch CPU usage

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 2 Time bases

Time bases
Time bases specify the time interval between two samples to be compared. You can set the time
base to day (samples are compared once a day), hour (samples are compared once an hour),
minute (samples are compared every minute). This configurable field affects the comparison of
sensor-based data with user-defined threshold values.

Time base set to none

If you set a time base to none, Fabric Watch compares a data value against a threshold boundary
level. When the absolute value of the measuring counter exceeds the threshold boundary, an event
is triggered.
Figure 3 shows a high limit of 65° Celsius placed on a counter measuring temperature. During
each sample period, Fabric Watch measures the temperature and compares it to the high
threshold. If the measured temperature exceeds the high threshold, it triggers an event.

FIGURE 3 Time base set to none

Time base set to other than none

If you specify a time base value other than none (minute, hour, or day), Fabric Watch does not use
the current data value. Instead, it calculates the difference between the current data value and the
data value as it existed one time base ago. It compares this difference to the threshold boundary
limit.
For example, if you specify the time base minute, Fabric Watch calculates the counter value
difference between two samples a minute apart. It then compares the difference (current data
value – data value one minute ago) against the preset threshold boundary.
When you set a time base to a value other than none, there are two main points to remember when
configuring events:
• Fabric Watch triggers an event only if the difference in the data value exceeds the preset
threshold boundary limit.
• Even if the current data value exceeds the threshold, Fabric Watch does not trigger an event if
the rate of change is below the threshold limit.

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 Fabric Watch alarm behavior 2

Figure 4 shows a sample graph of data obtained by Fabric Watch (the type of data is irrelevant to
the example). A high threshold of 2 is specified to trigger an event. A time base of minute is
defined. An event occurs only if the rate of change in the specific interval (one minute in this
example) is across the threshold boundary. It should be either higher than the high threshold limit
or lower than the low threshold limit.
As illustrated on the tenth sample, the counter value changes from 0 to 1; thus the calculated rate
of change is 1 per minute. At the thirteenth sample, the rate of change is 2 per minute. The rate of
change must be at least 3 per minute to exceed the event-triggering requirement of 2, which is met
on the eighteenth sample.

FIGURE 4 Event trigger

Fabric Watch alarm behavior

Fabric Watch alarm behavior depends on the threshold states associated with the Above, Below
and Changed thresholds. Threshold states can be INFORMATIVE, IN_RANGE, and OUT_OF_RANGE.
Notifications are generated only for the following transitions:
• IN_RANGE to OUT_OF_RANGE
• OUT_OF_RANGE to IN_RANGE
No alarm is generated for INFORMATIVE to IN_RANGE (or IN_RANGE to INFORMATIVE).

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 Chapter

Fabric Watch Threshold Components 3

In this chapter
• Fabric Watch classes, areas, and elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Fabric Watch classes, areas, and elements

Fabric Watch uses a hierarchical organization to track the network device information it monitors.
There is a class, area, and element associated with every monitored behavior. Classes are the
highest level in the system, subdivided into one or more areas. Areas contain one or more
elements. The following sections explain this hierarchy and its application within Fabric Watch.

Classes
Classes are wide groupings of similar fabric devices or fabric data. Table 1 on page 20 describes
the classes into which Fabric Watch groups all switch and fabric elements.
In some cases, classes are divided into subclasses. This additional level in the hierarchy increases
the flexibility of setting monitoring thresholds. You can use subclasses to add additional event
monitoring to fabric objects that meet the requirements of a subclass.
For example, ports connected to another switch can be monitored using both the Port class and
E_Port subclass. You can configure general port monitoring using the Port class and monitoring
specific to a type of port using the E_Port class. Ports connected to another switch can trigger
events based on either of these configurations. Ports that are not connected to another switch are
not affected by the additional monitoring configured into the E_Port class.

Class areas
While classes represent large groupings of information, areas represent the information that
Product Name monitors. For example, switch temperature, one of the values tracked by Fabric
Watch, is an area within the class Environment.
For detailed information about how to configure areas, including recommended threshold and
action settings for the classes listed in Table 1, refer to one of the following chapters:
• Chapter 6, “Fabric, Security, SFP, and Performance Monitoring”
Fabric class, Security class, SFP class, and Performance class areas and actions are
configured using the thConfig command.

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 3 Fabric Watch classes, areas, and elements

• Chapter 7, “Port Monitoring”

The physical port and its subclass areas and actions are configured using the portThConfig
command.
• Chapter 8, “System Monitoring”
The Resource class and Environment class areas and actions are configured using the
sysMonitor command. The FRU class actions are configured using the fwFruCfg command

Elements
Fabric Watch defines an element as any fabric or switch component that the software monitors.
Within each area, the number of elements is equivalent to the number of components being
monitored. For instance, on a 64-port switch, each area of the Port class includes 64 elements.
Each element contains information pertaining to the description suggested by the area. To
continue the Ports example, each element in the Invalid Transmission Words area of the Ports
class would contain exactly 64 ports, each of which would contain the number of times invalid
words had been received by the port over the last time interval. Each of these elements maps to an
index number, so that all elements can be identified in terms of class, area, and index number. As
an example, the monitoring of the temperature sensor with an index of 1 can be viewed by
accessing the first temperature sensor within the temperature area of the environment class.
Subclasses are a minor exception to the preceding mapping rule. Subclasses, such as E_Ports,
contain areas with elements equivalent to the number of valid entries. Within the same example
used thus far in this section, in a 64-port switch in which eight ports are connected to another
switch, each area within the E_Port class would contain eight elements.
Each area of a subclass with defined thresholds will act in addition to the settings applied to the
element through the parent class. Assignment of elements to subclasses does not need to be
performed by a network administrator. These assignments are seamlessly made through
automated detection algorithms.
Table 1 describes the classes into which Fabric Watch groups all switch and fabric elements.
TABLE 1 Fabric Watch classes
Class Description

Environment Includes information about the physical environment in which the switch resides
and the internal environment of the switch. For example, an Environment-class
alarm alerts you to problems or potential problems with temperature.
Configure the Environment class using the sysMonitor command.
Fabric Groups areas of potential problems arising between devices, including interswitch
link (ISL) details, zoning, and traffic. A Fabric-class alarm alerts you to problems or
potential problems with interconnectivity.
Configure the Fabric class using the thConfig command.
Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) Monitors the status of FRUs and provides an alert when a part replacement is
needed. This class monitors states, not thresholds.
Configure the FRU class using the fwFruCfg command.

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 Fabric Watch classes, areas, and elements 3

TABLE 1 Fabric Watch classes (Continued)

Class Description

Performance Monitor Serves as a tuning tool. The Performance Monitor class groups areas that track the
source and destination of traffic. Use the Performance Monitor class thresholds
and notifications to determine traffic load and flow and to reallocate resources
appropriately.
The Performance Monitor class is divided into the following areas: EE (end-to-end)
Performance Monitor, and Filter Performance Monitor.
Note: Performance Monitoring is not supported on VE_Ports, EX_Ports, and
VEX _Ports.
Configure the Performance class using the thConfig command.
Port Enables you to set additional thresholds specific to different types of ports.
The Port class is made up of the following sub-classes:
• E_Port class—Represents ports connected to another switch.
• FOP_Port class — Represents fabric or fabric loop ports that are made of
optical fiber.
• FCU_Port class — Represents fabric or fabric loop ports that are made of
copper.
• VE_Port — Represents a port that is similar to the E_Port but terminates at the
switch and does not propagate fabric services from one edge fabric to
another.
Configure the Port class using the portThConfig command.
Resource Manages your system’s memory or CPU usage.
Monitors flash memory. It calculates the amount of flash space consumed and
compares it to a defined threshold.
Configure the Resource class using the sysMonitor command.
Security Monitors all attempts to breach your SAN security, helping you fine-tune your
security measures.
Configure the Security class using the thConfig command.
SFP Groups areas that monitor the physical aspects of SFPs. An SFP class alarm alerts
you to an SFP malfunction fault. SFP performance monitoring is not supported on
VE_Ports.
Note: SFPs connected to any GbE ports are not monitored.
Configure the SFP class using the thConfig command.

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 Chapter

Fabric Watch Activation 4

In this chapter
• Interfaces for activating Fabric Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
• Activating Fabric Watch using a Telnet session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
• Activating Fabric Watch using SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
• Activating Fabric Watch using Web Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Interfaces for activating Fabric Watch

This section provides a brief overview of the available user interfaces for activating Fabric Watch.
Further details about Fabric Watch operations for each interface are provided later in this guide.
• Telnet session—Provides a command prompt where you can run Fabric OS commands to
configure your switch monitoring settings. Refer to “Activating Fabric Watch using a Telnet
session” for instructions on how to activate Fabric Watch using a Telnet session.
• SNMP—Provides a receiver dedicated to monitoring the data center infrastructure; Brocade
switches and directors enable monitoring of specific incidents and trigger an SNMP alert
based on a user-defined threshold sending the alert to the dedicated SNMP trap receiver.
Configuring SNMP threshold alerts for Fabric OS switches requires using Web Tools to set up
SNMP on the Fabric OS switch. Refer to “Activating Fabric Watch using SNMP” on page 24 for
instructions on how to set up SNMP.
• Web Tools—Provides a graphical user interface that can be launched from an Internet browser,
which allows you to launch a Fabric Watch window to configure switch monitoring settings.
Using Web Tools, you can configure thresholds, alarms, and e-mail notifications. Refer to
Chapter 9, “Fabric Watch Configuration Using Web Tools” for instructions on how to configure
Fabric Watch using the Web Tools GUI.

Activating Fabric Watch using a Telnet session

1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the telnet switch command, where switch represents the name or IP address of the
switch.
switch:admin> telnet

After you enter this command, respond to the prompts for a user name and password.

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 4 Activating Fabric Watch using SNMP

3. Enter the licenseShow command to determine if the Fabric Watch license is installed.
switch:admin> licenseshow
edzbzQStu4ecS:
Fabric Watch license
Performance Monitor license
Trunking license
Full Ports on Demand license - additional 16 port upgrade license

If the Fabric Watch license is not listed, continue to step 4; otherwise, you are ready to use
Fabric Watch.
4. Enter the license key with the licenseAdd key command, where key is the Fabric Watch license
key. License keys are case-sensitive, so type the license key exactly as it appears.
switch:admin> licenseadd "R9cQ9RcbddUAdRAX"

5. Enter the licenseShow command to verify successful activation. If the license is not listed,
verify that you typed the key correctly; if you did not, then repeat step 4.
If you still do not see the license, verify that the entered key is valid, and that the license key is
correct before repeating step 4.
6. Enter the fwClassinit command to initialize the Fabric Watch classes.

Activating Fabric Watch using SNMP

You can integrate Fabric Watch with existing enterprise systems management tools, such as SNMP.
The Fabric Watch Management Information Base (MIB) lets system administrators configure fabric
elements, receive SNMP traps generated by fabric events, and obtain the status of fabric elements
through SNMP-based enterprise managers.

NOTE
The following instructions apply to the AdvantNet MIB browser. There may be some variation in the
procedures when other MIB browsers are used.

1. Open a MIB browser.

2. Load the appropriate MIB files if you have not already done so. First load the Brocade common
MIB file, SW.mib. If this is successful, the system displays a window similar to Figure 5.

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 Activating Fabric Watch using SNMP 4

FIGURE 5 Configuring Fabric Watch using SNMP

In Figure 5, the MIB browser populated the left side of the window with a MIB tree that you can
navigate.
3. Open Web Tools and select Tasks > Manage > Switch Admin.
4. Click Show Advanced Mode.
5. On the SNMP tab, enter the IP address of the trap receiver and the severity level, and click
Apply.

NOTE
The severity level must be informational (4) in order to forward threshold alerts.

6. Start a Telnet session, and enter the snmpConfig --set mibcapability command at the prompt to
set the SNMP MIB capability.
switch:admin> snmpConfig --set mibcapability
The SNMP Mib/Trap Capability has been set to support
FE-MIB
SW-MIB
FA-MIB
SW-TRAP
FA-TRAP
FA-MIB (yes, y, no, n): [yes]
FICON-MIB (yes, y, no, n): [no]
HA-MIB (yes, y, no, n): [no]
SW-TRAP (yes, y, no, n): [yes] yes
swFCPortScn (yes, y, no, n): [no]
swEventTrap (yes, y, no, n): [no]
swFabricWatchTrap (yes, y, no, n): [no] yes
swTrackChangesTrap (yes, y, no, n): [no]

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FA-TRAP (yes, y, no, n): [yes]

connUnitStatusChange (yes, y, no, n): [no]
connUnitEventTrap (yes, y, no, n): [no]
connUnitSensorStatusChange (yes, y, no, n): [no]
connUnitPortStatusChange (yes, y, no, n): [no]
SW-EXTTRAP (yes, y, no, n): [no]

7. Enter the snmpConfig command to configure the SNMP management host IP address.
switch:admin> snmpConfig

Customizing MIB-II system variables ...

At each prompt, do one of the following:

o <Return> to accept current value,
o enter the appropriate new value,
o <Control-D> to skip the rest of configuration, or
o <Control-C> to cancel any change.

To correct any input mistake:

<Backspace> erases the previous character,
<Control-U> erases the whole line,
sysDescr: [Fibre Channel Switch.]
sysLocation: [End User Premise.]
sysContact: [Field Support.]
authTrapsEnabled (true, t, false, f): [false]

SNMP community and trap recipient configuration:

Community (rw): [Secret C0de]
Trap Recipient's IP address in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Community (rw): [OrigEquipMfr]
Trap Recipient's IP address in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Community (rw): [private]
Trap Recipient's IP address in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Community (ro): [public]
Trap Recipient's IP address in dot notation: [0.0.0.0] 1080::8:800:200C:417A
Trap recipient Severity level : (0..5) [0]
Community (ro): [common]
Trap Recipient's IP address in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Community (ro): [FibreChannel]
Trap Recipient's IP address in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]

SNMP access list configuration:

Access host subnet area in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Read/Write? (true, t, false, f): [true]
Access host subnet area in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Read/Write? (true, t, false, f): [true]
Access host subnet area in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Read/Write? (true, t, false, f): [true]
Access host subnet area in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Read/Write? (true, t, false, f): [true]
Access host subnet area in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Read/Write? (true, t, false, f): [true]
Access host subnet area in dot notation: [0.0.0.0]
Read/Write? (true, t, false, f): [true]
.
.
.
Committing configuration...done.

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8. Enter the IP address for the switch in the Host field in the MIB browser. Enter the community
string in the Community field. To perform set operations, enter the write community in the
Write Community field.
9. View and listen for trap details from a MIB browser menu.

NOTE
Any changes related to Fabric Watch, such as changing the status of the temperature sensor, will
generate traps.

10. Expand the tree on the left to find the Fabric Watch OID information. To find the OID, navigate
the following hierarchy: SW-MIB. bcsi. commDev; fibrechannel, fcSwitch, sw, swFWSystem.
Fabric Watch displays a window similar to the one shown in Figure 6.

FIGURE 6 Example OID tree

11. Obtain the specific identifier for the element that will be modified. To get the identifier, click the
swFwThresholdTable and swFwThresholdEntry directory, and run a get operation on
swFwName. A list of elements appears in which each element is preceded by an identifier.
Remember the numeric portion of the identifier, which appears before the “==>” symbol. You
can scroll through the list to find the numeric identifier for the element in which you are
interested.
For detailed descriptions of the SNMP fields in both Telnet and Web Tools, refer to the Fabric
OS MIB Reference.

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 4 Activating Fabric Watch using Web Tools

Activating Fabric Watch using Web Tools

You can open Web Tools on any workstation with a compatible Web browser installed.
1. Open the Web browser and type the IP address of the device in the Address field:
http://10.77.77.77 or
https://10.77.77.77

2. Press Enter.
A browser window opens to open Web Tools. A Login dialog box opens.
3. Enter your user name and password.
4. Select a switch from the Fabric Tree and log in if necessary.
5. Select Tasks > Manage > Fabric Watch.
For information about how to configure Fabric Watch using Web Tools, refer to Chapter 9, “Fabric
Watch Configuration Using Web Tools”.

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 Chapter

Fabric Watch Configuration 5

In this chapter
• Fabric Watch configuration tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
• Setting Fabric Watch custom and default values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
• E-mail notification configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
• Notification configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Fabric Watch configuration tasks

Table 2 lists the Fabric Watch commands you can use to create custom threshold configurations.
For complete information about any of these commands, refer to the Fabric OS Command
Reference.

TABLE 2 Fabric Watch configuration tasks

Configuration task Command Location of procedure

Initialize all Fabric Watch classes. fwClassInit “Activating Fabric Watch using a
Telnet session” on page 23.
Set the boundary and alarm level to custom or fwSetToCustom “Setting Fabric Watch custom and
default. fwSetToDefault default values” on page 30.
Note: These commands reset all thresholds
for all classes and cannot be configured on
individual ports.
Configure Fabric Watch e-mail alerts for all fwMailCfg “E-mail notification configuration” on
classes. page 31.

Configure and show alarms filtering for Fabric fwAlarmsFilterSet “Configuring alarm notifications” on
Watch for all classes. fwAlarmsFilterShow page 34.

Set the following parameters for SFP, Fabric, thConfig Chapter 6, “Fabric, Security, SFP, and
Security, and Performance monitoring: Performance Monitoring”.
• Class
• Area type
• Time base
• Threshold level
• Trigger (boundary level)
• Action (notification type)
• Buffer
Enable or disable monitoring for the 10 Gbps thMonitor Chapter 6, “Fabric, Security, SFP, and
and 16 Gbps SFPs and QSFPs. Performance Monitoring”.

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TABLE 2 Fabric Watch configuration tasks (Continued)

Configuration task Command Location of procedure

Set the following parameters for port portThConfig Chapter 7, “Port Monitoring”.
monitoring: portFencing
• Port type
• Area type
• Time base
• Threshold level
• Trigger (boundary level)
• Action (notification type)
• Buffer
• Port fencing
Set the port persistence time. fwSet --port -persistence “Setting the port persistence time” on
page 62.
Configure port fencing. portFencing “Port fencing” on page 62.
Set the following parameters for system sysMonitor “System monitoring using the
monitoring: sysMonitor command” on page 71.
• Class
• Area type
• Threshold level
• Trigger (boundary level)
• Action (notification type)
• Buffer
Set and display the switch status policy switchStatusPolicySet Chapter 8, “System Monitoring”.
parameters. switchStatusPolicyShow
Show the overall switch status. switchStatusShow Chapter 8, “System Monitoring”.
Configure FRU state and notifications, and fwFruCfg Chapter 8, “System Monitoring”.
monitor power supply, fan, and SFP FRUs.
Display fan status. fanShow Chapter 8, “System Monitoring”.
Show sensor readings. sensorShow Chapter 8, “System Monitoring”.
Show switch temperature readings. tempShow Chapter 8, “System Monitoring”.
Create a detailed port report. fwPortDetailShow “Generating a Port Detail report” on
page 92.
Show the availability of monitor information. fwSamShow “Switch Availability Monitor report” on
page 90.

Setting Fabric Watch custom and default values

Use the following commands to switch between custom and default values. These commands reset
all thresholds for all classes:
• fwSetToCustom - Sets the boundary and alarm level to custom.
• fwSetToDefault - Restores the boundary and alarm level to the default.

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 E-mail notification configuration 5

E-mail notification configuration

In environments where it is critical that you are notified about errors quickly, you can use e-mail
notifications. With e-mail notifications, you can be notified of serious errors by e-mail or a pager, so
you can react quickly.
To configure e-mail notifications in a Telnet session, perform the following steps.
1. Enter the fwMailCfg command at the prompt.
The fwMailcfg menu displays.
1 : Show Mail Configuration Information
2 : Disable Email Alert
3 : Enable Email Alert
4 : Send Test Mail
5 : Set Recipient Mail Address for Email Alert
6 : Relay Host IP Configuration
7 : Quit
Select an item => : (1..7) [7]

2. Enter the number corresponding to the task you wish to perform.

Showing e-mail configuration information

1. Enter 1 in the fwMailCfg menu to view the current e-mail configuration classes.
The Config Show menu displays.
Config Show Menu
____________________________
1 : Environment class
2 : SFP class
3 : Port class
4 : Fabric class
5 : E-Port class
6 : F/FL Port (Optical) class
7 : Alpa Performance Monitor class
8 : End-to-End Performance Monitor class
9 : Filter Performance Monitor class
10 : Security class
11 : Resource class
12 : FRU class
13 : Quit
Select an item => : (1..13) [13]

The Config Show menu lists each class for which you can provide a separate e-mail address.
2. Enter the number corresponding to the class for which the e-mail configuration should be
displayed.

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Fabric Watch displays e-mail alert information such as:

Mail Recipient Information
____________________________________
Email Alert = enabled
Mail Recipient = [email protected]

The system returns to the main fwMailCfg menu.

Disabling an e-mail alert

1. Enter 2 in the fwMailCfg menu to disable e-mail alerts for a specific class.
The Config Show menu displays.
2. Select a class for which Fabric Watch should disable e-mail alerts.
The following confirmation message displays:
Email Alert is disabled!

The system returns to the fwMailCfg menu.

Enabling an e-mail alert

1. Enter 3 in the fwMailCfg menu to enable e-mail alert for a specific class.
The Config Show menu displays.
2. Select a class for which Fabric Watch should enable e-mail alerts.
The following confirmation message displays:
Email Alert is enabled!

If the class does not have an e-mail configuration (there is no e-mail address assigned to the
class), the following error message displays:
Mail configuration for class Environment is not done.
Email Alert is not enabled!

The system returns to the fwMailCfg menu.

NOTE
To ensure that the mail server address and domain name are configured correctly, use the
dnsConfig command. For more details, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.

Sending a test e-mail message

1. Enter 4 in the fwMailCfg menu to test the e-mail configuration for a specific class.
The Config Show menu displays.
2. Select a class to test.

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If the e-mail configuration for the class is complete, the following confirmation message
displays:
Email has been sent

If the e-mail configuration for the class is not complete, the following error message displays:
Email has not been sent.
Check Mail configuration for Environment class!

The e-mail address specified in the mail configuration receives a test e-mail message.
The system returns to the fwMailCfg menu.

Setting the recipient e-mail address for an e-mail alert

1. Enter 5 in the fwMailCfg menu to specify the recipient to whom Fabric Watch should send the
e-mail alert for a class.
The Config Show menu displays.
2. Select a class.
The following prompt displays:
Mail To: [NONE]

3. Enter the e-mail address of the person responsible for the specific class of alerts.
Fabric Watch uses the default value, located between the brackets in the prompt, as the
current e-mail address for the class. A value of NONE indicates that no e-mail address has
been provided.
The system displays a confirmation message and returns to the fwMailCfg menu.

Setting the relay host IP address

1. Enter 6 in the fwMailCfg menu to configure a relay host IP address.
The relay host configuration menu is displayed.
1 Display Relay Host configuration
2 Set Relay Host IP
3 Remove Relay Host configuration
4 Quit

2. Select 2 to set the relay host IP address.

The following message displays:
enter the Relay Host IP:

3. Enter the relay host IP address (example: 192.168.39.118).

The following message displays:
Setting 192.168.39.118 as Relay Host..

4. Enter the Domain Name (example: Brocade.com).

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Displaying the relay host configuration

1. Enter 6 in the fwMailCfg menu to display the relay host configuration menu.
1 Display Relay Host configuration
2 Set Relay Host IP
3 Remove Relay Host configuration
4 Quit

2. Enter 1 to display the configuration.

Removing the relay host configuration

1. Enter 6 in the fwMailCfg menu to display the relay host configuration menu.
1 Display Relay Host configuration
2 Set Relay Host IP
3 Remove Relay Host configuration
4 Quit

2. Enter 3 to remove the configuration.

Notification configuration
Notifications act as a signal or alert that notifies you when a threshold has been crossed.
When you use alarm notifications, error messages are sent to designated locations such as an
error log, SNMP trap view, or e-mail. With an error log, you can log in to a particular switch to view
the error messages that have been captured for that particular switch. You can parse the log file to
make error message searches quicker and easier.

Configuring alarm notifications

1. Ensure that notifications appear in the error log by using the following command.
switch:admin> fwAlarmsFilterSet 1

The 1 option turns on the alarm notification.

2. Enter the following command if you decide not to have notifications sent.
switch:admin> fwAlarmsFilterSet 0

The 0 option turns the alarm notification off.

All notifications are suppressed when alarm notifications are turned off, except for the
Environment class and Resource class.
3. Verify or view your current alarm notifications by using the fwAlarmsFilterShow command.
switch:admin> fwalarmsfiltershow
FW: Alarms are enabled

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 Chapter

Fabric, Security, SFP, and Performance Monitoring 6

In this chapter
• Fabric monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
• Security monitoring guidelines and default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
• SFP monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
• Performance monitoring guidelines and default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
• thConfig command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
• Recommended settings for Fabric, SFP, Performance, and Security classes 47

Fabric monitoring guidelines and default settings

The Fabric class groups areas of potential problems arising between devices, including interswitch
link (ISL) details, zoning, and traffic. A Fabric class alarm alerts you to problems or potential
problems with interconnectivity.

Fabric class areas

Table 3 lists Product Name areas in the Fabric class and describes each area. Although it is
recommended that you leave the entire Fabric class in its default state (no alerts), you can
configure the Fabric class using the thConfig command.

TABLE 3 Fabric class areas

Area Description

Domain ID changes Monitors forced domain ID changes. Forced domain ID changes occur when there is a
(DC) conflict of domain IDs in a single fabric and the principal switch must assign another
domain ID to a switch.
Fabric logins (FLOGI) Activates when ports and devices initialize with the fabric.
Fabric reconfigurations Tracks the number of reconfigurations of the fabric. Fabric reconfiguration occurs when:
(FC) • Two fabrics with the same domain ID are connected.
• Two fabrics are joined.
• An E_Port or VE_Port goes offline.
• A principal link segments from the fabric.
E_Port downs (ED) Tracks the number of times that an E_Port or VE_Port goes down. E_Ports and VE_Ports
go down each time you remove a cable or an SFP (where there are SFP failures or
transient errors).

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TABLE 3 Fabric class areas (Continued)

Area Description

Segmentation changes Tracks the cumulative number of segmentation changes. Segmentation changes occur
(SC) because of one of the following:
• Zone conflicts.
• Incompatible link parameters. During E_Port and VE_Port initialization, ports
exchange link parameters, and incompatible parameters result in segmentation.
This is a rare event.
• Domain conflicts.
• Segmentation of the principal link between two switches.
Zone changes (ZC) Tracks the number of zone changes. Because zoning is a security provision, frequent
zone changes might indicate a security breach or weakness. Zone change messages
occur whenever there is a change in zone configurations.

Fabric monitoring setting guidelines

It is recommended that you leave the entire Fabric class in its default state (no alerts) for the
following reasons:
• Domain ID changes
Plan and use strict change control practices to avoid Domain ID changes.
• Loss of E_Port
Detect if an E_Port is down using the E_Port class areas.
• Fabric logins
In a large environment of numerous devices, this area is of no interest.
• Fabric reconfiguration
Fabric reconfigurations typically occur when new switches are added to a fabric, which is a
planned activity, or when an upstream or downstream ISL fails, which is detected through the
E_Port class areas. Because fabric reconfigurations are monitored elsewhere, do not change
the default settings for the Fabric class.
• Segmentation changes
Segmentations only occur in the event of an entire switch failure. In this rare case, you can
gather multiple reports from all the attached E_Ports of the link failures.
• Zoning changes
Zone changes are captured through the Audit facility in Fabric OS. All zone changes can be
configured to be recorded in the RASlog, which is the recommended practice.

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Fabric class default settings

Table 4 provides default settings for areas in the Fabric class.

TABLE 4 Fabric class default settings

Area Description Default threshold settings Default alarm Threshold state
settings

Domain ID changes Monitors forcible Unit: D_ID Changes Below: 0 Informative

DOMAIN ID changes Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
Low: 0
High: 0
Buffer: 0
Loss of E_Port Monitors E_Port and Unit: Downs Below: 0 Informative
VE_Port status Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
Low: 0
High: 0
Buffer: 0
Fabric logins (FLOGI) Monitors host device Unit: Logins Below: 0 Informative
fabric logins Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
Low: 0
High: 0
Buffer: 0
Fabric reconfiguration Monitors Unit: Reconfigs Below: 0 Informative
configuration Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
changes Low: 0
High: 0
Buffer: 0
Segmentation changes Monitors Unit: Segmentations Below: 0 Informative
segmentation Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
changes Low: 0
High: 0
Buffer: 0
Zoning changes Monitors changes to Unit: Zone changes Below:0 Informative
currently-enabled Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
zoning configurations Low:0
High:0
Buffer: 0

Security monitoring guidelines and default settings

The Security class monitors all attempts to breach your SAN security, helping you fine-tune your
security measures.

Security class areas

Table 5 lists Product Name areas in the Security class and describes what each area indicates.
Although it is recommended that you leave the entire Security class in its default state (no alerts),
you can configure the Security class using the thConfig command.

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TABLE 5 Security class areas

Area Description

DCC violations (DV) An unauthorized device attempts to log in to a secure fabric.

HTTP violations (HV) A browser access request reaches a secure switch from an unauthorized IP address.
Illegal commands (IV) Commands permitted only to the primary Fibre Channel Switch (FCS) are executed on
another switch.
Incompatible security Secure switches with different version stamps have been detected.
DB (ISB)
Login violations (LV) Login violations which occur when a secure fabric detects a login failure.
Invalid certifications (IC)
No-FCS (NF) The switch has lost contact with the primary FCS.
SCC violations (SV) SCC violations which occur when an unauthorized switch tries to join a secure fabric.
The WWN of the unauthorized switch appears in the ERRLOG.
SLAP failures (FSLAP) SLAP failures which occur when packets try to pass from a nonsecure switch to a
secure fabric.
Telnet violations (TV) Telnet violations which occur when a Telnet connection request reaches a secure
switch from an unauthorized IP address.
TS out of sync (TS) Time Server (TS)errors which occur when an out-of-synchronization error has been
detected.

Security monitoring default settings

Use the Security class default settings shown in Table 6 for area and notification configuration.
There is no reason to alter the default settings.

TABLE 6 Security class area default settings

Area Description Default threshold settings Default alarm Threshold state
settings

DCC violations (DV) Monitors DCC Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative

violations Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
HTTP violations (HV) Monitors HTTP Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
violations Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
Illegal commands (IV) Monitors illegal Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
commands Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0

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TABLE 6 Security class area default settings (Continued)

Area Description Default threshold settings Default alarm Threshold state
settings

Incompatible security Monitors Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative

DB (ISB) incompatible security Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
databases Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
Login violations (LV) Monitors login Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
violations Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
Invalid certifications Monitors invalid Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
(IC) certifications Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
No-FCS (NF) Monitors No FCS Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
violations Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
SCC violations (SV) Monitors SCC Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
violations Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
SLAP failures (FSLAP) Monitors SLAP Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
failures Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
Telnet violations (TV) Monitors Telnet Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
violations Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0
TS out of sync (TS) Monitors instances in Unit: Violations Below: 0 Informative
which the timestamp Time Base: minute Above: 3 Out_of_range
is out of sync Low: 1
High: 2
Buffer: 0

SFP monitoring guidelines and default settings

The SFP class groups areas that monitor the physical aspects of SFPs. An SFP class alarm alerts
you to an SFP malfunction fault. SFP performance monitoring is not supported on VE_Ports.

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When a port goes offline, the RXP and TXP area values of the SFP become zero. Brocade
recommends non-zero low thresholds for RXP and TXP; therefore, Fabric Watch stops monitoring
RXP and TXP parameters of the SFP once the port goes offline.

SFP class areas

Table 7 lists Product Name areas in the SFP class and describes each area. Although it is
recommended that you leave the entire SFP class in its default state (no alerts), you can configure
the SFP class using the thConfig command.

NOTE
SFPs connected to GbE ports are not monitored.

TABLE 7 SFP class areas

Area Description

Temperature Measures the physical temperature of the SFP, in degrees Celsius. A high temperature
indicates that the SFP might be in danger of damage.
Receive power Measures the amount of incoming laser, in µwatts, to help determine if the SFP is in good
(RXP) working condition. If the counter often exceeds the threshold, the SFP is deteriorating.
Transmit power Measures the amount of outgoing laser, in µwatts. Use this to determine the condition of the
(TXP) SFP. If the counter often exceeds the threshold, the SFP is deteriorating.
Current Measures the amount of supplied current to the SFP transceiver. Current area events
indicate hardware failures.
Voltage Measures the amount of voltage supplied to the SFP. If this value exceeds the threshold, the
SFP is deteriorating.

SFP monitoring default settings

The SFP default settings are shown in Table 8. The default alarm configuration (log all alarms only
to the error log) is sufficient. It is recommended that you do not allow alerts to go out as SNMP
traps. If other Port class issues are reported, review the error log for any supporting data for SFP
issues.

TABLE 8 SFP class default settings

Area Description Default threshold settings Default alarm Threshold state
settings

Temperature Monitors SFP Unit: Degrees C Below: 1 Out_of_range

temperature Time Base: none Above: 1 Out_of_range
Low: -10
High: 85
Buffer: 3
Receive power Monitors receive Unit: µWatts Below: 1 Out_of_range
(RXP) power in µWatts Time Base: none Above: 1 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 5000
Buffer: 25

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TABLE 8 SFP class default settings (Continued)

Area Description Default threshold settings Default alarm Threshold state
settings

Transmit power Monitors transmit Unit: µWatts Below: 1 Out_of_range

(TXP) power in µWatts Time Base: none Above: 1 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 5000
Buffer: 25
Current Monitors SFP current Unit: mA Below: 1 Out_of_range
Time Base: none Above: 1 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 50
Buffer: 1
Voltage Monitors SFP Unit: mV Below: 1 Out_of_range
electrical force in Time Base: none Above: 1 Out_of_range
volts Low: 2970
High: 3630
Buffer: 10
Power on hours Monitors the number Unit: Changes Below: 0 Informative
of hours the 16 Gbps Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
SFP is powered on. Low: 0
High: 0
Buffer: 0

Performance monitoring guidelines and default settings

Performance monitoring serves as a tuning tool. The Performance Monitor class groups areas that
track the source and destination of traffic. Use the Performance Monitor class thresholds and
alarms to determine traffic load and flow and to reallocate resources appropriately.

NOTE
Performance Monitoring is not supported on VE_Ports.

Performance Monitor class areas

Table 9 lists Product Name areas in the Performance Monitor class and describes each area.
Although it is recommended that you leave the entire Performance Monitor class in its default state
(no alerts), you can configure the Performance class using the thConfig command.
TABLE 9 Performance Monitor class areas
Area Description

RXP The percentage of word frames traveling from the configured S_ID to the D_ID exceeds
(EE performance monitor) the configured thresholds.
TXP The percentage of word frames traveling from the configured D_ID to the S_ID; user
(EE performance monitor) configuration triggers these messages, so you can use the Transmit Performance area
to tune your network.

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 6 thConfig command

Performance monitoring setting guidelines

It is recommended that you leave the entire Performance Monitor Class and End-to-End
Performance Monitor Class area settings in their default state (no alerts).

Performance Monitor class default settings

Table 10 provides default settings for areas in the Customer-Defined Performance Monitor class.

TABLE 10 Performance Monitor class default settings

Area Description Default threshold settings Default alarm Threshold state
settings

Customer-defined filter Monitors the number Unit: Frames Below: 0 Informative

of frames per second Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
that are filtered out by Low: 0
the port High: 0
Buffer: 0

Table 11 provides default settings for areas in the End-to-End Performance Monitor class.

TABLE 11 End-to-End Performance Monitor class default settings

Area Description Default threshold settings Default alarm Threshold state
settings

End-to-end receive Monitors the Unit: KBps Below: 0 Informative

performance receiving traffic Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
(RX performance) between a SID_DID Low: 0
pair in a port High: 0
Buffer: 0
End-to-end transmit Monitors the transmit Unit: KBps Below: 0 Informative
performance traffic between a Time Base: none Above: 0 Informative
(TX performance) SID_DID pair in a port Low: 0
High: 0
Buffer: 0

thConfig command
You can use the thConfig command to customize event monitoring thresholds for the Fabric,
Security, SFP, and Performance classes, or to display the configuration. It is recommended,
however, that you use the default settings for these classes.
If configured areas exceed the currently-effective threshold settings, the Fabric Watch daemon can
take one of the following actions:
• Send an SNMP alarm.
• Log a RASlog message.
• Send an e-mail alert.
Table 12 lists the configuration options for thConfig command. For complete information about
using the thConfig command, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.

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TABLE 12 Configuration options for thConfig command

Class name Valid area types Threshold Threshold Configuration recommendation
action

Fabric ED - Number of E_Ports Default or Default or It is recommended that you leave the
down Custom1 Custom2 entire Fabric class in its default state
FC - Fabric reconfiguration (no alerts).
DC - Domain ID changes Refer to “Fabric monitoring setting
SC - Segmentation changes guidelines” on page 36 for more
ZC - Zone changes information.
FL - Fabric logins
Security TV - Telnet violations Default or Default or Use the Security class default settings
HV - HTTP violations Custom1 Custom2 for areas and alarm configuration.
SV - Serial violations There is no reason to alter the default
DV - DCC violations settings.
IC - Invalid certifications
LV - Login violations
TS - TS out-of-sync
FF - SLAP failures
NF - No FCS
ISB - Incompatible security
IV - Illegal command
SFP TXP - Transmit areas Default or Default or Use the SFP default settings. The
RXP - Receive areas Custom1 Custom2 traits are SFP-specific and there is no
Current reason to alter them. Refer to “SFP
Voltage monitoring default settings” on
Temperature page 40 for more information.
PWROnHours
Filter CUSTDEF Default or Default or It is recommended that you use the
Custom1 Custom2 Filter default settings.
EE (End-to-end RXF - Receive areas Default or Default or It is recommended that you leave the
performance) TXP - Transmit areas Custom1 Custom2 entire Performance Monitor Class and
End-to-End Performance Monitor
Class area settings in their default
state (no alerts).

1. To change the default, provide an integer value.

2. Valid custom action setting values include SNMP, RASlog, portlog, e-mail, or none.

thConfig command examples

With the exception of setting thresholds for the RX area of an end-to-end (EE) performance monitor,
which requires special licensing in Access Gateway mode, it is recommended that you use the
default settings for these classes.

Setting the high threshold of the RX area of an EE monitor

The thConfig command provides the ability to monitor thresholds for frame monitoring and
end-to-end (EE) performance on both Access Gateway (AG) switches and non-AG switches.

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NOTE
Both the APM license and the Fabric Watch license must be installed on the platform configured in
AG mode to use the frame monitoring and EE monitoring capabilities. The APM license provides the
counters and the Fabric Watch license provides the monitoring and alert mechanisms for these
counters.

To set the high threshold of the RX area, enter the thConfig command using the following
parameters.
switch:admin> thconfig --set ee -area RX -timebase minute -high -val 12

Pausing and continuing monitoring

To pause the monitoring of a class, area, and port or index, enter the thConfig command using the
following parameters.

NOTE
You cannot specify all for all classes but you can specify all for all areas.

switch:admin> thconfig --pause | --continue class -area area_type -port

[slot/]port
switch:admin> thconfig --pause | --continue class -area area_type -index index

NOTE
The Security and Fabric classes do not have a port or index value. For those classes, a value of 0 is
assumed.

Monitoring the filter performance class

You can monitor the Filter Performance Monitor class and specify a filter monitor to be tracked by
Fabric Watch.
To specify and track a filter monitor, enter the thConfig command using the following parameters.
switch:admin> thconfig --set filter -area PERFPT -high -val 10

The PERFPT area provides threshold values to the user-defined frame type. When a new
user-defined frame type is created using the fmMonitor command, the threshold value is
automatically based on the PERFPT configuration at the time the frame type is created. In the
above example, the high threshold value is 10. Therefore, all frame monitors configured hereafter
will have a high threshold value of 10.

16 Gbps SFP and QSFP monitoring

Fabric Watch monitors the Brocade 16 Gbps SFP. If the SFP crosses a configured threshold, Fabric
Watch generates an SNMP alarm, a RASlog message, and an e-mail alert for the following SFP
areas:
• Current
• Voltage
• Temperature
• RXP

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• TXP
• Power on Hours (Power on Hours is not supported on the 10 Gbps SFP or the QSFP.)
Fabric Watch also monitors the Brocade Quad SFP (QSFP) and, as with the 16 Gbps SFP, if
configured thresholds are crossed, Fabric Watch generates an SNMP alarm, a RASlog message,
and an e-mail alert for the following SFP areas:
• Current
• Voltage
• Temperature
• RXP

NOTE
On core blades, only the 16 Gbps QSFPs can be installed.

Voltage and temperature monitoring using the QSFP

A QSFP connects four ports of one core blade of a chassis to another core blade of a different
chassis. Typically, voltage and temperature values for all ports, on a single chassis, that are
connected using one QSFP unit will have the same values, resulting in redundant information. To
avoid this, Fabric Watch monitors the voltage and temperature areas on the first available port of
the QSFP unit only, which reduces the display of redundant information. If the port crosses the
voltage or temperature thresholds, Fabric Watch takes the SNMP, RASlog, or e-mail action on the
first port and sends a warning to the user that the other ports are affected.

Logical switch considerations with QSFP

NOTE
The following information is applicable only to voltage and temperature monitoring of QSFPs.

Fabric Watch monitors QSFPs in each logical switch. Temperature and voltage are monitored on the
first available port of the QSFP unit to minimize the display of redundant information. However, if
individual ports of a QSFP belong to different logical switches, then there will be separate action
notifications for each logical switch.

Monitoring the SFP and QSFP

You can use the thMonitor command to enable the Brocade 10 Gbps and 16 Gbps SFPs and 16
Gbps QSFPs. By default, the 16 Gbps SFP and QSFP are disabled.
To enable or start the monitoring of the SFP and QSFP, enter the thMonitor command using the
following parameter:
switch:admin> thmonitor --enable brcdSfp

To disable or stop the monitoring of the SFP and QSFP, enter the thMonitor command using the
following parameter:
switch:admin> thmonitor --disable brcdSfp

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To show the monitoring status of the SFP and QSFP, enter the thMonitor command using the
following parameter:
switch:admin> thmonitor --show brcdSfp

Specifying the 16 Gbps SFP type

You can use the sfpType operand to manage the actions and thresholds for the Current, Voltage,
RXP, TXP, and Temperature areas of the 16 Gbps SFPs. If you do not provide the SFP type
parameters, the existing thresholds and actions of the SFP class are changed to the default.
switch:admin> thconfig --set sfp -area TXP --sfptype sfptype
switch:admin> thconfig --apply sfp -area TXP --sfptype sfptype

SFP types for the 10 Gbps SFPs and 16 Gbps SFPs and QSFPs are listed in Table 13.

TABLE 13 16 Gbps and QSFP configurable SFP types

SfpType Serial number Area Default Value

16GSWL HA High Low

Temperature (Centigrade) 85 -5
Voltage (mVoltage) 3600 3000
RXP (uW) 1259 32
TXP (uW) 1259 126
Current (mAmp) 12 3
Power on Hours (hours) 0 0
16GLWL HB Temperature (Centigrade) 90 -5
Voltage (mVoltage) 3600 3000
RXP (uW) 1995 10
TXP (uW) 1995 126
Current (mAmp) 70 1
QSFP HT Temperature (Centigrade) 85 -5
Voltage (mVoltage) 3600 2970
RXP (uW) 2180 44
TXP (uW) 0 0
Current (mAmp) 10 1
10GSWL KA Temperature (Centigrade) 90 -5
Voltage (mVoltage) 3600 3000
RXP (uW) 1999 30
TXP (uW) 1999 125
Current (mAmp) 10 3

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TABLE 13 16 Gbps and QSFP configurable SFP types (Continued)

SfpType Serial number Area Default Value

10GLWL KD Temperature (Centigrade) 90 -5

Voltage (mVoltage) 3600 2970
RXP (uW) 2230 14
TXP (uW) 2230 60
Current (mAmp) 95 10
Others N/A Temperature (Centigrade) 85 -10
Voltage (mVoltage) 3630 2970
RXP (uW) 5000 0
TXP (uW) 5000 0
Current (mAmp) 50 0

Displaying the number of 16 Gbps SFP operational hours

To show the number of hours that the 16 Gbps SFP is operational, enter the thConfig command
using the following parameters. Note that the only supported time base for this area is none.
switch:admin> thconfig --show sfp -area PWRONHRS -sfptype 16GSWL

Displaying the SFP health information

The sfpshow command displays the health of 10 and 16 Gbps SFPs and the QSFP.
Enter the sfpshow command using the following parameter:
switch:admin> sfpshow --health

Fabric Watch monitors the current, voltage, receiver (RXP) of the SFP, and transmitter (TXP) and if
any of these parameters crosses the low or high thresholds, the state of the SFP is yellow;
otherwise, the state is green. The SFP can also be in one of the following states:
• Paused—Health monitoring is not enabled.
• No license—The switch does not have the Fabric Watch license.
• Unknown—Fabric Watch cannot determine the state of the SFP.

Recommended settings for Fabric, SFP, Performance,

and Security classes
Table 14 lists the recommended settings for the Fabric, SFP, Security, and Performance classes
discussed in this chapter. For all of these classes, it is recommended that you use the default
settings.

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TABLE 14 Recommended settings for Fabric, SFP, Performance, and Security classes
E=Error_Log, S=SNMP_Trap,
P=Port_LOG_LOCK,
M=EMAIL_ALERT, F=Port Fence

Trait Configuration

High Thresh
Low Thresh
Time Base
Custom

Custom
Default

Default

Above
Below
Buffer

Notes
Class

Area

Unit
Fabric E_Port downs X Downs None 0 0 0 X
Fabric reconfig X Reconfigs None 0 0 0 X
Domain ID changes X DID changes None 0 0 0 X
Segmentation X Segmentations None 0 0 0 X
Zone changes X Zone changes None 0 0 0 X
Fabric logins X Logins None 0 0 0 X
SFP Temperature X C None -10 85 3 X E E
RX power (RXP) X uWatts None 0 5000 25 X E E
TX power (TXP) X uWatts None 0 5000 25 X E E
Current X mA None 0 50 1 X E E
Voltage X uV None 2970 3630 10 X E E
PWR on Hours X Changes None 0 0 0 X
End-to-End RX performance X KB/s None 0 0 0 X
Performance
TX performance X KB/s None 0 0 0 X
Filter-based Custom filter counter X Frames None 0 0 0 X
Performance
Security Telnet violations X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S
HTTP violations X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S
SCC violations X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S
DCC violations X Violations Minute 1 4 0 X E,S
Login violations X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S
SLAP failures X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S
TS out-of-sync X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S
No FCS X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S
Incompatible security DB X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S
Illegal commands X Violations Minute 1 2 0 X E,S

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 Chapter

Port Monitoring 7

In this chapter
• Port class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
• Port class guidelines and default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
• Port configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
• portThConfig command procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
• Port fencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
• Recommended port configuration settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Port class areas

Table 15 lists and describes the Fabric Watch areas in the Port class. You can use the portThConfig
command to configure the Port class. Port setting guidelines and specific examples of portThConfig
configurations are presented later in this chapter.

NOTE
Fabric Watch monitors and reports the status of physical and virtual FC ports. Physical GbE ports
and iSCSI ports are not monitored and are not included in the Port Class area.

TABLE 15 Port class areas

Area Description

Cyclic redundancy check The number of times an invalid cyclic redundancy check error occurs on a port or
(CRC) a frame that computes to an invalid CRC. Invalid CRCs can represent noise on the
network. Such frames are recoverable by retransmission. Invalid CRCs can
indicate a potential hardware problem.
Invalid transmission words The number of times an invalid transmission word error occurs on a port. A word
(ITW) did not transmit successfully, resulting in encoding errors. Invalid word messages
usually indicate a hardware problem.
NOTE: For Fabric OS versions 7.1.0 and later, the ITW counter includes a physical
coding sublayer (PCS) violation. ITW violations can occur due to an ITW
violation, a PCS violation, or both.
Class 3 discards (C3TX_TO) The number of Class 3 discards frames because of time-outs.
Link loss (LOS) The number of times a link failure occurs on a port or sends or receives NOS.
Both physical and hardware problems can cause link failures. Link failures also
frequently occur due to a loss of synchronization or a loss of signal.
Signal loss The number of times that a signal loss occurs in a port. Signal loss indicates that
no data is moving through the port. A loss of signal usually indicates a hardware
problem.

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TABLE 15 Port class areas (Continued)

Area Description

Sync loss The number of times a synchronization error occurs on the port. Two devices
failed to communicate at the same speed. Synchronization errors are always
accompanied by a link failure. Loss of synchronization errors frequently occur due
to a faulty SFP or cable.
Packet loss (VE_Port only) The number of packets routed through a port exceeds the port bandwidth.
Protocol errors (PE) The number of times a protocol error occurs on a port. Invalid state due to LRR on
an online link. Occasionally these errors occur due to software glitches. Persistent
errors occur due to hardware problems.
Received packets (RXP) The percentage of maximum bandwidth consumed in packet receipts.
State changes (ST) The state of the port has changed for one of the following reasons:
(Port and VE_Port) • The port has gone offline.
• The port has come online.
• The port is faulty.
Transmitted packets (TXP) The percentage of maximum bandwidth consumed in packet transmissions.
Trunk utilization The percent of utilization for the trunk at the time of the last poll.
(E_Port, FCU_Port, and
FOP_Port)
Utilization (VE_Port only) The percent of utilization for the trunk at the time of the last poll.
Link reset The ports on which the number of link resets exceed the specified threshold
value.

NOTE
Only the Packet loss, State changes, and Utilization areas are supported on the VE_Port.

Port class guidelines and default settings

There are different recommendations and default settings for the physical port, the E_Port, and the
FOP_Port and FCU_Port. Refer to the following sections and plan carefully before you begin
configuring the port:
• “Physical port setting guidelines”
• “E_Port subclass setting guidelines”
• “FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass setting guidelines”
• “VE_Port class default settings”

NOTE
E_Ports and VE_Ports are not supported in Access Gateway mode.

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Physical port setting guidelines

It is recommended that you use the default settings listed in Table 16 for most Port class areas.
Consider the Port class to be a superset containing the E_Port, FOP_Port, and FCU_Port
subclasses. If you make a change to a default setting for an area in the Port class, it applies to all of
the subclasses. This is convenient if you have determined that changes you plan to make to the
default settings for the subclasses are the same for certain areas. In this case, you only need to
make the changes to the Port class. Note, however, that if you make a change to one of the
subclasses, that change overrides the Port class setting.

Port class default settings

Table 16 provides default settings for areas in the Port class.

TABLE 16 Port class default settings

Area Description Default threshold Default alarm settings Threshold state
settings

Cyclic redundancy Monitors the Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative

check (CRC) number of CRC Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
errors. Low: 0
High: 1000
Buffer: 100
Invalid transmission Monitors the Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
words (ITW) number of invalid Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
words transmitted. Low: 0
High: 1000
Buffer: 100
Class 3 discards Class 3 discards Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
(C3TX_T0) frames due to Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
time-out or Low: 0
destination High: 2
unreachable. Buffer: 0
Link loss Monitors the Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
number of link Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
failures. Low: 0
High: 500
Buffer: 50
Signal loss Monitors the Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
number of signal Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
loss errors. Low: 0
High: 5
Buffer: 0
State changes (ST) Monitors state Unit: Changes Below: 0 Informative
changes. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 50
Buffer: 0
Sync loss Monitors the Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
number of loss of Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
synchronization Low: 0
errors. High: 500
Buffer: 50

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TABLE 16 Port class default settings (Continued)

Area Description Default threshold Default alarm settings Threshold state
settings

Protocol errors (PE) Monitors the Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative

number of primitive Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
sequence errors. Low: 0
High: 5
Buffer: 0
Received packets Monitors receive Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 0 Informative
(RXP) rate, by percentage. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Informative
Low: 0
High: 100
Buffer: 0
Transmitted packets Monitors Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 0 Informative
(TXP) transmission rate, by Time Base: minute Above: 0 Informative
percentage. Low: 0
High: 100
Buffer: 0
Link reset Monitors the Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
number of link Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
resets sent by a Low: 0
given port (LR-Out) High: 500
and received on a Buffer: 50
given port (LR-In).

Port configuration
Use the portThConfig command to configure thresholds for Fabric Watch event monitoring for all
ports of a specified type and to display the configuration and current port status in real time. The
command syntax is detailed in the Fabric OS Command Reference.
Before you configure thresholds, you must first identify and select the appropriate class and areas,
which are described in “Port class areas” on page 49.

Custom port settings

If you want to customize threshold and action settings (alarms), start with “Port class guidelines
and default settings” on page 50. Setting guidelines and default settings for the physical port,
E_Port, FOP_Port, FCU_Port, and VE_Port are different.

NOTE
The FCU_Port, supported on Fabric Watch version 6.4.0 and later, is applicable to copper ports.

The portThConfig command follows a transaction model. When you configure thresholds and
actions with the --set option, the changes are saved persistently to non-volatile storage, but the
changes do not become effective until you execute portThConfig --apply. The --apply option allows
you to toggle between default settings and your own saved custom configuration and to apply
actions and thresholds separately. You may choose to use default thresholds together with a
customized subset of available actions, or you may modify some of the thresholds and use the
default actions. Use the -nosave option to save the configuration non-persistently, and use --cancel
to remove a non-persistent configuration.

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NOTE
The execution of this command is subject to Virtual Fabrics or Admin Domain restrictions that may
be in place. Refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference for more information and for details about
the portThConfig command.

Using the nosave command

The nosave command prevents the configuration changes from being saved persistently. This
option allows you to make and view changes without overwriting the saved configuration.

CAUTION
When you use --set with the --nosave option and the switch reboots, your changes are lost.

portThConfig command procedures

The following sections provides specific examples for the Port class. Refer to “Port class guidelines
and default settings” on page 50 for recommendations on how to set areas for the physical port,
the E_Port, the FOP_Port, and the FCU_Port.

Port type: physical port

The Port class is a superset containing the E_Port, FOP_Port, and FCU_Port subclasses. In general,
use the default settings listed in Table 16, or use the generic Port class to configure an area whose
settings are common to one or more of the port subclasses; for example, configuring all physical
ports to monitor invalid CRC counts. In most cases, the default settings are adequate for the
physical port.

Configuring all physical ports to monitor invalid CRC counts

Invalid Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) count errors on a port can represent noise on the network
or a potential hardware problem.
1. Enter the portThConfig command using the following parameters.
switch:admin> portthconfig --set port -area crc -highthreshold -value 100
-trigger above -action raslog,email,snmp -buffer 0

switch:admin> portthconfig --set port -area crc -lowthreshold -value 1

-trigger above -action raslog -buffer 0

• In this example, the alarms are set at two points: a low threshold of 1 and a high threshold
of 100 (the default is 1000). The goal is to be notified as the number of invalid CRCs per
minute rises above the low boundary and again when it rises above the high boundary.
• Triggers specify actions for below the high threshold. Here, the trigger for both is above.
• Set the action to take when a trigger occurs. Here, for the high threshold, log the event in
the RASlog, send an e-mail message, and issue an SNMP trap. For the low threshold, only
log the event in the RASlog.

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• Set the buffer setting to 0 (the default is 100). Note that if you do not specify the buffer
value, Fabric Watch automatically recalculates the buffer.
• Apply the new custom settings so they become effective.
2. Apply the new custom settings so they become effective.
switch:admin> portthconfig --apply port -area crc -action cust -thresh_level
custom

3. To display the port threshold configuration for the Port class and all areas, use the following
command.
switch:admin> portthconfig --show port

Configuring all physical ports to monitor for invalid transmission words

Invalid transmission words (ITW) occur when a word does not transmit successfully, resulting in
encoding errors. Invalid word messages usually indicate a hardware problem.

NOTE
For Fabric OS versions 7.1.0 and later, the ITW counter includes a physical coding sublayer (PCS)
violation. ITW violations can occur due to an ITW violation, a PCS violation, or both.

1. Enter the portThConfig command using the following parameters.

switch:admin> portthconfig --set port -area itw -highthreshold -value 40
-trigger above -action raslog,snmp, --buffer 0
switch:admin> portthconfig --set port -area itw -lowthreshold -value 25
-trigger above -action raslog --buffer 0

• In this example, the alarms are set at two points: a high threshold of 40 and a low
threshold of 25. The goal is to be notified as the number of invalid transmission words per
minute rises above the low boundary and again when it rises above the high boundary.
• Triggers specify actions for in-range port behavior. Here, the trigger for both is above.
• Set the action to take when a trigger occurs. Here, for the low threshold, only log the event
in the RASlog. For the high threshold, log the event in the RASlog and issue an SNMP trap.
• Set the buffer to 0 (the default is 100).
2. Apply the new custom settings so they become effective.
switch:admin> portthconfig --apply port -area itw -action cust -thresh_level
custom

3. To display the port threshold configuration for the Port class and all areas, use the following
command.
switch:admin> portthconfig --show port

Pausing and continuing monitoring

You must first enable the Brocade 10 Gbps SFP and 16 Gbps QSFP with the thMonitor command
before the portThConfig pause and continue commands can take effect. Refer to “Monitoring the
SFP and QSFP” on page 45 for instructions.

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To pause the monitoring of a class, area, and port or index, enter the portThConfig command using
the following parameters.

NOTE
You cannot specify all for all classes, but you can specify all for all areas.

switch:admin> portthconfig --pause | --continue class -area area_type -port

slot/port

E_Port subclass setting guidelines

E_Port guidelines for the following areas represent a more aggressive approach in most areas,
because failing or failed E_Ports in a large fabric can cause serious fabric-wide issues if not
detected early. The E_Port class represents ports connected to another switch.

NOTE
If you are using a Brocade 48000 or DCX Backbone with an FR4-18i blade or the Brocade 7500, the
E_Port class monitors the following additional ports and creates monitors for each of the logical
ports: FCR ports (includes EX_Ports); FCIP (includes VE_Ports and VEX_Ports). In these
configurations, state changes are applicable for all ports and utilization and packet loss are
applicable to VE_Ports only.

• Area: Link Failure Count

You want to be immediately notified if an E_Port loses a link, so set the alarm configuration to
Changed for this area.
• Area: Loss of Synchronization
Change the default high boundary from 500 to 45 (per minute) and make sure the Buffer
setting is set to 0 (the default).
• Area: Invalid Transmission Words
Change the default high boundary from 1000 to 40 (per minute) and make sure the Buffer
setting is set to 0 (the default). Excessive invalid transmission words on E_Ports leads to fabric
congestion and possible frame drops if left unchecked; therefore, set the alarm to fence the
port. Refer to “Port type: E_Port, FOP_Port, or FCU_Port” on page 61 for instructions.
• Area: Invalid Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) Count
Change the default high boundary from 1000 to 20 (per minute) and make sure the Buffer
setting is set to 0 (the default is 100). Excessive CRCs on E_Ports lead to fabric congestion and
possible frame drops if left unchecked; therefore, set the alarm to fence the port. Refer to
“Port type: E_Port, FOP_Port, or FCU_Port” on page 61 for instructions.
• Areas: Receive (Rx) and Transmit (Tx) Performance
Rx and Tx Performance areas are used to monitor the bandwidth utilization of the interswitch
links (ISLs) in the fabric. Set the high boundary to 75 percent and the alarms to Above and
In-Between conditions. These settings indicate if the 75 percent threshold is exceeded and for
how long. With this information, you can determine if additional ISL bandwidth is required in
the fabric.

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• Area: Link Reset

Set the alarm to fence the port. This prevents a “flapping” E_Port, which could lead to
congestion or frame loss. Refer to “Port type: E_Port, FOP_Port, or FCU_Port” on page 61 for
instructions.
• Area: Class 3 (C3) Discards
Unlike the other areas, take a conservative approach for the C3 Discards area. Use the default
settings and configure the alarms for Above. The goal is to determine the high boundary at
which the port would be fenced, so monitor the high boundary and change the settings
accordingly.
• Area: Trunk Utilization
Set the high boundary to 75 percent and the alarms to Above and In-Between conditions.
These settings indicate if the 75 percent threshold is exceeded and for how long.
• Areas: Primitive Sequence Protocol Error, State Changes, Utilization, Packet Loss
Use the default settings.

E_Port class default settings

Table 17 provides default settings for areas in the E_Port class.
Port fencing can be enabled or disabled for the following areas for the E_Port class:
• Link Failure Count
• Loss of Synchronization Count
• Primitive Sequence Protocol Error
• Invalid Transmission Word
• Invalid CRC Count
TABLE 17 E_Port class default settings
Area Description Default threshold Default alarm settings Threshold state
settings

Cyclic redundancy Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative

check (CRC) CRC errors. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 1000
Buffer: 100
Invalid transmission Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
words (ITW) invalid words transmitted. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 1000
Buffer: 100
Class 3 discards Class 3 discards frames Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
(C3TX_TO) due to time-out or Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
destination unreachable. Low: 0
High: 5
Buffer: 0

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TABLE 17 E_Port class default settings (Continued)

Area Description Default threshold Default alarm settings Threshold state
settings

Link loss Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative

link failures. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 500
Buffer: 50
Signal loss Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
signal loss errors. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 5
Buffer: 0
Sync loss Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
loss of synchronization Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
errors. Low: 0
High: 500
Buffer: 50
Protocol errors (PE) Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
primitive sequence errors. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 5
Buffer: 0
Received packets Monitors the receive rate, Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 0 Informative
(RXP) by percentage. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Informative
Low: 0
High: 100
Buffer: 0
State changes (ST) Monitors state changes. Unit: Changes Below: 0 Informative
Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 50
Buffer: 0
Transmitted packets Monitors the transmit rate, Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 0 Informative
(TXP) by percentage. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Informative
Low: 0
High: 100
Buffer: 0
Trunk utilization The percent of utilization Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 0 Informative
for the trunk at the time of Time Base: minute Above: 0 Informative
the last poll. Low: 0
High: 100
Buffer: 0
Link reset Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
link resets sent by a given Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
port (LR-Out) and received Low: 0
on a given port (LR-In). High: 500
Buffer: 50

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FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass setting guidelines

FOP_Port and FCU_Port guidelines for the areas listed below represent a more aggressive
approach in most areas.

NOTE
The settings in these subclasses include settings for the host bus adapter (HBA) ports as well as the
storage ports.

• Areas: Link Failure Count, Loss of Synchronization Count

Change the default high boundary from 500 to 15 (per minute) for Link Failure Count and from
500 to 45 (per minute) for Loss of Synchronization Count. Leave the Buffer setting to 0 (the
default). Set the alarm configurations to send alerts to both the error log and SNMP. These
settings are the same for an HBA port or a storage port.
• Area: Loss of Signal Count
Unlike the other areas, take a conservative approach for the Loss of Signal Count area. Change
the default high boundary from 5 to 45 (per minute) and set the alarm configuration to send
alerts to both the error log and SNMP.
• Areas: Invalid Transmission Words, Invalid CRC Count
For these two classes, the high boundary settings are split. For Host devices, keep the defaults
of 1000 (per minute) and buffer of 100. For storage devices, tighten the boundaries
substantially: change the default high boundary for Invalid Transmission Words to 80, and
change the high boundary for Invalid CRC Count to 40 (per minute).
Hosts and HBAs reboot so do not set alerts for these devices. Storage devices, however, should
not be rebooting, so you should set the alarm to alert more frequently.
Excessive invalid words or CRCs on F/FL_ports lead to fabric congestion and possible frame
drops if left unchecked; therefore, set the alarm to fence the port. Refer to “Port type: E_Port,
FOP_Port, or FCU_Port” on page 61 for instructions. In addition, set the alarm configurations to
send alerts to both the error log and SNMP.
• Areas: Receive (Rx) Performance, Transmit (Tx) Performance
Rx and Tx Performance areas are used to monitor the bandwidth utilization of the device ports
in the fabric. Set the high boundary to 85 percent and the alarms to Above and In-Between
conditions. The same levels should be set on both Host and storage device ports.

NOTE
With the increased use of virtual environments, alerts from device ports are increasing more
than ever in the past. This provides a good gauge as to the overall bandwidth requirement
changes and utilization and could indicate that additional ISL trunks are required.

• Area: Link Reset

The goal of the Link Reset area is to avoid excessive link resets which can cause back pressure
in the fabric. The Link Reset area is new; therefore, recommended settings are not available.
Keep the default settings, monitor the results, and adjust your settings accordingly.

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• Area: Class 3 (C3) Discards

Unlike the other areas, take a conservative approach for the C3 Discards area. Use the default
settings and configure the alarms for Above. The goal is to locate issues with the device or its
infrastructure, so monitor the data to help isolate issues. Port fencing is one of the
recommended solutions for isolating issues.
• Area: Trunk Utilization
The Trunk Utilization area is new; therefore, recommended settings are not yet available. Use
the default settings, monitor the results, and adjust your settings accordingly.
• Areas: Primitive Sequence Protocol Error, State Changes
These areas are not used for monitoring; therefore, leave the default alarm settings at 0.

FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass default settings

Table 18 provides default settings for areas in the FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclasses.
Port fencing can only be enabled or disabled for the following areas for the FOP_Port and FCU_Port
subclasses:
• Link Failure Count
• Loss of Synchronization Count
• Primitive Sequence Protocol Error
• Invalid Transmission Word
• Invalid CRC Count
• Class 3 Discards
TABLE 18 FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass default settings
Area Description Default threshold Default alarm settings Threshold state
settings

Cyclic redundancy Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative

check (CRC) CRC errors. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 1000
Buffer: 100
Invalid transmission Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
words (ITW) invalid words transmitted. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
For Fabric OS versions Low: 0
7.1.0 and later, the ITW High: 1000
counter includes a physical Buffer: 100
coding sublayer (PCS)
violation. ITW violations
can occur due to an ITW
violation, a PCS violation,
or both.
Class 3 discards Class 3 discards frames Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
(C3TX_TO) due to time-out or Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
destination unreachable. Low: 0
High: 5
Buffer: 0

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TABLE 18 FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass default settings (Continued)

Area Description Default threshold Default alarm settings Threshold state
settings

Link loss Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative

link failures. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 500
Buffer: 50
Signal loss Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
signal loss errors. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 5
Buffer: 0
Sync loss Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
loss of synchronization Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
errors. Low: 0
High: 500
Buffer: 50
Protocol errors (PE) Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
primitive sequence errors. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 5
Buffer: 0
Received packets Monitors the receive rate, Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 0 Informative
(RXP) by percentage. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Informative
Low: 0
High: 100
Buffer: 0
State changes (ST) Monitors state changes. Unit: Changes Below: 0 Informative
Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 50
Buffer: 0

Transmitted packets Monitors the transmit rate, Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 0 Informative
(TXP) by percentage. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Informative
Low: 0
High: 100
Buffer: 0
Trunk utilization The percent of utilization Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 0 Informative
(E_Port, FCU_Port, for the trunk at the time of Time Base: minute Above: 0 Informative
and FOP_Port) the last poll. Low: 0
High: 100
Buffer: 0
Link reset Monitors the number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
link resets sent by a given Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
port (LR-Out) and received Low: 0
on a given port (LR-In). High: 500
Buffer: 50

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VE_Port class default settings

Table 19 provides default settings (per minute) for areas in the VE_Port class. The VE_Port type is
not supported in Access Gateway mode.

NOTE
Only a subset of areas, shown in Table 19, can be configured for the VE_Port class. When setting
VE_Port thresholds for the Packet Loss area, the threshold value accepts up to two decimal points;
for example: -value 0.60, as shown in “Packet loss monitoring enhancements on the VE_Port”.

TABLE 19 VE_Port class default settings

Area Description Default threshold settings Default alarm settings Threshold state

Packet loss The number of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative

packets routed Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
through a port Low: 0
exceeds the port High: 10
bandwidth. Buffer: 0
State changes (ST) Monitors state Unit: Changes Below: 0 Informative
changes. Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
Low: 0
High: 50
Buffer: 0
Utilization The percent of Unit: Errors Below: 0 Informative
utilization for the Time Base: minute Above: 0 Out_of_range
port at the time of Low: 0
the last poll. High: 100
Buffer: 0

Packet loss monitoring enhancements on the VE_Port

Fabric Watch provides monitoring for packet loss percentage for the VE_Port. Previously,
configuring the packet loss percentage for the VE_Port was allowed as a whole number; however,
packet loss is usually found at less than one percent. Now there is support for configuring packet
loss percentages in decimals.
To set the high threshold for packet loss for a VE port, enter the portThConfig command using the
following parameters:
switch:admin> portthconfig --set ve-port -area PKTLOSS -highthreshold -value 0.60
-trigger above -action snmp

Port type: E_Port, FOP_Port, or FCU_Port

E_Port, FOP_Port, and FCU_Port guidelines represent a more aggressive approach in most areas
than physical port guidelines. Refer to “E_Port subclass setting guidelines” on page 55 and
“FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass setting guidelines” on page 58 for configuration
recommendations.

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Setting the port persistence time

Port persistence is used to transition a port into a marginal status. Fabric Watch does not record
the event until the event persists for a length of time equal to the port persistence time. If the port
returns to normal boundaries before the port persistence time elapses, Fabric Watch does not
record the event.
The port persistent time is measured in seconds and can be configured. Configuring the port
persistence time to zero disables this feature. The default value for port persistence is 18 seconds.
1. Use the fwSet --port -persistence command to set the port persistence time.
switch:admin> portthconfig --show [port_type]

2. Set the port persistence time.

switch:admin> fwSet --port -persistence seconds

Port fencing
Port fencing monitors ports for erratic behavior and disables a port if specified error conditions are
met. You can customize the thresholds and configure the ports to report errors for one or more
areas using the portThConfig command. After the ports are configured, you can enable port fencing
for specific areas of the physical ports, E_Ports, FOP_Ports, and FCU_Ports using the portFencing
command. Port fencing is not supported on VE_Ports.
Table 20 shows the areas that support port fencing for the different physical port class and E_Port,
FOP_Port, and FCU subclasses. Port fencing is not supported for the Loss of Sync (LOS) and Link
Failure (LF) areas.

NOTE
Port fencing configuration on the VE_Port is not supported on the Brocade DCX backbone blade.

TABLE 20 Port fencing class and subclass areas

Port type Areas supported for port fencing

Physical ports Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC)

Invalid Transmission Words (ITW)
Link Reset (LR)
Protocol Error (PE)
State Change (ST)
Class 3 Discard Frames (C3TXO)

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TABLE 20 Port fencing class and subclass areas (Continued)

Port type Areas supported for port fencing

FOP_Ports Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC)

Invalid Transmission Words (ITW)
Link Reset (LR)
Protocol Error (PE)
State Change (ST)
Class 3 Discard Frames (C3TXO)
E_Ports Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC)
EX_Ports Invalid Transmission Words (ITW)
Link Reset (LR)
Protocol Error (PE)
State Change (ST)

NOTE
The execution of the portFencing command is subject to Virtual Fabrics (VF) or Admin Domain
restrictions that may be in place. For example, in non-VF chassis environments, the state change
counter of a trunked slave port gets incremented by more than 1 when the master EX_Port changes
its state. Therefore, it is advisable to set the port fencing high threshold for the State Change area
to a value greater than 4 in this environment.

The allowed threshold configuration settings are displayed on a per-class basis. FOP_Port class
thresholds apply to the entire switch. You can set different thresholds for Storage and Host
FOP_Ports if they are on different switches, based on the fabric configuration.

Port fencing configuration

You must configure port thresholds with the portThConfig command before you can enable port
fencing using the portFencing command. Refer to “portThConfig command procedures” on
page 53 for example port configurations, or refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference for
complete inThreshold recommendations for CRC errors and Invalid Words.
You can configure a specified port type or a list of port types to enable port fencing for one or more
areas. Use the all option to indicate all port types or all areas.

Port fencing recommended area settings

Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) errors and invalid transmission words (ITW) can occur on normal
links. They have also been known to occur during certain transitions such as server reboots. When
these errors occur more frequently, they can cause a severe impact. While most systems can
tolerate infrequent CRC errors or invalid words, other environments can be sensitive to even
infrequent instances. The overall quality of the fabric interconnects is also a factor.

NOTE
For Fabric OS versions 7.1.0 and later, the ITW counter includes a physical coding sublayer (PCS)
violation. ITW violations can occur due to an ITW violation, a PCS violation, or both.

When establishing thresholds for CRC errors and Invalid Words, consider the following:
• In general, “cleaner” interconnects can have lower thresholds as they should be less likely to
introduce errors on the links.

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• Moderate (recommended), conservative and aggressive threshold recommendations are

provided in Table 21. After selecting the type of thresholds for an environment:
- Set the low threshold with an action of ALERT (RASlog, e-mail, SNMP trap). The alert will be
triggered whenever the low threshold is exceeded.
- Set the high threshold with an action of Fence. The port will be fenced (disabled) whenever
the high threshold is detected.
• Aggressive threshold suggestions do not include settings for low, and instead only have the
high values to trigger fencing formation on the portThConfig command.
Table 21 shows the recommended moderate, aggressive, and conservative thresholds for
supported port fencing areas.

TABLE 21 Recommended port fencing thresholds

Area Moderate/recommended threshold Aggressive threshold Conservative threshold

Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) Low 5 Low 0 Low 5

High 20 High 2 High 40
Invalid transmission word (ITW) Low 25 Low 0 Low 25
High 40 High 25 High 80
Link reset (LR) Low 0 Defaults Defaults
High 5
State change (ST) Low 0 Defaults Defaults
High 7
Class 3 frame discard due to Low 0 N/A N/A
timeout (C3TX_TO) High 5

Enabling port fencing

1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Configure port thresholds.
3. Enter the portFencing --enable command. For example, to configure port fencing on an
FOP_Port for the Class 3 discard frame area, use the following command.
portFencing --enable fop-port --area C3TX_TO

Disabling port fencing

Use the --disable option to disable port fencing for the specified areas on all ports of the specified
port types. Use the --show option to display the configuration. The display includes the configured
port types, error types, and port fencing status (disabled or enabled). Port fencing is disabled by
default.
1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the portFencing --disable command. For example, to disable port fencing on an FOP_Port
for the Link Reset area, use the following command.
portFencing --disable fop_port--area LR

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Port fencing configuration using BNA

The Brocade Network Advisor (BNA) management application supports port fencing. Port fencing
objects include the SAN, Fabrics, Directors, Switches (physical), Virtual Switches, Ports, as well as
Port Types (E_Port, F_Port, and FX_Port). Use port fencing to directly assign a threshold to these
objects. When a switch does not support port fencing, a “No Fencing Changes” message displays in
the Threshold field in the Ports table.
If the port detects more events during the specified time period, the device firmware blocks the
port, disabling transmit and receive traffic until you investigate, solve the problem, and manually
unblock the port. Physical fabrics, directors, switches, port types, and ports display when you have
the privileges to manage that object and are indicated by the standard product icons.

Port fencing requirements

To configure port fencing using the BNA management application, all Fabric OS devices must have
Fabric Watch and must be running firmware Fabric OS 6.2 or later.

Port fencing threshold areas supported on BNA

You can add, edit, view, or remove thresholds on the following area types using Brocade Network
Advisor (BNA). You can then assign the thresholds to available objects in the BNA tree.
Port fencing threshold areas include the following:
• C3 Discard Frames (Fabric OS only)
• Invalid CRCs (Fabric OS only)
• Invalid Transmission Words (Fabric OS only)
• Link Reset (Fabric OS only)
• Protocol Errors (M-EOS and Fabric OS)
• Security (M-EOS)
• State Changes (Fabric OS only)
Refer to the Brocade Network Advisor User Manual for detailed instructions on how to add, edit,
view, and remove thresholds.

Recommended port configuration settings

Table 22 lists the recommended settings for physical port, E_Port, FOP_Port, and FCU_Port for both
the host device and the storage device.

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TABLE 22 Recommended configuration for the Port class

E=Error_Log, S=SNMP_Trap,
P=Port_LOG_LOCK,
M=EMAIL_ALERT, pf=Port Fence

Trait Configuration

High Thresh
Low Thresh
Time Base
Custom

Custom
Default

Default

Above
Below
Buffer

Notes
Class

Area

Unit
Port Link Loss X Errors Minute 0 500 50 X
Sync Loss X Errors Minute 0 500 50 X
Signal Loss X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X
Protocol Error X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X
Invalid Words X Errors Minute 0 25 0 X E
Invalid CRCs X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X E
RX Performance X Percentage Minute 0 100 0 X
TX Performance X Percentage Minute 0 100 0 X
State Changes X Changes Minute 0 50 0 X
Link Reset X Errors Minute 0 500 50 X
C3 Discard X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X
E_Port Link Loss X Errors Minute 0 0 0 X
Sync Loss X Errors Minute 0 45 0 X E,S
Signal Loss X Errors Minute 0 45 0 X E,S
Protocol Error X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X
Invalid Words X Errors Minute 0 40 0 X E,S,F pf
Invalid CRCs X Errors Minute 0 20 0 X E,S,F pf
RX Performance X Percentage Minute 0 75 0 X E E
TX Performance X Percentage Minute 0 75 0 X E E
State Changes X Changes Minute 0 50 0 X
(E/VE_Port)
Link Reset X Errors Minute 0 500 50 X
Utilization (VE_Port) X Percentage Minute 0 100 0 X
Packet Loss (VE_Port) X Errors Minute 0 10 0 X
C3 Discard X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X E
Trunk Util X Percentage Minute 0 75 0 X E

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TABLE 22 Recommended configuration for the Port class (Continued)

E=Error_Log, S=SNMP_Trap,
P=Port_LOG_LOCK,
M=EMAIL_ALERT, pf=Port Fence

Trait Configuration

High Thresh
Low Thresh
Time Base
Custom

Custom
Default

Default
Buffer

Below

Above

Notes
Class

Area

Unit
FOP_Port and Link Loss X Errors Minute 0 15 0 X E,S
FCU_Port
Sync Loss X Errors Minute 0 45 0 X E,S

HOST Signal Loss X Errors Minute 0 45 0 X E,S

Protocol Error X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X
Invalid Words X Errors Minute 0 1000 100 X E,S,F pf
Invalid CRCs X Errors Minute 0 1000 100 X E,S,F pf
RX Performance X Percentage Minute 0 85 0 X E
TX Performance X Percentage Minute 0 85 0 X E
State Changes X Changes Minute 0 5 0 X
Link Reset X Errors Minute 0 500 50 X E
C3 Discard X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X E
Trunk Util X Percentage Minute 0 100 0 X
FOP_Port and Link Loss X Errors Minute 0 15 0 X E,S
FCU_Port
Sync Loss X Errors Minute 0 45 0 X E,S

STORAGE Signal Loss X Errors Minute 0 45 0 X E,S

Protocol Error X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X
Invalid Words X Errors Minute 0 80 0 X E,S,F pf
Invalid CRCs X Errors Minute 0 40 0 X E,S,F pf
RX Performance X Percentage Minute 0 85 0 X E
TX Performance X Percentage Minute 0 85 0 X E
State Changes X Changes Minute 0 5 0 X
Link Reset X Errors Minute 0 500 50 X E
C3 Discard X Errors Minute 0 5 0 X E
Trunk Util X Percentage Minute 0 100 0 X

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 Chapter

System Monitoring 8

In this chapter
• Environment monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
• Resource class settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
• System monitoring using the sysMonitor command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
• Recommended environment and resource monitoring settings . . . . . . . . . 74
• Switch monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
• FRU monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Environment monitoring
The Environment class provides information about the internal temperature of the switch. You can
configure the Environment class using the sysMonitor command.

Environment class area

Table 23 lists and describes the Temperature area in the Environment class.

TABLE 23 Environment class area

Area Description

Temperature Refers to the ambient temperature inside the switch, in degrees Celsius. Temperature sensors
monitor the switch in case the temperature rises to levels at which damage to the switch might
occur.

NOTE
Event Manager (EM) now manages fan monitoring; the switch status is calculated based on fan
status reported by EM. You can use the fanShow command to view the fan status.

Environment monitoring setting guidelines

Use Environment Class default settings. Temperature settings are switch-dependent and there is
no need to alter them. The default alarm configuration, sending alerts to the error log and SNMP, is
sufficient.

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Environment class default settings

Table 24 provides default Environment class settings for the Temperature area. Check the
appropriate hardware reference manual for differences in actual environmental requirements. The
temperature sensors monitor the switch temperature in Celsius.

NOTE
Fabric Watch no longer supports fan monitoring. Event Manager (EM) now manages fan monitoring
and the switch status is calculated based on the fan status reported by EM.

TABLE 24 Environment class default settings for temperature

Default threshold settings
Unit: Degrees Centigrade

Switch Low High Buffer Default alarm settings Threshold state

Below: 3 Out-of-range
Above: 3 Out-of-range

(Same setting for all (Same setting for all devices

devices) except Brocade DCX-4S)
Brocade 300 0 50 10
Brocade 5100 0 63 10
Brocade 5300 0 48 10
Brocade 6505 0 58 10
Brocade 6510 0 65 10
Brocade 6520 0 61 10
Brocade 7800 0 58 10
Brocade Encryption Switch 0 63 10
Brocade VA-40FC 0 63 10
Brocade DCX 0 70 10
Brocade DCX-4S 0 75 10 Informative
Out-of-range

Resource class settings

The Resource class monitors flash memory. It calculates the amount of flash space consumed and
compares it to a defined threshold.

Resource class area

Table 25 describes the Fabric Watch Resource class area. Configure the Resource class using the
sysMonitor command.

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TABLE 25 Resource class area

Area Description

Flash Monitors the compact flash space available by calculating the percentage of flash space
consumed and comparing it with the configured high threshold value.

Resource class default settings

Table 26 provides default settings for areas in the Resource class.

TABLE 26 Resource class default settings

Flash Monitors the Unit: Percentage (%) Below: 3 Informative

percentage of Time base: none Above: 3 Out_of_range
compact flash used Low: 0
High: 90
Buffer: 0

System monitoring using the sysMonitor command

Use the sysMonitor command to configure temperature and system resource settings at the
chassis level. For detailed information about the sysMonitor command, refer to the Fabric OS
Command Reference.
The following operations are supported by the sysMonitor command:
• Configure thresholds for Fabric Watch event monitoring and reporting for the environment and
resource classes. Environment thresholds enable temperature monitoring, and resource
thresholds enable monitoring of flash memory.
Configuration changes are saved persistently to non-volatile storage, but the changes do not
take effect until you execute --apply. The --apply option allows you to toggle between default
settings and your own saved custom configuration and to apply actions and thresholds
separately.
• Configure memory or CPU usage parameters on the switch or display memory or CPU usage.
Configuration options include setting usage thresholds which, if exceeded, trigger a set of
specified Fabric Watch alerts. You can set up the system monitor to poll at certain intervals and
specify the number of retries required before Fabric Watch takes action. Configuring
thresholds for CPU and memory does not follow the transaction model of the typical Fabric
Watch command. The --apply and --cancel options are not valid in this context.
When the system crosses any of the limits, SNMP, RASlog, e-mail (or all) messages are generated.
Flash and temperature configuration are at the chassis level. To execute the sysMonitor command,
you must have chassis-level permission in a Virtual Fabrics (VF) environment.

NOTE
Spikes in memory and CPU utilization are normal during the firmware download process and you
may see threshold warning messages while the process is running. After the firmware download
process has completed, memory and CPU utilization should return to normal.

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System monitoring is disabled by default. You must run both the --config -mem and the --config -cpu
commands to enable both memory and CPU system monitoring.

Using the nosave command

The nosave command prevents the configuration changes from being saved persistently. This
option allows you to make and view changes without overwriting the saved configuration.

CAUTION
When you use --config with the --nosave option and the switch reboots, your changes are lost.

Examples of the sysMonitor command

The following sections provide specific examples for the Environment class, CPU, and memory.

Environment class settings

Temperature settings are switch-dependent and there is no need to alter them. The default alarm
configuration, sending alerts to the error log and SNMP, is sufficient. Refer to “Environment
monitoring setting guidelines” on page 69 for more information.

Pausing and continuing monitoring

To pause the monitoring of a class, area, and port or index, enter the sysMonitor command using
the following parameters.

NOTE
You cannot specify all for all classes, but you can specify all for all areas.

switch:admin> sysmonitor --pause | --continue env -area temp

Displaying the threshold of the system areas

The temperature area refers to the ambient temperature inside the switch, in degrees Celsius.
Temperature sensors monitor the switch in case the temperature rises to levels at which damage to
the switch might occur.
Enter the sysMonitor command using the following parameters:
switch:admin> sysmonitor --show env -area temp index

Example of configuring the temperature threshold

1. Enter the sysMonitor command using the following parameters:
switch:admin> sysmonitor --config env -area temp -highth -value 99
-trigger above -action raslog

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2. Apply the changes:

switch:admin> sysmonitor --apply env -area temp -action_level cust
-thresh_level cust

Resource class settings

The flash area of the Resource class monitors the percentage of compact flash memory used on
the system.

Displaying the system flash parameters

Enter the sysMonitor command using the following parameters:
switch:admin> sysmonitor --show resource -area flash

CPU and memory

When configuring CPU monitoring, specify a value in the range from 1 through 100. When the CPU
usage exceeds the limit, a Fabric Watch alert is triggered. The default CPU limit is 75 percent.
When configuring memory, the limit specifies a usage limit as a percentage of available resources.
When used to configure memory monitoring, the limit value must be greater than the low limit and
smaller than the high limit.
The following operands are valid only with the --config mem command. Three thresholds are
supported for memory monitoring:
• high_limit— Specifies an upper usage limit for memory as percentage of available memory.
This value must be greater than the value set by the -limit parameter. The maximum is 90
percent. When memory usage exceeds this limit, Fabric Watch generates a CRITICAL RASlog
message. The default is 80 percent.
• limit—Specifies the default CPU limit. When the limit is exceeded, Fabric Watch sends out a
RASlog WARNING message. When usage returns below the limit, Fabric Watch sends a RASlog
INFO message. Valid values are range from 0 through 80 percent and the default value is
different for different systems.
• low_limit—Specifies a lower usage limit for memory as percentage of available memory. This
value must be smaller than the value set by the -limit parameter. When memory usage exceeds
or falls below this limit, Fabric Watch generates an INFO RASlog message. The default for all
platforms is 50 percent.

Examples of the CPU and memory commands

The following sections provides specific examples for CPU and memory.

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Displaying the current CPU usage threshold

Enter the sysMonitor command using the following parameters:
switch:admin> sysmonitor --show cpu
CPU Usage : 2%
CPU Usage Limit : 75%
Number of Retries :3
Polling Interval : 120 seconds
Actions: snmp

Displaying the current memory usage threshold

Enter the sysMonitor command using the following parameters:
switch:admin> sysmonitor --show mem

Used Memory: 171476k 34%

Total Memory: 504344k
Free Memory: 332868k
Used Memory Limit: 60%
Low Used Memory Limit: 40%
High Used Memory Limit: 70%
Polling Interval: 10 seconds
No Of Retries: 1
Actions: snmp,raslog

Configuring the system memory usage monitoring threshold

Enter the sysMonitor command using the following parameters:
switch:admin> sysmonitor --config mem -poll 10 -retry 1 -limit 20 -action snmp,
raslog -high_limit 80

Recommended environment and resource monitoring settings

Table 27 lists the recommended settings for Environment and Resource classes.

TABLE 27 Recommended Environment and Resource class settings

E=Error_Log, S=SNMP_Trap,
P=Port_LOG_LOCK,
M=EMAIL_ALERT, PF=Port Fence

Trait Configuration
High Thresh
Low Thresh
Time Base
Custom

Custom
Default

Default

Above
Below
Buffer

Notes
Class

Area

Unit

Environment Temperature X C None 0 Depends 10 X E,S E,S

on switch
type
Resource Flash X Percentage None 0 90 0 X E,S E,S

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Switch monitoring
Before entering the switchStatusPolicySet command, plan your switch status policy. Determine
your system requirements and the factors that affect its monitors.

NOTE
Based on the configuration of the core blade component of the switch status policy, Fabric Watch
generates two RASlogs when a core blade is removed either on the Brocade DCX or the Brocade
DCX-4S. For example, if the Down and Marginal configuration is 0 and 1 on the DCX, upon removal
of the first core blade, Fabric Watch generates one RASlog for the switch status policy and the other
RASlog for the error itself.

Switch status policy planning

Fabric Watch monitors the health of the switch under various classes. Table 28 lists the current
overall switch status policy parameters in a switch and identifies the factors that affect their health.
Note that not all switches use the listed monitors.
Use the switchStatusPolicySet command to manually change the policy setting. Refer to the
Fabric OS Command Reference for more information.

NOTE
The default setting for a MARGINAL state is 0, which prevents Fabric Watch from generating
notifications due to missing power supplies. For configurations with a 2+2 power supply (PS)
combination, it is recommended that you change the default Fabric Watch default setting of 0 to 2
power supplies, which forces the overall switch status to a MARGINAL state.

TABLE 28 Switch status policy factors

Monitor Health factors

Power Supplies Power supply thresholds detect absent or failed power supplies, and power supplies that are
not in the correct slot for redundancy.
Temperatures Temperature thresholds, faulty temperature sensors.
Fans Fan thresholds, faulty fans.
WWN Faulty WWN card (applies to modular switches).
CP Switch does not have a redundant CP (applies to modular switches).
Blades Faulty blades (applies to modular switches).
Core Blade Faulty core blades.
Flash Flash thresholds.
Marginal Ports1 Port, E_Port, FOP_Port (optical), and FCU_Port (copper) port thresholds. Whenever these
thresholds are persistently high, the port is Marginal.
Faulty Ports1 Hardware-related port faults.
Missing SFPs1 Ports that are missing SFP media.
Error Ports1 Ports with errors.

1. Marginal ports, faulty ports, error ports, and missing SFPs are calculated as a percentage of the physical ports
(excluding FCoE and VE_Ports).

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Brocade DCX 8510-8 default policy

The default Fabric Watch policy for the Brocade DCX 8510-8 with total power consumption of more
than 2,000 watts does not properly reflect the switch status on the power supply. Fabric Watch
users must manually update the default configuration for the minimum number of power supplies
to three if they have installed more than 256 ports in a DCX 8510-8 chassis.

NOTE
The presence of four or more FS8-18 encryption blades in the DCX Data Center Backbone causes
the Fabric Watch switch status policy for power supplies to assume a policy setting of 2,1.

Brocade 6505 default policy

The default Fabric Watch policy for the Brocade 6505 is one power supply in the left bay with an
optional configuration of two power supplies in both the left and right bays. The default
configuration for the Brocade 6505 is a 2 (DOWN) and 0 (MARGINAL), corresponding to a one
power supply configuration. If converting to a two power supply configuration, use the
switchStatusPolicySet command to manually change the configuration to 2,1 for the power supply
and fan FRU units. If converting back to a one power supply configuration, use the
switchStatusPolicySet command to manually change the power supply and fan FRU units to 1,0.

Implementing your switch status policy

After you plan and define your switch status policy, implement it using the following procedure.
1. Enter the switchStatusPolicySet command to configure each policy.
Each policy has two parameters that can be configured: Marginal and Down.
2. Set the number of units Marginal or Down based on your system requirements for each policy
or parameter.
The following example shows a switch status policy for temperature:
Bad Temperatures contributing to DOWN status: (0..10) [0] 3
Bad Temperatures contributing to MARGINAL status: (0..10) [0] 1

The following example shows a switch status policy for fans:

Bad Fans contributing to DOWN status: (0..3) [0] 2
Bad Fans contributing to MARGINAL status: (0..3) [0] 1

Switch status policies are saved in a nonvolatile memory, and therefore are persistent until
changed.

Viewing your switch status policy

After you have defined and configured your switch status policy, view it with the
switchStatusPolicyShow command. The switchStatusPolicyShow command displays the following
policy parameters that determine the overall switch status:

NOTE
FCoE and VE_Ports are not considered in marginal port or faulty port calculations.

• Power Supplies—The power supply thresholds detect absent or failed power supplies.

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• Temperature—Temperature thresholds detect faulty temperature sensors.

• Fan—Fan thresholds detect faulty fans.
• Flash—Flash thresholds monitor flash memory.
• Marginal Ports—Ports that move into the marginal state for reasons such as insufficient buffer
credits.
• Port Persistence Time—Fabric Watch waits for the port persistence time duration before it
declares the port to be in the MARGINAL state when it crosses the high threshold.
• Faulty Ports—Ports that are faulty because of hardware faults, such as invalid SFPs.
• Missing SFPs—Monitors the number of ports without SFPs.
• Error Ports—Ports that are disabled because of segmentation, an authentication failure, port
fencing, or bottleneck detection.
The policy you defined determines the output in the Switch Status Policy Report. Refer to Chapter
10, “Fabric Watch Reports,” for more details about the Switch Status Policy Report.

FRU monitoring
Supported FRU areas depend on the type of Brocade switch. For the following switches, the slot
and WWN areas are not supported:
• Brocade 300, 5100, and 5300 switches
• Brocade DCX and DCX-4S Data Center Backbone
• Brocade Encryption Switch

FRU class areas

Table 29 lists Fabric Watch areas in the FRU class and describes each area. Possible states for all
FRU-class areas are absent or removed, faulty, inserted, on, off, ready, and up. Configure the FRU
class using the fwFruCfg command.

TABLE 29 FRU class areas

Area Description

Fan State of a fan has changed.

Power supply State of a power supply has changed.
Slot State of a slot has changed.
WWN State of a WWN card has changed.
SFP State of the SFP has changed.

Configuring FRUs
The configuration of field-replaceable units (FRUs) is an exception to the procedures described
thus far in this chapter. FRUs are monitored using state values, as opposed to the quantitative
values used to monitor the rest of the fabric. As a result of the qualitative nature of this monitoring,
the concept of thresholds does not apply.

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NOTE
The Off state is applicable only to fans on some platforms, such as the Brocade DCX and Brocade
DCX-4S. The Off state is not applicable to the power supply, slot, or WWN FRUs.

1. Establish a Telnet connection with a switch.

2. Log in using administrative privileges.
3. Enter the fwFruCfg command at the command prompt.
The fwFruCfg command displays your current FRU configuration. The types of FRUs are
different for the various platforms.
4. In the prompt that follows your current FRU configuration, you are asked to provide values for
each FRU alarm state and alarm action. To accept the default value for each FRU, press
Return.
After you have configured a FRU alarm state and alarm action, the values apply to all FRUs of
that type. For example, the values specified for a slot FRU will apply to all slots in the enclosure.
swd123:admin> fwfrucfg
The current FRU configuration:
Alarm State Alarm Action
Slot 1 1
Power Supply 1 1
Fan 1 1
SFP 1 1

Note that the value 0 for a parameter means that it is NOT used in the
calculation

Configurable Alarm States are:

Absent-1, Inserted-2, On-4, Off-8, Faulty-16

Configurable Alarm Actions are:

Errlog-1, E-mail-16
Slot Alarm State: (0..31) [1]
Slot Alarm Action: (0..17) [1]
Power Supply Alarm State: (0..31) [1]
Power Supply Alarm Action: (0..17) [1]
Fan Alarm State: (0..31) [1]
Fan Alarm Action:(0..17) [1]
WWN Alarm State: (0..31) [1]
WWN Alarm Action: (0..31) [1]
SFP Alarm State: (0..31) [1]
SFP Alarm Action:(0..17) [1]

Fru configuration left unchanged

Specifying triggers for FRU alarms

You can specify triggers for any number of alarm states or alarm actions. The first prompt enables
you to select which FRU states trigger events.
1. Add the numbers beside each state (for the states you want to include).
2. Enter the total at the prompt.

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For example, to trigger events using the Absent, Off, and Faulty states, add the assigned values and
enter that value at the prompt. In this case, the values are 1, 8, and 16, respectively, and the total
is 25.

Recommended FRU settings

Table 30 lists the recommended settings for field-replaceable units (FRUs).

TABLE 30 Recommended FRU settings

E=ERROR_LOG,
M=EMAIL_ALERT

Class Area Absent Inserted On Off Faulty Below Above

FRU Slot X X
Power Supply X X
Fan X X
WWN X X

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 Chapter

Fabric Watch Configuration Using Web Tools 9

In this chapter
• Using Web Tools to configure Fabric Watch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Using Web Tools to configure Fabric Watch

You can use Web Tools to define the following Fabric Watch configurations:
• Configure custom threshold values on particular elements.
• Place limits on the acceptable values of those elements and enable the custom limits
(configure threshold boundaries).
• Configure Fabric Watch to alert you to errant values.
• Configure Fabric Watch to identify unacceptable values (threshold traits).
NOTE
You do not need the Enhanced Group Management (EGM) license to perform Fabric Watch
operations using Web Tools.

Opening the Fabric Watch window

To open the Fabric Watch window, perform the following steps.
1. Select a switch from the Fabric Tree and log in if necessary.
2. Select Tasks > Manage > Fabric Watch.
The Fabric Watch window displays, as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7 shows the Fabric Watch window.

NOTE
Unless the switch is a member of the current Admin Domain context, Fabric Watch is view-only.

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FIGURE 7 Fabric Watch window

The Fabric Watch Explorer pane, on the left side of the window, displays the available classes. Not
all classes are available for all switches. The status bar at the bottom of the window provides you
with a summary of recent actions, and the date and time the module was last updated.

System monitoring using Web Tools

The Fabric Watch license must be installed to view and modify the System Monitor details. Select
Monitor > System Monitor to display the System Monitor.
When the switch exceeds the configured usage limit, an alarm triggers. You can configure the
alarm with the Alarm Configuration tab. The alarm can be configured for SNMP trap, RAS log, or
both.
There are three trait and alarm configuration values for System Monitor:
• Polling Interval
• Usage Limit
• No. of Retries
To configure the usage limits for System Monitor, perform the following steps.
1. Open the Fabric Watch window.
2. Select either Memory Usage or CPU usage.
3. Modify the values in the Trait Configuration tab.
When these values are exceeded, the alarm triggers.
4. Click the Alarm Configuration tab.
5. Select SNMP Trap, RAS log, or both options.
6. Click Apply.

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Fabric Watch threshold configuration using Web Tools

The Threshold Configuration tab enables you to configure event conditions. From this tab, you
configure threshold traits, alarms, and e-mail configurations.

NOTE
Use the procedures in this section to configure threshold traits for all classes except for the FRU
class. Use the procedure described in “Configuring alarms for FRUs using Web Tools” on page 85 for
the FRU class.

Configuring threshold traits

Configure threshold traits to define a threshold for a particular class and area. You can configure
the following traits for a threshold:
• Time Base—The time base (minute, hour, day) for the area
• Low Boundary—The low threshold for the event-setting comparisons
• High Boundary—The high threshold for the event-setting comparisons
• Buffer Size—The size of the buffer zone used in event-setting comparisons

NOTE
When you are configuring the VE-Port > Packet Loss area thresholds, the packet loss threshold
values are a percentage. You can configure from 0.01 percent (low boundary) to 100.00 percent
(high boundary).

To configure threshold traits, perform the following steps.

1. Click Fabric Watch in the Manage section of the Tasks menu.
2. Select the Threshold Configuration tab.
3. Select the Trait Configuration subtab.
4. In the Fabric Watch Explorer pane, select a class.
5. Under Area Selection, select an area from the list.
This sets the units in the Units field.
The module displays two columns of trait information, labeled System Default and Custom
Defined. You cannot modify the information in the System Default column.
6. In the Activate Level area:
• Use the system default settings and proceed to step 11.
or
• Click Custom Defined to specify new settings and proceed to the next step.
7. If necessary, select a time to record the event in the Time Base field.
8. Enter the lowest boundary of the normal zone in the Low Boundary field.
9. Enter the highest boundary of the normal zone in the High Boundary field.
10. Enter the size of the buffer zone in the Buffer Size field.
11. Click Apply.

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Configuring threshold alarms

After you update the threshold information, use the Alarm Configuration subtab to customize the
notification settings for each event setting.
The alarm-naming convention is modified for Port, E_Port, F_Port, FL_Port, and VE_Port class
types:
• “Above” is called “High Above”
• “Below” is called “Low Below”
• “In Between” is called “High Below”
The Low Above action alarm supports all port class types for these options:
• CRC errors
• Invalid words
• Protocol errors
• State change
• Trunk utilization
• C3 discards
• RX performance
• TX performance
• Loss of signal
• Link failures
• Link resets
• Packet loss (not for E-Port)
• Utilization (not for E-Port)
To configure threshold alarms, perform the following steps.
1. From the Fabric Watch window, select the Threshold Configuration tab.
2. Select the Alarm Configuration subtab.
3. In the Fabric Watch Explorer pane, select a class.
4. Under Area Selection, select an area from the list.

NOTE
The module displays two tables of alarm configuration information, labeled System Default
and Custom Defined. You cannot modify the information in the System Default table.

5. In the Activate Level area:

• Click System Default to use the system default settings and proceed to step 7.
or
• Click Custom Defined to specify new settings and proceed to the next step.
6. Select the check box for the type of notification method you want to use for each event type.
The following alarm actions are available:
• ERROR_LOG

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• SNMP_TRAP
• PORT_LOG_LOCK
• EMAIL_ALERT
7. Click Apply.

Enabling or disabling threshold alarms for individual elements

To configure element-specific alarm settings, perform the following steps.
1. Open the Fabric Watch window.
2. In the Fabric Watch Explorer pane, select a class.
You can set alarms for information on a switch only if that information is monitored by Fabric
Watch for that switch; not all alarm options are available for all switches.
3. Select the Threshold Configuration tab.
4. Under Area Selection, select the area with the alarms that you want to enable or disable.
5. Select the Element Configuration subtab.
6. Select an element from the Element Selection menu.
7. In the Status area:
• To disable threshold alarms, click Disabled and click Apply. The threshold alarms are
disabled and you do not need to continue with this procedure.
• To enable threshold alarms, click Enabled and continue with the next step.
8. Select the Triggered behavior type to receive threshold alarms only when they are triggered by
events that you defined.
9. Select a time interval in which to receive the threshold alarms from the Time Interval menu.
10. Click Apply.
11. Optional: Apply the selections on this panel to multiple elements simultaneously.
a. Click Apply More. The Multiple Selection dialog box displays.
b. Select the check boxes next to the indices of all applicable elements and click OK.

Configuring alarms for FRUs using Web Tools

Configuration for the FRU class is different from configuration for the other classes. Because FRUs
are not monitored through a threshold-based system, they have a simpler interface for
configuration.
For FRUs, you configure the states for which an event occurs, using the following procedure.
1. Open the Fabric Watch window.
2. Select the Threshold Configuration tab.
3. In the Fabric Watch Explorer pane, select a FRU class.
4. Under Area Selection, select a FRU type from the list.
5. Select the alarm states for which you want an event to register.

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If a FRU of the selected type is determined that it is one of the selected states, an event will
occur.
6. Select the methods by which you want to be notified about the FRU alarms.
For FRUs, the only options are error log and e-mail alert.
7. Click Apply to apply the changes to the switch.
A confirmation dialog box displays, asking if you want to apply the changes to the switch.
8. Click OK to save the changes to the switch.

Configuring alarm filters using Web Tools

The Fabric Watch window provides GUI support for the CLI command fwalarmsfilterset. This option
is used to configure the alarm filtering for Fabric Watch. By disabling the alarms, all
non-environment and non-resource class alarms are suppressed. By enabling the alarms, all class
alarms are generated.
To configure the alarm filter, perform the following steps.
1. Open the Fabric Watch window.
2. Select Configure > Alarm Filter > Enable.
3. Click Yes in the confirmation message.

Fabric Watch alarm information

From Fabric Watch, you can view two types of reports:
• Alarm notifications—Displays the alarms that occurred for a selected class or area.
• Alarm configuration—Displays threshold and alarm configurations for a selected class or area.

Viewing an alarm configuration report

Use the Threshold Configuration tab, Configuration Report subtab to display a report of the
configuration for a selected class or area with the following information:
• Threshold settings (labeled Threshold Configuration)
• Notification settings (labeled Action Configuration)
• Element settings (not labeled) — You can scroll through this information, but cannot make
changes.
To view an alarm configuration report, perform the following steps.
1. Open the Fabric Watch window.
2. Select the Threshold Configuration tab.
3. Select a previously configured element from the Fabric Watch Explorer pane (for instructions,
refer to “Enabling or disabling threshold alarms for individual elements” on page 85).
4. Under Area Selection, select the alarm area report to be viewed.
5. Select the Configuration Report subtab.
This tab displays a report of the configuration for the selected area.

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Displaying alarms
Using the Alarm Notification tab, you can view a list of all alarms that occurred for a selected class
or area (Figure 7 on page 82). Table 31 describes the columns in this report. You can click the
header of each column to change the way the information is sorted in your view. You can also
right-click the column header and select sort options from a menu.

NOTE
For the FRU class, only the Name, State, and Time columns are displayed. In addition, if the FRU area
is Fan, the Name column refers to either a fan or a fan FRU, depending on the switch model.

TABLE 31 Alarm notification tab fields

Field Description

Name The string assigned to the element that had an event

State The current state of the element
Reason The event type that was triggered
Last Value The data value of the element when the event was triggered
Current Value The current data value of the element
Time Time when the event occurred

To display the alarms page, perform the following steps.

1. Open the Fabric Watch window.
2. In the Fabric Watch Explorer pane, select the class that you want to check for alarms.
3. Select the Alarm Notification tab.
4. In Area Selection, select the area that you want to check for alarms from the list. All alarms for
that area display.

E-mail notification using Web Tools

You can be notified of an alarm condition through an e-mail alert. If you have configured alarms to
send an e-mail notification, you must also configure the e-mail server and the e-mail recipient, as
described in the following sections.

Configuring the e-mail server on a switch

You must set up the e-mail notification recipient’s DNS server and domain name on each switch for
which e-mail notification is enabled.
To configure the alert e-mail address on the switch, perform the following steps.
1. Open the Switch Administration window.
2. Select the Switch tab.
3. In the DNS Configuration area, in the DNS Server 1 field, enter the primary Domain Name
Server IP address. You can enter the IP address in IPv4 or IPv6 format.
4. In the DNS Server 2 field, enter the secondary Domain Name Server IP address. You can enter
the IP address in IPv4 or IPv6 format.

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5. In the Domain Name field, enter the domain name (between 4 and 32 characters).
6. Click Apply.

Enabling the e-mail alert

You can set a different e-mail alert configuration for each FRU class. For example, you can set one
e-mail notification for SFPs and another for E_Ports. Before configuring e-mail alert recipients, you
must set up the e-mail notification recipient’s DNS server and domain name. Refer to “Configuring
the e-mail server on a switch” on page 87.
Fabric OS v7.2 supports up to five e-mail addresses. E-mail addresses must not exceed 128
characters.

NOTE
You must execute the fwalfilterset 1 command to enable e-mail notification. Refer to the Fabric OS
Command Reference.

To enable an e-mail alerts recipient, perform the following steps.

1. Open the Fabric Watch window.
2. Select the Email Configuration tab.
3. Select a FRU class in the Fabric Watch Explorer pane.
4. Click Enable.
5. Enter the e-mail addresses of the recipients in the Recipient Email Address field.
Separate multiple e-mail addresses with commas.
6. Click Apply.
7. Repeat step 3 through step 6 for any additional FRU classes.
8. Optional: Click Send Test Email to receive a test e-mail so you can verify the e-mail notification
is working correctly. You can send a test e-mail only after you have applied your settings.

Disabling the e-mail alert

When you disable e-mail alerts, Fabric Watch does not send e-mail notification, even if the e-mail
notification method is assigned to monitored areas.
To disable an e-mail alerts recipient, perform the following steps.
1. Open the Fabric Watch window.
2. Select the Email Configuration tab.
3. Select a FRU class in the Fabric Watch Explorer pane.
4. Click Disable.
5. Optional: Enter the word “NONE” in the Recipient Email Address field.
You can disable the e-mail notification without removing the e-mail addresses.
6. Click Apply.
Repeat step 3 through step 6 for any additional FRU classes.

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 Chapter

Fabric Watch Reports 10

In this chapter
• Fabric Watch reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
• Switch Availability Monitor report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
• Switch Health report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
• Switch Status Policy report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
• Port Detail report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Fabric Watch reports

You can run reporting commands in Fabric Watch to get instant access to switch information.
Although the switchShow command provides basic switch information, the Fabric Watch reports
provide detailed information, which enables you to track marginal or faulty ports that can affect
throughput or switch performance.
You can generate reports from the command line using a Telnet session or by using Web Tools. The
examples in this chapter use the command line interface.
Table 32 lists the Fabric OS commands to view reports.

TABLE 32 Fabric OS commands to view Fabric Watch reports

Command Displays

fwSamShow Port failure rate report

switchStatusShow Switch health report
switchStatusPolicyShow Switch status policy report
fwPortDetailShow Port detail report
fwPortDetailShow --s h To view only health ports
fwPortDetailShow --s m To view only marginal ports
fwPortDetailShow --s f To view only faulty ports
fwPortDetailShow --s o To view only offline ports

You can generate the following types of reports using Fabric Watch:
• Switch Availability Monitor report
• Switch Health report
• Switch Status Policy report
• Port Detail report

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Switch Availability Monitor report

The Switch Availability Monitor (SAM) report lets you see the uptime and downtime for each port. It
also enables you to check if a particular port is failing more often than the others.

NOTE
SAM report details do not display the health status of GbE ports. Fabric Watch only monitors and
reports the status for physical and virtual FC ports.

You can run reporting commands in Fabric Watch to get instant access to switch information.
Although the switchShow command provides basic switch information, the Fabric Watch reports
provide detailed information, which enables you to track marginal or faulty ports that can affect
throughput or switch performance.
You can generate reports from the command line using a Telnet session or by using Web Tools. The
examples in this chapter use the command line interface.

Generating a Switch Availability Monitor report

1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the fwSamShow command to generate a SAM report.
The following is an example of a SAM report.
Total Total Down Total
Port Type Up Time Down Time Occurrence Offline Time
(Percent) (Percent) (Times) (Percent)
=============================================================================
1/0 U 0 0 0 100
1/1 U 0 0 0 100
1/2 U 0 0 0 100
1/3 U 0 0 0 100
1/4 U 0 0 0 100
1/5 U 0 0 0 100
1/6 U 0 0 0 100
1/7 U 0 0 0 100
1/8 U 0 0 0 100
1/9 U 0 0 0 100
1/10 U 0 0 0 100
1/11 U 0 0 0 100
1/12 EX 100 0 0 0
1/13 EX 100 0 0 0
1/14 EX 100 0 0 0
1/15 EX 100 0 0 0
2/0 U 0 0 0 100
2/1 U 0 0 0 100
2/2 U 0 0 0 100
2/3 LB 100 0 0 0
2/4 U 0 0 0 100
2/5 LB 100 0 0 0
2/6 U 0 0 0 100
2/7 U 0 0 0 100
(output truncated)

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 Switch Health report 10

Switch Health report

The Switch Health report lists the following information:
• Current health of each port, based on the currently configured policy settings.
• High-level state of the switch, the power supplies, and temperature monitor.
• All ports that are in an abnormal state and the current health state of each port.
The switch health report is available even without Fabric Watch, but for licensed Fabric Watch
users, the marginal and faulty ports are included in the report. The following is an example of a
Switch Health report.

NOTE
Switch Health report details do not display the health status of GbE ports. Fabric Watch only
monitors and reports the status for physical and virtual FC ports.

Generating a Switch Health report

1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the switchStatusShow command to generate a Switch Health report.
switch: admin
Password:
admin> switchstatusshow
Switch Health Report Report time: 03/09/2011 04:54:45 PM
Switch Name: Sat 240
IP address: 1080::8:800:200C:417A
SwitchState: HEALTHY
Duration: 01:10
Power supplies monitor HEALTHY
Temperatures monitor HEALTHY
Fans monitor HEALTHY
Marginal ports monitor HEALTHY
Faulty ports monitor HEALTHY
Missing SFPs monitor HEALTHY
Error ports monitor HEALTHY

All ports are healthy

NOTE
The final portion of the report, detailing port health, is not available without a Fabric Watch license.

Switch Status Policy report

The Switch Status Policy report displays the current policy parameter.
The following example of the switchStatusPolicyShow command output is for enterprise-class
platforms such as the DCX Backbone. For modular switches, the switch status policy report also
contains information on the WWN, blade, and CP.

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Generating a Switch Status Policy report

1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the switchStatusPolicyShow command to generate a Switch Status Policy report.
The current overall switch status policy parameters:
Down Marginal
PowerSupplies 2 1
Temperatures 2 1
Fans 2 1
Flash 0 1
MarginalPorts 6.15% 2.25%
FaultyPorts 16.50% 12.19%
MissingSFPs 20.00% 10.89%
ErrorPorts 20.10% 20.96%
Number of Ports: 512

Port Detail report

If the Switch Health report shows marginal throughput or decreased performance, use the Port
Detail report to see statistics on each port. The Port Detail report is a Fabric Watch licensed
product. You can also see port details by health. For example, you can see only healthy ports, only
marginal ports, only faulty ports, or only offline ports.
The following is an example of a Port Detail report. An “X” in the column for a condition indicates
that the condition exceeded the threshold.

NOTE
Port Detail reports do not display the health status of GbE ports. Fabric Watch only monitors and
reports the status for physical and virtual FC ports.

Generating a Port Detail report

1. Connect to the switch and log in as admin.
2. Enter the fwPortDetailShow command to generate a Port Detail report.
Refer to Table 32 for additional commands to view more port detail information.
Port Detail Report Report time: 04/24/2007 03:40:10 AM
Switch Name:geo_hi
IP address:1080::8:800:200C:417A
Port Exception report [by All]

--------Port-Errors------------ -----SFP-Errors----
Port# Type State Dur(H:M) LFA LSY LSI PER INW CRC PSC BLP STM SRX STX SCU SVO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
080 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
081 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
082 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
083 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
084 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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 Port Detail report 10

085 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -

086 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
087 F HEALTHY 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
088 F HEALTHY 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
089 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
090 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
091 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
092 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
093 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
094 U OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
095 DP OFFLINE 062:17 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
208 G HEALTHY 000:00 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
209 G HEALTHY 000:00 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
210 G HEALTHY 000:00 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
211 G HEALTHY 000:00 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
212 G HEALTHY 000:00 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
213 G HEALTHY 000:00 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
214 G HEALTHY 000:00 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
215 G HEALTHY 000:00 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
216 VE HEALTHY 061:19 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
217 VE HEALTHY 061:19 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(output truncated)

NOTE
Output of the Port Detail report depends on the ports that belong to the current Admin Domain
context. If a port does not belong to the current Admin Domain, nothing other than the port number
is displayed for that port; for example:
“000 ----------------Not a member of current Admin Domain-------------------”

Table 33 lists and describes each item in the Port Detail report.

TABLE 33 Port Detail report columns

Report item Description

LFA Link Loss: The number of link loss occurrences out of range for a specified time period.
LSY Sync Loss: The number of sync loss occurrences out of range for a specified time period.
LSI Signal Loss: The number of signal loss occurrences out of range for a specified time period.
PER Protocol Error: The number of protocol errors out of range for a specified time period.
INW Invalid word: The number of invalid words out of range for a specified time period.
CRC Invalid CRC: The number of CRC errors out of range for a specified time period.
PSC Port hardware state changed too often because of fabric reconfiguration.
BLP Buffer limited port: The switch status changes when a port is in a buffer limited mode based on
the switch status policy.
STM SFP temperature is out of specifications.
SRX SFP receive power is out of specifications.
STX SFP transmit power is out of specifications.
SCU SFP current is out of specifications.
SVO SFP voltage is out of specifications.

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Index

A C
above event triggers, 15 class
access gateway mode, restrictions in Fabric Watch, 12 environment, 20
action configuration guidelines, 4 fabric, 20
activating Fabric Watch, 23, 81 FRU, 20
using a Telnet session, 23 Performance Monitor, 21
using SNMP, 24 port, 21
using Web Tools, 28 resource, 21
alarm behavior, 17 security, 21
alarm configuration report for Fabric Watch, 86 SFP, 21
classes, description of, 20
alarm notification configuration, 34
command
alarms, Fabric Watch
dnsConfig, 9
configuring, 84, 85
displaying, 87 errShow, 10
enabling and disabling, 85 fmConfig, 5
alerts configuration recommendations, 3 fwclassinit, 24
fwFruCfg, 4, 78
area
fwMailCfg, 9
environment class, 69
licenseAdd, 24
fabric class, 35
portThConfig, 4, 6, 49, 52
FRU class, 77
snmpConfig, 10
performance monitor class, 41
switchStatusPolicySet, 75
port class, 49
sysMonitor, 7, 71, 72, 73
resource class, 70
thConfig, 4, 5, 6, 42
security class, 37
thMonitor, 6, 45
SFP class, 40
configuration guidelines
areas, 19
actions, 4
audit messages, 11
threshold, 4
configuration tasks, list of, 29
configuring
B email notifications, 87
Fabric Watch thresholds, 83
below event trigger, 15 FRU alarms, 85
BNA, port fencing configuration, 65 threshold alarms, Fabric Watch, 84
configuring alarm notifications, 34
configuring ports, 52
core blades, notification when removed, 75
CPU and memory configuration, 73

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D Fabric health concepts, 1
fabric monitoring
data values, 11 guidelines, 35
default settings recommended settings, 47
E_Port, 56 setting guidelines, 36
environment class, 70 Fabric Watch
Fabric class, 37 activation, 23, 81
FOP_Port and FCU_Port, 59 alarm behavior, 17
performance monitor class alarms, 84
default settings, 42 audit messages, 11
port class, 51 class areas, 19
VE_Port, 61 classes, 19, 20
disabling components, 19
Fabric Watch threshold alarms, 85 configuration tasks, 29
displaying customizing settings, 3
alarms, Fabric Watch, 87 description of, 1
elements, 20
fabric health, 1
feature overview, 2
E interface types, 23
interfaces for activating, 23
E_Port default settings, 56 notification types, 9
E_Port setting guidelines, 55 reports, 89
e-mail alert, 9 role-based access control, 2
how to disable, 32 support for virtual fabric, 8
how to enable, 32 switch monitoring components, 5
setting recipient e-mail address, 33 threshold component hierarchy, 4
e-mail notification configuration, 30 thresholds, 83
email notifications, 87 Fabric Watch configuration
e-mail, testing a message, 32 configuring e-mail alerts, 29
enabling configuring the FRU state, 30
Fabric Watch threshold alarms, 85 e-mail notification, 30
environment class initializing Fabric Watch classes, 29
area, 69 setting alarms filtering, 29
default settings, 70 setting port parameters, 30
monitoring, 69 setting SFP, Fabric, Security, and Performance
recommended settings, 74 parameters, 29
environment class areas, 69 setting system monitoring parameters, 30
environment monitoring guidelines, 69 setting the alarm level, 29
setting the port persistence time, 30
event settings, 14
setting the switch status policy, 30
event triggers
Fabric Watch data values, 11
above, 15
Fabric Watch threshold components, 19
below, 15
fan status, displaying, 30
FCU_Port default settings, 59
FCU_Port setting guidelines, 58
F FOP_Port default settings, 59
FOP_Port setting guidelines, 58
fabric class
FRU alarms, configuring, 85
areas, 35
default settings, 37
fabric event monitoring, 5

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FRU class notification type
areas, 77 e-mail alert, 9
configuration, 77 locked port log, 10
recommended settings, 79 RASlog, 10
specifying triggers for alarms, 78 SNMP trap, 9
FRU configuration, 30
FRU monitoring, 77
P
I performance monitor class areas, 41
performance monitoring, 5
interface types, 23 guidelines and settings, 41
invalid CRC area, configuring, 53 recommended settings, 47
IP address, setting for notification, 33 physical port setting guides, 51
port class
areas, 49
L default settings, 51
guidelines and default settings, 50
port configuration, 52
licenseAdd key command, 24
invalid CRC area, 53
locked port log notification type, 10
recommended settings table, 65
port fencing
configuring using BNA, 65
M description of, 7
disabling, 64
management information base (MIB), 8 enabling, 64
memory supported ports, 62
configuration limits, 73 port log lock, 10
configuring the usage threshold, 74 port monitoring configuration, 30
MIBs, using remotely, 8 port persistence, 8
monitoring description of, 6
customizing settings, 4 setting, 30
fabric events, 5 time setting, 62
fabric setting guidelines, 36 port reports, how to create, 30
performance, 5 port settings, custom, 52
security, 6
security guidelines, 37
SFP, 6
SFP setting guidelines, 40 Q
system, 7
QSFP
description of, 44
monitoring, 44
N support for, 6
notification configuration, 34
alarms, 34
notification methods, 2 R
e-mail, 31
e-mail alert, 9 RASlog notification type, 10
port log lock, 10 RASlog, generation when core blade is removed, 75
RBAC, permissions required for Fabric Watch, 2

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relay host configuration thMonitor command
displaying, 34 configuration options, 6, 45
removing, 34 threshold alarms, Fabric Watch
setting, 33 configuring threshold alarms, 84
resource class enabling and disabling, 85
area, 70 threshold configuration
default settings, 71 guidelines, 4
recommended settings, 74 threshold values, 13
resource class area, 70 thresholds
above event trigger, 15
below event trigger, 15
S event settings, 14
time bases, 16
security class time base
areas, 37 definition of, 11, 16
security monitoring, 6 set to none, 16
recommended settings, 47 set to other than none, 16
setting time base, 16
settings, customizing, 3
SFP V
support for 10 Gbps and 16 Gbps, 6
SFP class VE_Port class default settings, 61
monitoring guidelines, 39
SFP monitoring, 6
recommended settings, 47 W
SNMP
components of, 8 Web Tools, using to activate Fabric Watch, 28
using to activate Fabric Watch, 24
switch monitoring components, 5
switch policies, 7
switch status policy
implementing, 76
viewing, 76
switch status policy configuration, 30
switch status policy planning, 75
switch temperature, displaying, 30
sysMonitor
command, 71
command examples, 72
system monitoring, 7
system monitoring configuration, 30

T
Telnet, using to activate Fabric Watch, 23
temperature, configuring using sysMonitor command, 72
thConfig command
configuration options, 42

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