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Connectrix: How to run a basic health check on a Connectrix Brocade B-Series switch, Self-Help.

Summary: General health check on a Brocade switch

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Article Content


Instructions

How to run a basic health check on a Connectrix B-Series switch.

 

For initial diagnosis, running the supportshow command gathers the output from various commands.

If further investigation is needed, it may become necessary to run a supportsave as it contains the supportshow and additional information for engineering and attach it to the appropriate service request.

To collect the supportshow, see EMC Knowledgebase solution:
489144: Connectrix: How to collect a switch log file with a Putty session step by step.
Connectrix: How to collect a switch log file with a PuTTY session, step by step

 

Once supportshow has been completed, open the file with any text file editor. Listed below are the most useful commands that are part of the supportshow output.

 

Additional Information

Enter commands in lowercase only; mixed case is for readability.
- Examples are based on Fabric OS 8.2.x or higher, see the support by Product page (also for older firmware outputs): https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ie/products search for the product in questions, and check for the command guide in the documentation section.
- For detailed explanation of the commands sees also the command guide for the relevant Fabric OS version.

  1. Verify that the switch is Dell Technologies supported.
     
    chassisShow

    This command inventories and displays the FRU header content for each object in the chassis and chassis backplane
    version.
    It provides details about the CHASSIS, FAN, POWER SUPPLY, SW BLADE (switch), CP BLADE (control processor), and WWN UNIT.
    This output is most useful to confirm this is a Dell Technologies supported switch, using its Serial Number.
    If it is a Dell Technologies switch, there are two places to check.
First, scroll to the output labeled WWN Unit: 1 and view the ID Field.
It should be nine characters long and there are different varieties. 
Most of them are beginning with the letters EMC. Second, two lines below is the field Serial Num
All Dell Technologies Connectrix B-Series switch SN's should begin with the letters BRC

Example:
 
WWN  Unit: 1
ED-8510_4S_001:FID128:admin> chassishow
[truncated]
WWN Unit: 1
Header Version: 2
[truncated]
ID: EMCXXXXXX
Part Num: CONTRX0000DCX
Serial Num: BRCXXXXXXXXXXX
 
  1. Firmware: Verify that the firmware is supported.
     
    firmwareShow

    This displays the Fabric OS versions on primary and secondary partitions. For systems with multiple control processor (CP) cards and AP blades, this command displays this information for both local and remote CPs and the AP blades. After verifying the firmware level, you can confirm that the code is currently DELL EMC supported using the Dell support site (look for the asset and check the availability of the code.).
Firmware inconsistencies can cause various issues and if switch firmware has gone EOSL, it is recommended that the customer schedule an upgrade to the Target (T) code.
Example:
ED-8510_4S_fid128:FID128:admin> firmwareshow
Slot Name       Appl     Primary/Secondary Versions               Status
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4  CP0        FOS      v8.2.3c1                                 ACTIVE *
                         v8.2.3c1
  5  CP1        FOS      v8.2.3c1                                 STANDBY
                         v8.2.3c1
  7  FX8-24     FOS      v8.2.3c1
                         v8.2.3c1
  1. Switch Health:
    If the switch is Dell Technologies supported, and the firmware is a supported level, search for the following commands to verify switch health.
Note that the command guide (can be downloaded from the same support site above.) of each version of code gives a comprehensive explanation and examples.

- Monitoring and Alerting Policy Suite (MAPS) In Fabric OS 8.2.x and later use the command:
This command displays a summary of the events or rules triggered and the objects on which the rules were triggered over a specified period of time.
mapsdb --show
 
Dashboard Information:
Displays the dashboard start time, active policies, configured alerts, fenced ports, decommissioned ports, and the quarantined ports.

Switch Health Report:
Displays the overall status of the switch. If the overall status is not healthy, the contributing factors and the fenced ports are listed.

Summary Report:
Displays the status of the monitoring categories determine the current health of the switch. The health state of each category is contributed to by a group of monitoring systems or error counters, and the rules configured in the active policy.
The summary view displays the following information for each category: information collected since midnight of the current day and the historical information collected over the last 7 days.

The health state can be one of the following:
No Error No error has occurred.

In operating range: The errors are within the thresholds configured in the active policy.

Out of operating range: The errors are above the configured thresholds, and this triggers the rules configured in the active policy. This indicates that some attributes of the switch are operating out of the configured range.

Rules Affecting Health: Displays the conditions that contributed to the current switch status. The following information is displayed: number of rules triggered in a category, repeat count, triggered rules, execution time, the elements for which rules were triggered, and the triggered value.

History Data: Displays the following historical data for a specific time window: the monitoring system, the current value that triggered the rule, and the elements for which rules were triggered.

History Data for Backend ports: Displays the error statistics for the backend ports for a specific time window.
If no operands are specified, this command displays the usage.

Example:
ED-8510_4S_fid128:FID128:admin> mapsdb --show

1 Dashboard Information:
=======================

DB start time:                  Sat Jan  1 00:01:50 2000
Active policy:                  dflt_moderate_policy
Configured Notifications:       RASLOG,SNMP,SW_CRITICAL,SW_MARGINAL,SFP_MARGINAL
Fenced Ports :                  None
Decommissioned Ports :          None
Fenced circuits :               None
Quarantined Ports :             None
Top Zoned PIDs <pid(it-flows)>:

2 Switch Health Report:
=======================

Current Switch Policy Status: MARGINAL
Contributing Factors:
---------------------
*EXPIRED_CERTS (MARGINAL).


3.1 Summary Report:
===================

Category                 |Today                     |Last 7 days               |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Port Health              |No Errors                 |In operating range        |
BE Port Health           |No Errors                 |No Errors                 |
Extension GE Port Health |No Errors                 |No Errors                 |
Fru Health               |In operating range        |In operating range        |
Security Violations      |Out of operating range    |Out of operating range    |
Fabric State Changes     |No Errors                 |In operating range        |
Switch Resource          |In operating range        |In operating range        |
Traffic Performance      |In operating range        |In operating range        |
Extension Health         |No Errors                 |No Errors                 |
Fabric Performance Impact|In operating range        |In operating range        |


3.2 Rules Affecting Health:
===========================

Category(Violation Count)|RepeatCount|Rule Name                  |Execution Time   |Object           |Triggered Value(Units)|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Security Violations(46)  |2          |defSWITCHSEC_TELNET_2      |03/28/24 20:35:18|Switch           |3 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |3 Violations          |
                         |2          |defSWITCHSEC_LV_2          |03/28/24 20:35:18|Switch           |3 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |3 Violations          |
                         |3          |defSWITCHSEC_TELNET_2      |03/27/24 20:35:06|Switch           |4 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |4 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |3 Violations          |
                         |3          |defSWITCHSEC_LV_2          |03/27/24 20:35:06|Switch           |4 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |4 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |3 Violations          |
                         |4          |defSWITCHSEC_TELNET_2      |03/26/24 20:34:53|Switch           |4 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |3 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |4 Violations          |
                         |           |                           |                 |Switch           |3 Violations          |
 

Switch and port status can be checked with the command below:
switchShow

Use this command to display switch blade and port status information.
Information might vary by switch model: or instance, number of ports and domain ID values.
The output displays switch summary information followed by port summary information. Switch summary information is as follows:
  • switchName - The switch s symbolic name.
  • switchType - The switch s model and revision numbers. (See Knowledgebase Solution:  Brocade switchType versus ASIC, versus FOS family code Connectrix Brocade B-Series: Brocade switchType versus ASIC, versus FOS family code 
  • switchState - The switch s state: online, offline, testing, or faulty.
  • switchMode - The switch s operation mode: Access Gateway (if AG is enabled.)
  • switchRole - The switch s role: principal, subordinate, or disabled.
  • switchDomain - The switch s domain ID: 1-239.
  • switchId - The switch s embedded port Domain ID (D_ID).
  • switchWwn - The switch s World Wide Name (WWN).
  • zoning   The name of the Active zoneset.
  • switchBeacon - The switch s beaconing state (on or off).
  • FC Router - The FC Router s state (on or off)
  • FC Router BB Fabric IDThe backbone fabric ID for FC routing.
  • HIF Mode - Indicates the High Integrity Fabric (HIF) mode of the switch. Values are ON or OFF.
  • Allow XISL Use - Indicates if the switch is using Inter-switch links (XISL) between base switches, to carry traffic to Logical Switches.
  • LS Attributes -  Displays the logical switch (LS) attributes, including the LS FID number.
Example:
ED_br8510_4S_001:FID128:admin> switchshow
switchName:     ED_br8510_4S_001
switchType:     121.3
switchState:    Online
switchMode:     Native
switchRole:     Principal
switchDomain:   2
switchId:       fffc02
switchWwn:      10:00:00:05:1e:98:ba:00
zoning:         ON (cfgExample)
switchBeacon:   OFF
FC Router:      OFF
HIF Mode:       OFF
Allow XISL Use: OFF
LS Attributes:  [FID: 128, Base Switch: No, Default Switch: Yes, Address Mode 0]

The switchshow summary is followed by one-line description for non-EX_Ports and one or two lines for EX_Ports:

Index   Port Index is a number between 0 and the maximum port of the platform. The index is to identify the port number relative to the switch.
Slot - Slot number; 1-12.
Port - Port number; 0-15, 0-31 or 0-47 or 0-63.
Address - The 24-bit Address Identifier. (FCID)
Media - Media types include:
-- - module present
cu - copper
id - serial ID Indicates that an SFP is installed. Use the sfpshow command for more information about the port.

Speed - The speed of the port:
1G - 1 Gbit/sec fixed transfer speed
N1 - 1 Gbit/sec negotiated transfer speed
2G - 2 Gbit/sec fixed transfer speed
N2 - 2 Gbit/sec negotiated transfer speed
4G - 4 Gbit/sec fixed transfer speed
N4 - 4 Gbit/sec negotiated transfer speed
8G - 8 Gbit/sec fixed transfer speed
N8 - 8 Gbit/sec negotiated transfer speed
10G - 10 Gbit/sec fixed transfer speed
10N - 10 Gbit/sec negotiated transfer speed
16G - 16 Gbit/sec fixed transfer speed
N16 - 16 Gbit/sec negotiated transfer speed
32G - 32 Gbit/sec fixed transfer speed
N32 - 32 Gbit/sec negotiated transfer speed
64G - 64 Gbit/sec fixed transfer speed
N64 - 64 Gbit/sec negotiated transfer speed
AN - Auto negotiating
UN - Unknown

State - Port state information:
No_Card - No interface cards present.
No_Module - No modules (GBIC or other) present.
Mod_Val - Module validation in process.
Mod_Inv - Invalid module.
Mod_Uns - Module unsupported.
No_Light - Module not receiving light. This state is not applicable to 16Gb/s-capable interchassis link (ICL) ports.
No_SigDet - No signal detected on the port. For 16Gbps capable interchassis link (ICL) ports, this state replaces the No_Light indicator. It indicates that a quad small form-factor pluggable (QSFP) has been installed but is not connected with a cable.
No_Sync - Module receiving light but out of sync.
In_Sync - Module receiving light and synchronized.
Laser_Flt - Module signaling a laser fault.
Port_Flt - Port marked faulty.
Hard_Flt - The port is hard faulted.
Diag_Flt - Port failed diagnostics.
Lock_Ref - Locking to the reference signal.
Testing - Running diagnostics.
Offline - Connection not established (for virtual ports only).
Online - Port is up and running.
Transient - The port is disabled and re-enabled by MAPS to recover from the bottleneck condition caused by the target device.

Proto - Protocol support by GbE port.
FC - Port support Fibre Channel.
ISCSI - Ports support ISCSI.
FCIP - Ports support FCIP.
FCoE - The port supports Fibre Channel over Ethernet.
LAN - The port supports LAN.

Comment - The comment field behind the logged in port is blank, or displays:
Copper or Optical  - Displays which GbE port is currently active in the Brocade 7810 Switch.
Copper indicates that the RJ45 GbE port is currently active. Optical (default) indicates that
the currently active GbE port accepts both copper and optical connections (SFPs).
Disabled - Port is disabled. Note: Different Disabled messages are possible, see the Command guide.
Bypassed - Port is bypassed (loop only).
Loopback - Port is in loopback mode.
D_Port - Diagnostic port; D_Port feature can be configured on both E_Port and F_Port. D_Port on E_Port displays the worldwide node name (WWNN) of the remote switch and D_Port on F_Port displays the worldwide port name (WWPN) of the remote port.
E_Port - Displays WWN and name of attached switch. If the port is configured as EX_Port, the WWN of the attached switch is the same as the router.
F_Port - Point-to-point port; displays WWN of attached N_Port. See the Command guide for NPIV.
G_Port - Point-to-point but not yet E_Port or F_Port.
L_Port - Loop port; displays number of NL_Ports.
EX_Port - Router port; displays WWN of the attached edge switch.
VF_Port - FCoE Virtual F_Port. See the Command guide.
VF-Port - Disabled  - FCoE Virtual F_Port is disabled.
D_Port Dynamic - The port is in Dynamic D_Port mode.
D_Port On-demand - The port is in On-demand D_Port mode.
D_Port protocol violation - The port is stuck in G_Port state.
D_Port F_Port WWN Dynamic - The port is connected to a device port in the D_Port mode.
SIM Port - The port is a simulated port.
Mirror Port - The port is a mirror port.

(Trunk master) - Port is the master port in a group of trunking ports.
(Trunk port, master is port #x) - Port is configured as a trunking port; the master port is port #x.
(upstream) - E_Port is an upstream path towards the principal switch of the fabric.
(downstream) - E_Port is a downstream path away from the principal switch of the fabric.
Persistently Disabled - This port has been disabled using portCfgPersistentDisable.
FICON Persistent DID - This port has been disabled since the switch could not obtain its configuration domain ID during
the fabric reconfiguration when FICON mode was enabled. See ficonShow for more information.
Fabric ID conflict - Two different fabrics have been assigned the same fabric ID (EX_Ports only).
Fabric ID oversubscribed - One fabric has been assigned two different fabric IDs (EX_Ports only).
AoQ - Application-oriented QOS attached device capable of Quality of Service.
LB mode - If the Access Gateway cannot negotiate a link capable of QoS.
Segmented - segmented or disabled with several reasons. See the Command guide.


EXAMPLE:
Index Slot Port Address Media  Speed        State    Proto
============================================================
[truncated]
  15  15   010f00   --    N16      No_Module   FC
  16  16   011000   --    N16      No_Module   FC
  17  17   011100   id    N16      Online      FC  D-Port 10:00:00:05:33:a9:ec:56 Dynamic
[truncated]
  24  24   011800   id    N16      No_Light    FC
  25  25   011900   id    N16      Online      FC  E-Port  10:00:00:05:33:a9:ec:56 "br6510b_001" (upstream)(Trunk master)
  26  26   011a00   id    N16      No_Light    FC
  27  27   011b00   id    N16      Online      FC  Loopback->Port 27
  28  28   011c00   --    N16      No_Module   FC
  • porterrshow
    - Use this command to display an error summary for all ports. The display contains one output line per port and shows error counters in ones, thousands (k), or millions (m) or giga (g)
Error totals are historical since the last time stats were cleared on switch (statsclear).
For a full explanation of the counters and what action to take, see the following two articles.
Connectrix B-Series: How to Interpret the Brocade porterrshow output, and what do the counters mean. Self-Help
- Connectrix: How to troubleshoot Fibre Channel node to switch port or SFP communication problems by elimination, Self-Help.
 
  • slotShow -m
    (Only for use on Enterprise Directors)
Use this command to inventory and display the current status of each slot in the system. The fields and their possible values are as follows:
Slot - Displays the physical slot number.
Blade Type - Displays the blade type:
SW BLADE - The blade is a switch.
CP BLADE - The blade is a control processor.
UNKNOWN - Blade not present or its type is not recognized.
ID - Displays the blade type ID, see
Connectrix B-Series: What are the different Blade ID in slotshow output in Brocade switch Directors.

Status -  Displays the status of the blade:
VACANT - The slot is empty.
INSERTED, NOT POWERED ON - The blade is present in the slot but is turned off.
POWERING UP - The blade is present and powered on.
LOADING - The blade is present, powered on, and loading the initial configuration.
DIAG RUNNING POST1 - The blade is present, powered on, and running the POST (power-on self-test).
DIAG RUNNING POST2 - The blade is present, powered on, and running the pre-boot power on self-tests).
INITIALIZING - The blade is present, powered on, and initializing hardware components.
ENABLED - The blade is on and enabled.
ENABLED (User Ports Disabled) - The blade is on but the external ports are disabled using bladeDisable.
DISABLED - The blade is powered on but disabled.
FAULTY - The blade is faulty because an error was detected.
UNKNOWN - The blade is inserted but its state cannot be determined.
  • errDump
    This command displays external error log messages for all switch instances and the chassis, without any page breaks.

If you are dealing with a dial home service request, this is where you can find the error that caused the dial home.
The errors are logged chronologically from top to bottom (oldest to newest), so if the switch dialed home, chances are the correlating error message is found closer to the bottom of the errdump output.
Each message displays the following:

Timestamp - Timestamp for the message.
Message ID - Message identifier.
External sequence number - Sequence number for the message
Security audit flag - Security audit logged. AUDIT displays in the field.
Severity - Severity of the message. Valid values include INFO, WARNING, ERROR, and CRITICAL.
Switch name - Switch name for the generator of this message, or chassis.
Message - Message body.

  • haDump 
    hashow
    haredundancy --show
    Only for use on Enterprise Directors. Use this command to display information about the status of the High Availability (HA) feature on the switch or a chassis. This command displays the following information:

Time Stamp
Local CP state (slot number and CP ID)
Remote CP state (slot number and CP ID)

Type of recovery (warm or cold)
High Availability (enabled or disabled)
Heartbeat (up or down)

Health of standby CP (healthy, failed, or unknown), is defined as follows:
Healthy - The standby CP is running and the background health diagnostic has not detected any errors.
Failed - The standby CP is running, but the background health diagnostic has discovered a problem with the blade. The logs should be checked to determine the appropriate repair action. Failover is disabled until the standby CP is repaired. Information about the failing device in the standby CP will be displayed.
Unknown - The standby CP health state is unknown due because the standby CP does not exist, heartbeat is down, or Health Monitor detects a configuration file error.

HA synchronization status:
HA State Synchronized - The system is currently fully synchronized. If a failover became necessary, it would be non-disruptive.
HA State Not In Sync - The system is unable to synchronize the two CPs because the standby CP is faulty, a haSyncStop command was issued, or a system error occurred. If a failover became necessary, currently, the standby CP reboots, and the failover is disruptive.
IP and Fibre Channel addresses configured for the switch.
Other internal HA state information, subject to change.

Example:

ED_br8510_4S_001:FID128:admin> hadump
---------------------------------------
TIME_STAMP: Jul 10 09:51:33.769077
---------------------------------------
Local CP (Slot 4, CP0): Active, Warm Recovered
Remote CP (Slot 5, CP1): Standby, Healthy
HA enabled, Heartbeat Up, HA State synchronized
[truncated]



"haRedundancy --show" Command.
Use this command to display the switch uptime and the chassis control processor redundancy statistics. For chassis, the command displays the control processor redundancy settings and switch uptime. For switches, the command displays the switch uptime only. See the command guide.
The display includes the following information:

  Current active session: Displays the settings for the current session.
- HA synchronization status.
- Active slot state: Displays CP ID, whether CP is local or remote, and recovery type information.
- Standby slot state: Displays CP ID, and whether CP is local or remote.
- Start time: Displays the start time of the services in synchronized state.
 
  Previous active session: Displays the settings for the previous active session.
- Active slot state: Displays CP ID, and recovery type information.
- Standby slot state: Displays CP ID information.
- Start time: Displays the start time of the services synchronized state for the session.
- End time: Displays end time of the session caused by expected or unexpected recovery.
  System uptime: Displays the start time of the system services. This changes when there is a power cycle or both CPs are reset together.


If an issue (NOT currently impacting production) appears to be at the port level and it is necessary to gain a fresh set of port errors, clear the stats Or further troubleshooting is needed:
See the following KB articles:
Connectrix: Connection issue or port problems follow the Pre-SFP Replacement Procedure

Connectrix: How to troubleshoot Fibre Channel node to switch port or SFP communication problems by elimination, Self-Help.

To Clear the stats:
Connect to the switch by Putty
If virtual fabrics are in use:

fosexec --fid all -cmd "statsclear";fosexec --fid all -cmd "slotstatsclear"

or if the switch is running FOS 7.3 and above the command is

supportinfoclear --clear


If NO virtual fabrics are in use:

statsclear;slotstatsclear

Let errors accrue for 4 to 8 hours.
Run a fresh

supportshow
or
supportsave

Review the 

porterrshow

(See the above-mentioned Kb articles for the porterrshow outputs and action to take.)

If the issue is not resolved after initial review of the supportshow, run

supportsave

See KB article:
Connectrix: How to collect Brocade Supportsave logs using SANnav, CLI, and Brocade USB
Attach output and your findings to the appropriate Service Request, and re-queue SR accordingly.

Article Properties


Affected Product

Connectrix

Product

Connectrix B-Series Hardware

Last Published Date

16 Apr 2024

Version

5

Article Type

How To