Dell Brocade 5300 Administrator's Guide

752

53-1002752-01
14 December 2012

Fabric Watch

Administrator’s Guide

®

Supporting Fabric OS v7.1.0

Copyright © 2000, 2002-2012 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Brocade, the B-wing symbol, BigIron, DCX, Fabric OS, FastIron, NetIron, SAN Health, ServerIron, and TurboIron are registered
trademarks, and AnyIO, Brocade Assurance, Brocade NET Health, Brocade One, CloudPlex, MLX, VCS, VDX, and When the Mission
Is Critical, the Network Is Brocade are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other
countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned are or may be trademarks or service marks 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
open source license agreements. To find out which open source software is included in Brocade products, view the licensing
terms applicable to the open source software, and obtain a copy of the programming source code, please visit

http://www.brocade.com/support/oscd.

Brocade Communications Systems, Incorporated

Corporate and Latin American Headquarters
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
130 Holger Way
San Jose, CA 95134
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

European Headquarters
Brocade Communications Switzerland Sàrl
Centre Swissair
Tour B - 4ème étage
29, Route de l'Aéroport
Case Postale 105
CH-1215 Genève 15
Switzerland
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

Asia-Pacific Headquarters
Brocade Communications Systems China HK, Ltd.
No. 1 Guanghua Road
Chao Yang District
Units 2718 and 2818
Beijing 100020, China
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

Asia-Pacific Headquarters
Brocade Communications Systems Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen WFOE)
Citic Plaza
No. 233 Tian He Road North
Unit 1308 – 13th Floor
Guangzhou, China
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

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

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. 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

clarity.
Updates to support Fabric OS v6.2.0:

Virtual Fabric, port movement, fan
monitoring behavior, link reset, and DCX­4S.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1001342-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v6.3.0:

portThConfig, portFencing, and
sysMonitor commands and Brocade
8000 support.

December 2003

April 2004

September 2004

March 2005

November 2005

September 2006

June 2007

November 2008

July 2009

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide iii
53-1002752-01

Title Publication Number Summary of Changes Date

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1001770-01 Updates to support Fabric OS v6.4.0:

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:

• 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.

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

release for Fabric Watch; being replaced
by MAPS in next Fabric OS version)

• Continuous alerting mode has been

removed from Fabric Watch.

• The ITW counter includes a physical

coding sublayer (PCS) violation. ITW
violations can occur due to an ITW
violation, a PCS violation, or both.

March 2010

April 2011

December 2011

December 2012

iv Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

Contents

About This Document

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

How this document is organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Supported hardware and software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi

Deprecated hardware platform support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi

What’s new in this document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi

New information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Changed information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Removed information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Document conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii

Text formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Notes, cautions, and warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii

Key terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii

Additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

Other industry resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

Getting technical help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xx

Chapter 1 Fabric Watch

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Fabric health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Fabric Watch overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Role-based access control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fabric Watch licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide v
53-1002752-01

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Logical switch support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Threshold monitoring using SNMP tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

MIB capability configuration parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Fabric Watch event settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Fabric Watch notification types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

E-mail alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

SNMP traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

RASlog (switch event) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Locked port log. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Fabric Watch audit messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Data values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Fabric Watch support in Access Gateway mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Chapter 2 Fabric Watch Thresholds

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

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

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Fabric Watch classes, areas, and elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Chapter 4 Fabric Watch Activation

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

vi Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

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

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Fabric Watch configuration tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Setting Fabric Watch custom and default values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Setting recipient e-mail address for 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

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Fabric monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Fabric class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Fabric monitoring setting guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Fabric class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Security monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Security class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Security monitoring default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

SFP monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

SFP class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

SFP monitoring default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Performance monitoring guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . .45

Performance Monitor class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Performance monitoring setting guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Performance Monitor class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

thConfig command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

thConfig command examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

16 Gbps and QSFP monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Recommended settings for Fabric, SFP, Performance,

Security classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Chapter 7 Port Monitoring

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide vii
53-1002752-01

Port class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Port class guidelines and default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Physical port setting guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Port class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Port configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Custom port settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Using the nosave command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

portThConfig command procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Port type: physical port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

E_Port subclass setting guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

E_Port class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass setting guidelines . . . . . . . . 64

FOP_Port and FCU_Port subclass default settings . . . . . . . . . .65

VE_Port class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

Port type: E_Port, FOP_Port, or FCU_Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

Setting the port persistence time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Port fencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Port fencing configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Port fencing configuration using BNA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Recommended port configuration settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

Chapter 8 System Monitoring

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Environment monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Environment class area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Environment monitoring setting guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Environment class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Resource class settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Resource class area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Resource class setting guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Resource class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

System monitoring using the sysMonitor command. . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Using the nosave command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Examples of the sysMonitor command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Environment class settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Resource class settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

CPU and memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Examples of the CPU and memory commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Recommended environment and resource monitoring settings . . . 81

Switch monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Switch status policy planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

FRU monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

FRU class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Configuring FRUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

Specifying triggers for FRU alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Recommended FRU settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

viii Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

Chapter 9 Fabric Watch Configuration Using Web Tools

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Fabric Watch Configuration Using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Opening the Fabric Watch window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

System Monitoring using Web Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Fabric Watch threshold configuration using Web Tools . . . . . . 89

Configuring alarms for FRUs using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Configuring alarm filters using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Fabric Watch alarm information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

E-mail notification using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

Chapter 10 Fabric Watch Reports

In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Fabric Watch reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Switch Availability Monitor report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Generating a Switch Availability Monitor report. . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Switch Health report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Generating a Switch Health report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Switch Status Policy report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Generating a Switch Status Policy report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Port Detail report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Generating a Port Detail report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Index

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide ix
53-1002752-01

x Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

Tables

Tab le 1 Fabric Watch classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Tab le 2 Fabric Watch configuration tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Tab le 3 Fabric class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Tab le 4 Fabric class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Tab le 5 Security class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Tab le 6 Security class area default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Tab le 7 SFP class areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Tab le 8 SFP class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Tab le 9 Performance Monitor class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Tab le 10 Performance Monitor class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Tab le 11 End-to-End Performance Monitor class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Tab le 12 Configuration options for thConfig command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Tab le 13 16 Gbps and QSFP configurable SFP types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Tab le 14 Recommended settings for Fabric, SFP, Performance, and Security classes . . 52

Tab le 15 Port class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Tab le 16 Port class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Table 17 E_Port class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Tab le 18 FOP_Port and FCU_Port class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Tab le 19 VE_Port class default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Tab le 20 Port fencing class and subclass areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Tab le 21 Recommended port fencing thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Tab le 22 Recommended configuration for the Port class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Tab le 23 Environment class area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Tab le 24 Environment class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Tab le 25 Resource class area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Tab le 26 Resource class default settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Tab le 27 Recommended Environment and Resource class settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Tab le 28 Switch status policy factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Tab le 29 FRU class areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Tab le 30 Recommended FRU settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Tab le 31 Alarm notification table fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Tab le 32 Fabric OS commands to view Fabric Watch reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Tab le 33 Port Detail report columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xi
53-1002752-01

xii Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Figure 6 Example OID tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Figure 7 Fabric Watch dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xiii
53-1002752-01

xiv Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

About This Document

In this chapter

•How this document is organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

•Supported hardware and software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi

•What’s new in this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi

•Document conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

•Additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

•Getting technical help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

•Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx

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.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xv
53-1002752-01

What’s new in this document

• 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.

• 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 7.1.0, 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 7.1.0 release. These platforms
can interoperate with switches running Fabric OS 7.0.0, but cannot load Fabric OS 7.1.0.

• Brocade 4100

• Brocade 4900

• Brocade 5000

• Brocade 7500/7500E

• Brocade 7600

• Brocade 48000

The following blades are not supported in any chassis operating with Fabric OS 7.1.0:

• FA4-18

• FC4-16IP

• FC4-16

• FC4-32

• FC4-48

What’s new in this document

This document contains information that was available at the time the product was released. Any
information that becomes available after the release of this document is captured in the release
notes.

xvi Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

What’s new in this document

New information

• Added information about the four threshold types: above high threshold, below high threshold,

above low threshold, and below low threshold.

• Added information about the thMonitor command, which supports the SFP class.

• Added information about 10 Gbps, 16 Gbps and QSFP SFP support, including the new sfpType

operand.

• Added information about how the fwMailCfg command now supports multiple e-mail

recipients.

• Pause and continue monitoring functionality continued with the thConfig, portThConfig, and

sysMonitor command.

• Added information about the ITW counter, which includes a physical coding sublayer (PCS)

violation. ITW violations can occur due to an ITW violation, a PCS violation, or both.

Changed information

• Updated port fencing section and included moderate, aggressive, and conservative threshold

settings.

• Recommended settings for Port areas using the portThConfig command.

• Buffer settings which now enable the user to configure “in-between” buffer values for

thresholds that fall between the below high threshold and the above low threshold boundaries.

• Packet loss monitoring enhancements on the VE_Port.

Removed information

• All references to deprecated fwconfigure and fwshow commands

• Seconds timebase

• “In-between” and “Changed” default alarm setting options

• Continuous alerting mode has been removed from Fabric Watch

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

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xvii
53-1002752-01

What’s new in this document

NOTE

ATTENTION

CAUTION

DANGER

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.

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.

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

Identifies variables
Identifies paths and Internet addresses
Identifies document titles

Identifies syntax examples

An Attention statement indicates potential damage to hardware or data.

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

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, 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.

xviii Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

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

What’s new in this document

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

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

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xix
53-1002752-01

What’s new in this document

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:

[e-mail]

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.

xx Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

Chapter

Fabric Watch

In this chapter

1

•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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

•Switch monitoring components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

•Logical switch support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

•Fabric Watch event settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

•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.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 1
53-1002752-01

Fabric Watch overview

1

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 Action 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 a 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 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.

2 Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

Reasons to customize Fabric Watch settings

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

1

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.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 3
53-1002752-01

Reasons to customize Fabric Watch settings

NOTE

NOTE

1

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. See “Setting Fabric Watch custom and default values” on page 31 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.

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.

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.

4 Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

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.

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.

Class, area, and element hierarchy

1

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 37.

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. See the Fabric OS Command Reference Manual for
details.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 5
53-1002752-01

Switch monitoring components

NOTE

NOTE

NOTE

1

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

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 45

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 40.

match specific values in the first 64 bytes of the frame. Since 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.

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. See “16

Gbps and QSFP monitoring” on page 48 for more information.

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 43.

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).

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 Manual for more
information and for details about the portThConfig command.

6 Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

Switch monitoring components

NOTE

For complete information about port monitoring, including configuration examples, port setting
guidelines, and default settings, refer to “Port Monitoring” on page 55.

1

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 69.

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).

Port fencing is not enabled by default. You must manually e nable por t fencing. Refer to “Port fencing

configuration” on page 70 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 78.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 7
53-1002752-01

Logical switch support

1

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.

See “Switch status policy planning” on page 82 for information on configuring switch policies.

See Chapter 10, “Fabric Watch Reports,” for information on viewing the current switch policies
using the Switch Status Policy report.

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 which the logical switch from which
the port was moved, and created for the logical switch to where the port is moved.

A logical interswitch link (LISL) is the logical portion of the physical connection that joins base
switches. You can enable or disable port thresholds and create thresholds for state changes on
LISLs, but Fabric Watch does not support other threshold areas such as link loss or signal loss for
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 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)

8 Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01

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 Guide 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.

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.

Fabric Watch event settings

1

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
address. 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 addresss with a comma and
include the complete e-mail address. For example, [e-mail] is a valid email address; abc@12
is not.

For a recipient to receive the e-mail, 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-mails can be forwarded through a relay host. You can

configure the relay host IP address using the fwMailCfg command.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 9
53-1002752-01

Fabric Watch notification types

1

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.

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, see the Fabric OS

Command Reference.

SNMP trap counters

• When a counter is in the “in-between” state, Fabric Watch sends an informational SNMP trap.

See “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.

See “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.

10 Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide

53-1002752-01