Brocade Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
53-1000601-02
March 2008
Fabric Watch
Administrator’s Guide
Supporting Fabric OS v6.1.0
Copyright © 2007, 2008 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Brocade, Fabric OS, File Lifecycle Manager, MyView, and StorageX are registered trademarks and the Brocade B-wing symbol,
DCX, and SAN Health are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries.
All other brands, products, or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of, and are used to identify, products or
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Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or implied, concerning
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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 53-0000198-02 n/a January 2002
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 the document.
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000524-04 Rewrote the document
completely and 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 features and
Brocade 3016 and 4100
switches.
Rewrote Chapter 4,
“Configuring Fabric Watch.”
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-0000524-06 Renamed book. Combined
the 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 features and
Brocade 4900 and 7500
switches.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000243-01 Updates to support Fabric
OS v5.2.0 features and the
FC4-16IP and FC4-48 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, implementation
of IPV6.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000601-01 Updates to support Fabric
OS v6.0.0
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000601-02 Updates to support Fabric
OS v6.1.0
December 2003
April 2004
September 2004
March 2005
November 2005
September 2006
June 2007
September 2007
March 2008
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide iii
53-1000601-02
iv Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
53-1000601-02
Contents
About This Document
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
How this document is organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Supported hardware and software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
What’s new in this document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Document conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Text Formatting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi
Notes, cautions, and warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Key terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Brocade resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Other industry resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Getting technical help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Chapter 1 Fabric Watch Concepts
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fabric Watch overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fabric Watch and Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Introduction to fabric health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Fabric Watch components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Event Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Event behavior types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Data values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Threshold values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Time bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Event settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Port persistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Port fencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
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Notification methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Switch event (error) log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
SNMP trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
RAPI trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Port log lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
E-mail alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Notification methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Switch policies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Audit messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 2 Activating and Accessing Fabric Watch
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Fabric Watch activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Activating Fabric Watch with Telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Fabric Watch access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Fabric Watch access using the CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Fabric Watch access using SNMP-based enterprise managers27
Configuration file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Chapter 3 Fabric Watch configuration
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Fabric Watch threshold configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Step 1. Configuring the class and area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Step 2. Configuring port fencing (optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Step 3. Threshold configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Step 4. Advanced configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Step 5. Alarm configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Step 6. Disable and enable thresholds by port (optional) . . . .43
Notification configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Configuring alarm notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
SNMP notification configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
API notification configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Port Log Lock action configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
E-mail notification configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Switch status policy configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Switch status policy planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Implementing your switch status policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Viewing your switch status policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
FRU configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
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Fabric Watch using SNMP configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Configuring Fabric Watch using SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Chapter 4 Generating Fabric Watch Reports
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Types of Fabric Watch reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
SAM report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Switch health report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Switch status policy report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Port detail report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Viewing Fabric Watch reports using Telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Appendix A Default Threshold Values
In this appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Environment class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Fabric class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Performance Monitor class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Port class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
E_Port class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
F/FL_Port class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Resource class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Security class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
SFP class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Appendix B Basic Fabric Watch Configuration Guidelines
Appendix C Using Fabric Watch with Configuration Files
In this appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Configuration files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Configuring Fabric Watch with the configuration file. . . . . . . . . 79
Configuring Fabric Watch with a profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Appendix D Port fencing types
Index
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About This Document
In this chapter
•How this document is organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
•Supported hardware and software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
•What’s new in this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
•Document conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
•Additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
•Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
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 Concepts,” 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, “Activating and Accessing Fabric Watch,” describes the Fabric Watch requirements,
provides an overview of the interfaces, and explains the methods of accessing Fabric Watch
through each interface.
• Chapter 3, “Fabric Watch configuration,” describes how to configure Fabric Watch.
• Chapter 4, “Generating Fabric Watch Reports,” describes the reports available through Fabric
Watch and the methods of accessing each.
• Appendix A, “Default Threshold Values,” describes the Fabric Watch default threshold values
for all classes.
• Appendix B, “Basic Fabric Watch Configuration Guidelines,” describes some of the
modifications Fabric Watch users should consider when configuring their implementation.
• Appendix C, “Using Fabric Watch with Configuration Files,” describes the two methods of using
configuration files.
• Appendix D, “Port fencing types,” lists the set of port fencing types that are available with
Brocade Fabric OS version 6.1.
• The index points you to the exact pages on which specific information is located.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide ix
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Supported hardware and software
This document is specific to Brocade Fabric OS version 6.0.0 and all switches running Fabric OS
version 6.1.0, including:
• Brocade 200E switch
• Brocade 300 switch
• Brocade 4016 switch
• Brocade 4020 switch
• Brocade 4024 switch
• Brocade 4100 switch
• Brocade 4900 switch
• Brocade 5000 switch
• Brocade 5100 switch
• Brocade 5300 switch
• Brocade 7500 SAN routers
• Brocade 7600 switch
• Brocade 48000 director
• Brocade DCX
What’s new in this document
The following Information was added:
• Port Fencing: Port Fencing is supported with Port class, E_Port class, and F/FL_Port class
in the following areas: Link Loss, Sync Loss, Protocol Error, Invalid Words, and Invalid CRCs.
Port Fencing is configured using the fwconfigure command.
• Support for Brocade 300, 5100, and 5300.
Information that was changed or removed:
• Default threshold values and buffer sizes have been changed for port, E_Port and
F/FL_Port classes.
• The agtcfgset and snmpmibcapset commands have been removed. Both have been
replaced with the snmpConfig command.
• Support for Brocade 3250, 3850, 3900, and 24000.
For further information, see the release notes.
x Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
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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
italic text Provides emphasis
code text Identifies CLI output
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.
Identifies the names of user-manipulated GUI elements
Identifies keywords and operands
Identifies text to enter at the GUI or CLI
Identifies variables
Identifies paths and Internet addresses
Identifies document titles
Identifies syntax examples
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.
CAUTION
A Caution statement alerts you to situations that can be potentially hazardous to you.
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.
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xi
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Key terms
For definitions specific to Brocade and Fibre Channel, see 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.
Brocade resources
To get up-to-the-minute information, join Brocade Connect. It’s free! Go to http://www.brocade.com
and click Brocade Connect to register at no cost for a user ID and password.
For practical discussions about SAN design, implementation, and maintenance, you can obtain
Building SANs with Brocade Fabric Switches through:
http://www.amazon.com
For additional Brocade documentation, visit the Brocade SAN Info Center and click the Resource
Library location:
http://www.brocade.com
Release notes are available on the Brocade Connect Web site and are also bundled with the Fabric
OS firmware.
Other industry resources
• White papers, online demos, and data sheets are available through the Brocade Web site at
http://www.brocade.com/products/software.jhtml.
• Best practice guides, white papers, data sheets, and other documentation is available through
the Brocade Partner Web site.
For additional resource information, visit the Technical Committee T11 Web site. This Web site
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 Web
site:
http://www.fibrechannel.org
xii Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
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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,
as illustrated below.:
*FT00X0054E9*
FT00X0054E9
The serial number label is located as follows:
• Brocade 200E—On the nonport side of the chassis
• Brocade 300, 4100 , 4900, 5100, 5300, and 7500—On the switch ID pull-out tab located
on the port side on the left
• Brocade 5000—On the switch ID pull-out tab located on the bottom of the port side of the
switch
• Brocade 7600—On the bottom of the chassis
• Brocade 48000—Inside the chassis next to the power supply bays
• Brocade DCX—On the bottom right on the port side of the chassis
3. World Wide Name (WWN)
Use the wwn command to display the switch WWN.
If you cannot use the wwn 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.
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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:
documentation@brocade.com
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.
xiv Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
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DRAFT: BROCADE CONFIDENTIAL
Chapter
Fabric Watch Concepts
In this chapter
•Fabric Watch overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
•Introduction to fabric health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
•Fabric Watch components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
•Event Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
•Port persistence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
•Notification methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
•Switch policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
•Audit messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Fabric Watch overview
1
Fabric Watch is an optional storage area network (SAN) health monitor software feature for
Brocade switches. It enables each switch to constantly monitor its SAN fabric for potential faults
and to automatically alert you to problems long before they become costly failures.
Fabric Watch tracks a variety of SAN fabric elements, events, and counters. Monitoring fabric-wide
events, ports, GBICs, and environmental parameters enables early fault detection and isolation as
well as performance measurement. You can select custom fabric elements and alert thresholds or
choose from a selection of preconfigured settings. You can also easily integrate Fabric Watch with
enterprise system management solutions.
By implementing Fabric Watch, you can rapidly improve SAN availability and performance without
installing new software or system administration tools.
For a growing number of organizations, SAN fabrics are a mission-critical part of their system
architecture. These fabrics can include hundreds of elements, such as hosts, storage devices,
switches, and interswitch links (ISLs). An instrumentation solution for SANs delivers optimal value
by tracking a wide spectrum of fabric events. For instance, Fabric Watch monitors:
• Fabric resources, including fabric reconfigurations, zoning changes, and new logins.
• Switch environmental functions such as temperature, power supply, and fan status, along with
security violations.
• Port state transitions, errors, and traffic information for multiple port classes as well as
operational values for supported models of “smart” GBICs/SFPs.
• Performance information for AL_PA and end-to-end metrics.
Fabric Watch lets you define how often to measure each switch and fabric element and to 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.
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Fabric Watch provides the following types of automatic notifications:
• A continuous alarm provides a warning message whenever a threshold is breached; it
continues to send alerts until the condition is corrected. For example, if a switch exceeds its
temperature threshold, Fabric Watch activates an alarm at every measurement interval until
the temperature returns to an acceptable level.
• A triggered alarm generates the first warning when a threshold condition is reached and a
second alarm when the threshold condition is cleared.
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:
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap
Following an event, Fabric Watch transmits critical event data as an SNMP trap. Support for
SNMP makes Fabric Watch readily compatible with both network and enterprise management
solutions.
• Event log entry
Following an event, Fabric Watch adds an entry to the internal event log for an individual
switch, which stores up to 1024 error messages.
• Lock port log
Following an event, Fabric Watch adds an entry to the internal port log for an individual switch
and freezes the log to ensure that detail-level information is available.
• Rapi Trap
Following an event, Fabric Watch forwards event information to a proxy switch, which then
forwards the information to a server to notify you.
• E-mail notification
Following an event, Fabric Watch creates and sends an informational e-mail to a designated
recipient.
Fabric Watch is designed for rapid deployment. Simply enabling Fabric Watch permits immediate
fabric monitoring. Fabric Watch is also designed for rapid custom configuration. You can easily
create and modify configuration files using a text editor and then distribute configurations to all the
switches in the SAN through the Fabric OS configuration management utility. Fabric Watch also
comes with preconfigured profiles for rapid implementation.
For information on configuring and managing your SAN, see the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.
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Fabric Watch and Web Tools
Web Tools provides a graphical user interface that can be launched from an Internet browser as an
alternative to Telnet and the command line interface. You can use Web Tools to perform any of the
following Fabric Watch-related operations:
• Activate Fabric Watch.
• View fabric and switch events.
• View and modify threshold and alarm configurations with the Fabric Watch view.
• Upload and download the configuration file.
• View and configure the FRU module.
• View and configure the e-mail address to which event messages are sent.
• View Fabric Watch reports.
Refer to the Web Tools Administrator’s Guide for information about how to use Web Tools.
Introduction to fabric health
Fabric Watch and Web Tools
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Fabric health refers to the capability of the fabric to support data being routed through it. A healthy
fabric enables effective data transmission between networked devices.
Although the concept of fabric health initially seems fairly simple, it can be a deep and complex
topic due to the number of factors that are involved. One of the more obvious criteria for fabric
health is the condition of the network hardware. A switch or port failure could easily 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 losses. Even environmental factors can become issues, as network hardware
can fail to function properly when stored in locations that do not meet the environmental conditions
for the device. For example, switches can fail when stored in rooms that are too hot.
Because of the varied and complex factors in determining fabric health, you need fabric monitoring
software such as Fabric Watch to help you to quickly 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.
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 preemptive network
maintenance such as trunking or zoning and avoid potential network failures.
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Fabric Watch components
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 high-level categories of elements. Classes are intentionally wide groupings of similar
fabric devices or fabric data.
Examples of classes include Port (which includes all physical ports on a switch), Security (which
includes information related to unauthorized login attempts), and Environment (which contains
information related to the internal temperature, supplied power and fan assemblies).
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.
Tab le 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, fans, and
power.
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.
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.
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 alarms to determine traffic load and flow and to reallocate resources
appropriately.
The Performance Monitor class is divided into the areas AL_PA Performance
Monitor, EE (end-to-end) Performance Monitor, and Filter Performance Monitor.
Performance Monitoring is not supported on VE, EX, and VEX ports.
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TABLE 1 Fabric Watch classes (Continued)
Class Description
Port Enables you to set additional thresholds specific to different types of ports.
The Port class is made up of the following classes:
• E_Port class—Represents ports connected to another switch.
Note: If you are using a Brocade 48000 with a 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 (includes EX_Ports)
— FCIP (includes VE_Ports and VEX_Ports)
— State changes, utilization, and packet loss (applicable to VE_Ports only)
• F/FL_Port class —Represents fabric or fabric loop ports that are made of
copper or optical fiber.
Resource Monitors flash memory. It calculates the amount of flash space consumed and
compares it to a defined threshold.
Security Monitors all attempts to breach your SAN security, helping you fine-tune your
security measures.
SFP Groups areas that monitor the physical aspects of SFPs. An SFP class alarm alerts
you to an SFP malfunction fault.
Note: SFPs connected to GbE ports are not monitored.
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Areas
While classes represent large groupings of information, areas represent the information that Fabric
Watch monitors. For example, switch temperature, one of the values tracked by Fabric Watch, is an
area within the class Environment.
The tables in this section describe all of the areas monitored by Fabric Watch, organized by their
associated classes.
Environment class areas
Tab le 2 lists and describes the Fabric Watch areas in the Environment class.
TABLE 2 Environment class areas
Area Description
Fan Refers to the speed of the fans inside the switch, in revolutions per minute. It is important that
the fans spin quickly enough to keep the ambient temperature from rising to levels at which
switch damage might occur.
Power Supply Monitors whether power supplies within the switch are on, off, present, absent, or faulty. Fabric
Watch monitors power supplies to be sure that power is always available to a switch.
Tem perature 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
The fans in the Brocade 200E do not return RPM values, so there is no fan class area for it.
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Fabric class areas
Tab le 3 lists Fabric Watch areas in the Fabric class and describes each area.
TABLE 3 Fabric class areas
Area Description
Domain ID Changes Monitors forced domain ID changes. Forced domain ID changes occur when there is a
conflict of domain IDs in a single fabric and the principal switch has to assign another
domain ID to a switch.
Fabric Logins Activate when ports and devices initialize with the fabric.
Fabric Reconfiguration Tracks the number of reconfigurations of the fabric. Fabric reconfiguration occurs when:
• 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.
Loss of E_Port 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).
Segmentation Changes Tracks the cumulative number of segmentation changes. Segmentation changes occur
due to:
• 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.
SFP State Changes Indicates whether the state of the SFP is normal or faulty, on or off. A faulty or off state
means that you must reinsert, turn on, or replace the SFP. Fabric Watch monitors only
the digital diagnostic SFP.
Note: SFPs connected to GbE ports are not monitored.
Zoning Changes 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.
FRU class areas
Tab le 4 lists Fabric Watch areas in the FRU class and describes each area. Possible states for all
FRU-class areas are absent, faulty, inserted, on, off, ready, and up.
TABLE 4 FRU class areas
Area Indicates
Slot State of a slot has changed.
Power Supply State of a power supply has changed.
Fan State of a fan has changed.
WWN State of a WWN card has changed.
Supported FRU areas depend on the type of Brocade switches. For nonmodular switches such as
the Brocade 4100, 4900, 5000, 7500 and 7600, the slot and WWN areas are not supported.
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Performance Monitor class areas
Tab le 5 lists Fabric Watch areas in the Performance Monitor class and describes each area.
TABLE 5 Performance Monitor class areas
Area Indicates
Customer Define Relies on performance monitor Telnet commands. For more information on this area,
see the Fabric OS Command Reference.
Invalid Cyclic Redundancy
Checks (CRC)
Receive Performance The percentage of word frames traveling from the configured S_ID to the D_ID exceeds
Transmit Performance The percentage of word frames traveling from the configured D_ID to the S_ID; user
Errors have been detected in the Fibre Channel frame. Invalid CRC messages occur
when the number of CRC errors in Fibre Channel frames for specific source ID (S_ID)
and destination ID (D_ID) pairs change. These messages can also be caused by dirty
or aging equipment and temperature fluctuations.
the configured thresholds.
configuration triggers these messages, so you can use the Transmit Performance area
to tune your network.
Port class areas
Tab le 6 lists and describes the Fabric Watch areas in the port class.
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 6 Port class areas
Area Indicates
Invalid Cyclic Redundancy
Checks (CRCs)
Invalid Transmission Word A word did not transmit successfully. Invalid word messages usually indicate a
Link Failure Count A link has lost the signal. Both physical and hardware problems can cause link
Loss of Signal Count The number of times that a signal loss occurs in a port. Signal loss indicates that
Loss of Synchronization (Sync)
Count
Packet Loss The number of packets routed through a port exceeds the port bandwidth,
Primitive Sequence Protocol
Error
Receive (RX) Performance The percentage of maximum bandwidth consumed in packet receipts.
A frame is invalid and cannot be transmitted. Invalid CRCs can represent noise on
the network. Such frames are recoverable by retransmission. Invalid CRCs
indicate a potential hardware problem. These errors occur mostly in aging fabrics.
hardware problem.
failures. Link failures frequently occur due to a loss of synchronization. Check for
concurrent loss of synchronization errors and, if applicable, troubleshoot those
errors. Link failures also occur due to hardware failures.
no data is moving through the port. A loss of signal usually indicates a hardware
problem.
Two devices failed to communicate at the same speed. Synchronization losses
are always accompanied by link failure. Loss of synchronization errors frequently
occur due to a faulty SFP or cable.
specific to the E_Port.
A CRC sum disparity. Occasionally, these errors occur due to software glitches.
Persistent errors occur due to hardware problems.
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TABLE 6 Port class areas (Continued)
Area Indicates
State Changes The state of the port has changed for one of the following reasons:
• The port has gone offline.
• The port has come online.
• The port is testing.
• The port is faulty.
• The port has become an E_Port, EX_Port, VE_Port, or VEX_Port.
• The port has become an F/FL_Port.
• The port has segmented.
• The port has become a trunk port.
Transmit (TX) Performance The percentage of maximum bandwidth consumed in packet transmissions.
Utilization Indicates the percent of utilization for the port at the time of the last poll.
NOTE
Physical link error counters and statistics (such as link failure count, loss of signal co unt , and RX an d
TX performance percentages) are not applicable to VE_Ports.
Resource class area
Tab le 7 describes the Fabric Watch resource class area.
TABLE 7 Resource class area
Area Description
Flash Monitor Monitors the compact flash space available by calculating the percentage of flash space
consumed and comparing it with the configured high threshold value.
Security class areas
Tab le 8 lists Fabric Watch areas in the security class and describes what each area indicates. For
details on each area, see the Secure Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.
TABLE 8 Security class areas
Area Indicates
API Violation An API access request reaches a secure switch from an unauthorized IP address.
DCC Violation An unauthorized device attempts to log in to a secure fabric.
Front Panel Violation A secure switch detects unauthorized front panel access.
HTTP Violation A browser access request reaches a secure switch from an unauthorized IP address.
Illegal Command Commands permitted only to the primary Fibre Channel Switch (FCS) are executed on
another switch.
Incompatible DB Secure switches with different version stamps have been detected.
Invalid Certificates The primary FCS sends a certificate to all switches in the secure fabric before it sends
configuration data. Receiving switches accept only packets with the correct certificate;
any other certificates are invalid and represent an attempted security breach.
Invalid Signatures If a switch cannot verify the signature of a packet, the switch rejects the packet and the
signature becomes invalid.
Invalid Timestamps If a time interval becomes too great from the time a packet is sent to the time it is
received, the timestamp of the packet becomes invalid and the switch rejects it.
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TABLE 8 Security class areas (Continued)
Area Indicates
Login Violation A login violation occurs when a secure fabric detects a login failure.
MS Violation An MS (Management Server) violation occurs when an access request reaches a
secure switch from an unauthorized WWN (World Wide Name). The WWN appears in
the ERRLOG.
No FCS The switch has lost contact with the primary FCS.
RSNMP Violation An RSNMP (Remote Simple Network Management Protocol) violation occurs when an
SNMP (simple network management protocol) get operation reaches a secure switch
from an unauthorized IP address.
SCC Violation An SCC violation occurs when an unauthorized switch tries to join a secure fabric. The
WWN of the unauthorized switch appears in the ERRLOG.
Serial Violation A serial violation occurs when a secure switch detects an unauthorized serial port
connection request.
SES Violation An SES violation occurs when an SES (SCSI Enclosed Services) request reaches a
secure switch from an unauthorized WWN.
SLAP Bad Packets A SLAP (Switch Link Authentication Protocol) bad packets failure occurs when the
switch receives a bad SLAP packet. Bad SLAP packets include unexpected packets and
packets with incorrect transmission IDs.
SLAP Failures A SLAP failure occurs when packets try to pass from a nonsecure switch to a secure
fabric.
Telnet Violation A Telnet violation occurs when a Telnet connection request reaches a secure switch
from an unauthorized IP address.
TS Out of Sync A TS (Time Server) out-of-synchronization error has been detected.
WSNMP Violation A WSNMP violation occurs when an SNMP set operation reaches a secure switch from
an unauthorized IP address.
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SFP class areas
Tab le 9 lists Fabric Watch areas in the SFP class and describes each area.
NOTE
SFPs connected to GbE ports are not monitored.
TABLE 9 SFP class areas
Area Description
Temperature The temperature area 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 The receive power area measures the amount of incoming laser, in µwatts, to help determine
if the SFP is in good working condition. If the counter often exceeds the threshold, the SFP is
deteriorating.
Transmit Power The transmit power area measures the amount of outgoing laser, in µwatts. Use this to
determine the condition of the SFP. If the counter often exceeds the threshold, the SFP is
deteriorating.
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TABLE 9 SFP class areas (Continued)
Area Description
Current The current area measures the amount of supplied current to the SFP transceiver. Current
area events indicate hardware failures.
Supply Voltage The supply voltage area measures the amount of voltage supplied to the SFP. If this value
exceeds the threshold, the SFP is deteriorating.
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 word area of Ports 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.
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Event Configuration
The following area attributes are used to define and detect events in Fabric Watch:
• “Event behavior types” on page 11
• “Data values” on page 12
• “Threshold values” on page 12
• “Time bases” on page 14
• “Event settings” on page 16
You can customize the information reported by Fabric Watch by configuring event behavior types,
threshold values, time bases, and event settings. You cannot change data values; these represent
switch behavior that is updated by the software.
Event behavior types
Based on the number of notifications delivered for events there are two categories of event
behavior types:
• Continuous event behavior
• Triggered event behavior
Event Configuration
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Continuous event behavior
You can set behavior type events to continuous trigger during a given sample period, until the fabric
no longer meets the criteria defined for the event.
As an example, you can configure Fabric Watch to notify you during every sample period that a port
is at full utilization. This information can help you plan network upgrades.
Triggered event behavior
If you do not want notification during each sample period from the port hardware failure to the time
of its repair, you can define the event behavior as triggered.
When an event behavior is defined as triggered, Fabric Watch sends only one event notification
when the fabric meets the criteria for the event. It does not send out any more notifications.
For example, when a port fails, Fabric Watch sends you a notification of the failure. After you repair
the port, Fabric Watch detects the repair. At this time, Fabric Watch determines that the fabric no
longer meets the event criteria, and watches for the error again. The next time the port fails, it
sends you another notification.
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Data values
A data value represents three aspects of a fabric: counter value, measured value, or state value.
Data values are updated by Fabric Watch approximately every six seconds, an interval that you
cannot change.
Counter value is the total number of times that a given event has occurred. For each monitored
event during the time period, the value is incremented.
Measured value is the current, measurable value of a fabric or fabric element, such as
environmental temperature or fan speed.
State value, which is the only qualitative data value, provides information on the overall state of a
fabric component, such as the physical health of a fan. Instead of numerical data, state values
contain information on whether components are faulty, active, or in another state.
Fabric Watch compares counter values and 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.
Threshold values
Threshold values are of the following types:
• High and low thresholds
• Buffer values
High and low thresholds
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 due to both overheating and freezing.
You can compare high and low thresholds with a data value. The units of measurement are the
same as that of the associated data.
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Event Configuration
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Buffer values
Figure 1 shows an example in which each time a signal crosses the high limit, an event occurs. The
arrows indicate the points at which the event criteria is met. In this case, there is a great deal of
fluctuation. Even when the monitor is set to triggered, a number of messages are sent.
FIGURE 1 Threshold monitoring
You can use buffer values to reduce the occurrence of events due to data fluctuation. When you
assign a buffer value, it is used to create a zone below the high threshold and above the low
threshold. When values cross above the high threshold or below the low threshold, an event occurs.
Figure 2 shows how to limit the number of event notifications using a buffer. When you specify a
buffer, events cannot occur below the high threshold and above the low threshold. Event
notification occurs only where the arrows indicate. The event criteria is continued to be met until
the data sensed falls below the low threshold value or above the high threshold value.
FIGURE 2 A buffered data region
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Time bases
Time bases are time periods within Fabric Watch. This configurable field impacts the comparison of
sensor-based data with user-defined threshold values.
Setting time base 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 degrees Celsius placed on a counter measuring temperature.
During each sample period, Fabric Watch measures the temperature and compares it against the
high threshold. If the measured temperature exceeds the high threshold, it triggers an event.
FIGURE 3 Time base set to none
Specifying a time base
If you specify a time base value other than none (seconds, 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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Event Configuration
The following examples illustrate each point.
Example1: Triggering an event
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; hence 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.
1
FIGURE 4 Event trigger
Example 2: Not triggering an event
Figure 5 uses the same data to illustrate a case in which a threshold is exceeded without triggering
an event. In this case, the calculated rate of change in the data value is always less than or equal to
the high threshold of 2.
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At the tenth sample, the rate of change is one per minute. At the fourteenth, twenty-first, and
twenty-fifth sample, the rate of change remains equal to the high threshold of 2. In this case, Fabric
Watch does not trigger an event even though the absolute value of the counter reaches 4, which is
well above the high threshold.
FIGURE 5 Example without an event
Event settings
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 impacts event triggering.
Fabric Watch monitors data values for one of the following conditions:
• “Above event triggers,” next
• “Below event trigger” on page 17
• “Changed event trigger” on page 18
• “In-between event triggers” on page 18
For Fabric Watch to monitor these conditions, the alarm setting must be set to a nonzero value.
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