Brocade Communications Systems 8 Guide

53-1001769-01
30 March 2010
®
Fabric OS
Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Guide
Supporting Fabric OS v6.4.0

Copyright © 2008-2010 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Brocade, the B-wing symbol, BigIron, DCX, Fabric OS, FastIron, IronPoint, IronShield, IronView, IronWare, JetCore, NetIron,
SecureIron, ServerIron, StorageX, and TurboIron are registered trademarks, and DCFM, Extraordinary Networks, 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 services 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
Document History
Corporate and Latin American Headquarters
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
1745 Technology Drive
San Jose, CA 95110
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: inf[email protected]
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: [email protected]
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: emea-i[email protected]
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: [email protected]
Title Publication number Summary of changes Date
Fabric OS Troubleshooting and
Diagnostics Guide
53-0000853-01 First released edition. March 2008
Fabric OS Troubleshooting and
Diagnostics Guide
53-1001187-01 Added support for Virtual Fabrics, fcPing,
pathInfo, and additional troubleshooting
tips.
November 2008
Fabric OS Troubleshooting and
Diagnostics Guide
53-1001340-01 Added support for checking physical
connections, updated commands,
removed obsolete information, and moved
the FCIP and FICON chapters into their
respective books.
July 2009
Fabric OS Troubleshooting and
Diagnostics Guide
53-1001769-01 Added support for the Rolling Reboot
Detection feature and the Superping tool;
added enhancements for supportSave and
spinFab; updated commands; transferred
the iSCSI chapter into its respective book.
March 2010

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53-1001769-01
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
Command syntax conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Command examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Notes, cautions, and warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Key terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Brocade resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Other industry resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Getting technical help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Chapter 1 Introduction to Troubleshooting
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Troubleshooting overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Network time protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Most common problem areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Questions for common symptoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Gathering information for your switch support provider. . . . . . . . . . . 5
Setting up your switch for FTP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Capturing a supportSave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Capturing output from a console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Capturing command output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Building a case for your switch support provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Basic information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Detailed problem information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Gathering additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 2 General Issues
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Licensing issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

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Time issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Switch message logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Switch boot issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Rolling Reboot Detection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
FC-FC routing connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Generate and route an ECHO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Superping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Route and statistical information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Performance issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 3 Connectivity Issues
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Port initialization and FCP auto discovery process . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Link issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Connection problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Checking the physical connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Checking the logical connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Checking the Name Server (NS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Link failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Determining a successful speed negotiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Checking for a loop initialization failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Checking for a point-to-point initialization failure . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Correcting a port that has come up in the wrong mode . . . . . .30
Marginal links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Troubleshooting a marginal link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Device login issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Pinpointing problems with device logins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Media-related issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Testing a port’s external transmit and receive path . . . . . . . . .36
Testing a switch’s internal components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Testing components to and from the HBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Segmented fabrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Reconciling fabric parameters individually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Downloading a correct configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Reconciling a domain ID conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Reconciling incompatible software features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Port mirroring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
In-Order Delivery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Port mirroring considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Supported platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Maximum mirror connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Configuring a port to be a mirror port. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Adding a port mirror connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Deleting a port mirror connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Displaying port mirror connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

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Chapter 4 Configuration Issues
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Configupload and download issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Gathering additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Brocade configuration form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Chapter 5 FirmwareDownload Errors
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Blade troubleshooting tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Firmware download issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Troubleshooting firmwareDownload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Gathering additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
USB error handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Considerations for downgrading firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Preinstallation messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Blade types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Firmware versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
Chapter 6 Security Issues
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Password issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Password recovery options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Device authentication issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Protocol and certificate management issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Gathering additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
SNMP issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Gathering additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
FIPS issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Chapter 7 Virtual Fabrics
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
General Virtual Fabric troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Fabric identification issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Logical Fabric issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Base switch issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Logical switch issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Switch configuration blade compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Gathering additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

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Chapter 8 ISL Trunking Issues
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Link issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Buffer credit issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Chapter 9 Zone Issues
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Overview of corrective action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Verifying a fabric merge problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Verifying a TI zone problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Segmented fabrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Zone conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Correcting a fabric merge problem quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Changing the default zone access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Editing zone configuration members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Reordering the zone member list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Checking for Fibre Channel connectivity problems . . . . . . . . . .82
Checking for zoning problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Gathering additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
Chapter 10 Working With Diagnostic Features
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
About Fabric OS diagnostics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Diagnostic information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Power-on self test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Disabling POST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Enabling POST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Switch status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Viewing the overall status of the switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Displaying switch information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Displaying the uptime for a switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
SpinFab and portTest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Debugging spinFab errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Clearing the error counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Enabling a port. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Disabling a port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Port information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Viewing the status of a port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
Displaying the port statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Displaying a summary of port errors for a switch . . . . . . . . . . .96

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Equipment status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Checking the temperature, fan, and power supply . . . . . . . . . . 97
Checking the status of the fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Checking the status of a power supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Checking temperature status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
System message log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Displaying the system message log, with no page breaks . . . .99
Displaying the system message log one message at a time .100
Clearing the system message log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Port log. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Viewing the port log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Syslogd configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Configuring the host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Configuring the switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Automatic trace dump transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Specifying a remote server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Enabling the automatic transfer of trace dumps. . . . . . . . . . .104
Setting up periodic checking of the remote server . . . . . . . . .104
Saving comprehensive diagnostic files to the server . . . . . . .104
Appendix A Switch Type and Blade ID
Appendix B Hexadecimal
Example of hexadecimal triplet conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
•Getting technical help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
•Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
How this document is organized
The document contains the following chapters:
•Chapter 1, “Introduction to Troubleshooting,” gives a brief overview of troubleshooting the
Fabric OS, and provides procedures for gathering basic information from your switch and fabric
to aid in troubleshooting.
•Chapter 2, “General Issues,” provides information on licensing, hardware, and syslog issues.
•Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues,” provides information and procedures on troubleshooting
various link issues.
•Chapter 4, “Configuration Issues,” provides troubleshooting information and procedures for
configuration file issues.
•Chapter 5, “FirmwareDownload Errors,” provides procedures for troubleshooting firmware
download issues.
•Chapter 6, “Security Issues,” provides procedures for user account and security issues.
•Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”, provides procedures to troubleshooting Virtual Fabrics.
•Chapter 8, “ISL Trunking Issues,” provides procedures for resolving trunking issues.
•Chapter 9, “Zone Issues,” provides preparations and procedures for performing firmware
downloads, as well troubleshooting information.
•Chapter 10, “Working With Diagnostic Features,” provides procedures for the use of the
diagnostics commands for the chassis, ports, and other chassis equipment. Provides
information on the system messages.
•The appendices provide special information to guide you in understanding switch output.

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Supported hardware and software
In those instances in which procedures or parts of procedures documented here apply to some
switches but not to others, this guide identifies exactly which switches are supported and which are
not.
Although many different software and hardware configurations are tested and supported by
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. for 6.4.0, documenting all possible configurations and
scenarios is beyond the scope of this document.
The following hardware platforms are supported by this release of Fabric OS:
•Brocade 300 switch
•Brocade 4100 switch
•Brocade 4900 switch
•Brocade 5000 switch
•Brocade 5100 switch
•Brocade 5300 switch
•Brocade 5410 embedded switch
•Brocade 5424 embedded switch
•Brocade 5460 embedded switch
•Brocade 5470 embedded switch
•Brocade 5480 embedded switch
•Brocade 7500 extension switch
•Brocade 7500E extension switch
•Brocade 7600 application appliance
•Brocade 7800 extension switch
•Brocade 8000 application appliance
•Brocade 48000 director
•Brocade DCX Backbone data center backbone
•Brocade DCX-4S Backbone data center backbone
•Brocade Encryption Switch
•Brocade VA-40FC
What’s new in this document
•Information that was added:
-supportSave enhancements
-Rolling Reboot Detection feature
-Superping tool
-spinFab enhancements

Fabric OS Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Guide xi
53-1001769-01
•Information that was changed:
-All commands have been updated.
•Information that was deleted:
-All obsolete information. This information was obsoleted because it was no longer
supported in the current version of firmware.
-The iSCSI chapter has been removed and put in the iSCSI Administrator’s Guide.
For further information about documentation updates for this release, refer to the release notes.
Document conventions
This section describes text formatting conventions and important notice formats used in this
document.
Text formatting
The narrative-text formatting conventions that are used are as follows:
bold text Identifies command names
Identifies the names of user-manipulated GUI elements
Identifies keywords and operands
Identifies text to enter at the GUI or CLI
italic text Provides emphasis
Identifies variables
Identifies paths and Internet addresses
Identifies document titles
code text Identifies CLI output
Identifies command syntax examples
Command syntax conventions
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. Command syntax in this manual follows these conventions:
command Commands are printed in bold.
--option, option Command options are printed in bold.
-argument, arg Arguments.
[ ] Optional element.
variable Variables are printed in italics. In the help pages, values are underlined or
enclosed in angled brackets < >.

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Command examples
This book describes how to perform configuration tasks using the Fabric OS command line
interface, but does not describe the commands in detail. For complete descriptions of all Fabric OS
commands, including syntax, operand description, and sample output, see the Fabric OS
Command Reference.
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 or cause
damage to hardware, firmware, software, or data.
DANGER
A Danger statement indicates conditions or situations that can be potentially lethal or extremely
hazardous to you. Safety labels are also attached directly to products to warn of these conditions
or situations.
Key terms
For definitions specific to Brocade and Fibre Channel, 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
... Repeat the previous element, for example “member[;member...]”
value Fixed values following arguments are printed in plain font. For example,
--show WWN
| Boolean. Elements are exclusive. Example: --show -mode egress | ingress

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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, go to http://my.brocade.com and 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
White papers, online demos, and data sheets are available through the Brocade Web site at:
http://www.brocade.com/products-solutions/products/index.page
For additional Brocade documentation, visit the Brocade Web site:
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
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
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

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•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.:
The serial number label is located as follows:
The serial number label is located as follows:
•Brocade 300, 4100, 4900, 5100, 5300, 7500, 7800, 8000, VA-40FC, and Brocade
Encrypytion Switch—On the switch ID pull-out tab located inside the chassis 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
•Brocade DCX-4S—On the bottom right on the port side of the chassis, directly above the
cable management comb
3. World Wide Name (WWN)
Use the licenseIdShow command to display the chassis’ WWN.
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.
*FT00X0054E9*
FT00X0054E9

Fabric OS Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Guide 1
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Chapter
1
Introduction to Troubleshooting
In this chapter
•Troubleshooting overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
•Most common problem areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
•Questions for common symptoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
•Gathering information for your switch support provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
•Building a case for your switch support provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Troubleshooting overview
This book is a companion guide to be used in conjunction with the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.
Although it provides a lot of common troubleshooting tips and techniques it does not teach
troubleshooting methodology.
Troubleshooting should begin at the center of the SAN — the fabric. Because switches are located
between the hosts and storage devices and have visibility into both sides of the storage network,
starting with them can help narrow the search path. After eliminating the possibility of a fault within
the fabric, see if the problem is on the storage side or the host side, and continue a more detailed
diagnosis from there. Using this approach can quickly pinpoint and isolate problems.
For example, if a host cannot detect a storage device, run the switchShow command, to determine
if the storage device is logically connected to the switch. If not, focus first on the switch directly
connecting to storage. Use your vendor-supplied storage diagnostic tools to better understand why
it is not visible to the switch. If the storage can be detected by the switch, and the host still cannot
detect the storage device, then there is still a problem between the host and switch.
Network time protocol
One of the most frustrating parts of troubleshooting is trying to synchronize switch’s message logs
and portlogs with other switches in the fabric. If you do not have NTP set up on your switches, then
trying to synchronize log files to track a problem is more difficult.

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Most common problem areas
1
Most common problem areas
Table 1 identifies the most common problem areas that arise within SANs and identifies tools to
use to resolve them.
Questions for common symptoms
You first need to determine what the problem is. Some symptoms are obvious, such as the switch
rebooted without any user intervention, or more obscure, such as your storage is having
intermittent connectivity to a particular host. Whatever the symptom is, you will need to gather
information from the devices that are directly involved in the symptom.
Table 2 lists common symptoms and possible areas to check. You may notice that an intermittent
connectivity problem has lots of variables to look into, such as the type of connection between the
two devices, how the connection is behaving, and the port type involved.
TABLE 1 Common troubleshooting problems and tools
Problem area Investigate Tools
Fabric •Missing devices
•Marginal links (unstable connections)
•Incorrect zoning configurations
•Incorrect switch configurations
•Switch LEDs
•Switch commands (for example,
switchShow or nsAllShow) for
diagnostics
•Web or GUI-based monitoring and
management software tools
Storage Devices •Physical issues between switch and
devices
•Incorrect storage software
configurations
•Device LEDs
•Storage diagnostic tools
•Switch commands (for example,
switchShow or nsAllShow) for
diagnostics
Hosts •Physical issues between switch and
devices
•Downgrade HBA firmware
•Incorrect device driver installation
•Incorrect device driver configuration
•Device LEDs
•Host operating system diagnostic
tools
•Device driver diagnostic tools
•Switch commands (for example,
switchShow or nsAllShow) for
diagnostics
Also, make sure you use the latest HBA
firmware recommended by the switch
supplier or on the HBA supplier's web site
Storage Management
Applications
•Incorrect installation and
configuration of the storage devices
that the software references.
For example, if using a
volume-management application,
check for:
•Incorrect volume installation
•Incorrect volume configuration
•Application-specific tools and
resources

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Questions for common symptoms 1
TABLE 2 Common symptoms
Symptom Areas to check Chapter or Document
Blade is faulty Firmware or application download
Hardware connections
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Chapter 5, “FirmwareDownload Errors”
Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Blade is stuck in the “LOADING” state Firmware or application download Chapter 5, “FirmwareDownload Errors”
Configupload or download fails FTP or SCP server or USB availability Chapter 4, “Configuration Issues”
E_Port failed to come online Correct licensing
Fabric parameters
Zoning
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
EX_Port does not form Links Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Fabric merge fails Fabric segmentation Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
Fabric segments Licensing
Zoning
Virtual Fabrics
Fabric parameters
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
FCIP tunnel bounces FCIP tunnel, including the network between FCIP
tunnel endpoints.
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
FCIP tunnel does not come online FCIP tunnel, including the network between FCIP
tunnel endpoints.
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
FCIP tunnel does not form Licensing
Fabric parameters
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
FCIP tunnel is sluggish FCIP tunnel, including the network between FCIP
tunnel endpoints.
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
Feature is not working Licensing Chapter 2, “General Issues”
FCR is slowing down FCR LSAN tags Chapter 2, “General Issues”
FICON switch does not talk to hosts FICON settings FICON Administrator’s Guide
FirmwareDownload fails FTP or SCP server or USB availability
Firmware version compatibility
Unsupported features enabled
Firmware versions on switch
Chapter 5, “FirmwareDownload Errors”
Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Host application times out FCR LSAN tags
Marginal links
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Intermittent connectivity Links
Trunking
Buffer credits
FCIP tunnel
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 8, “ISL Trunking Issues”
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
LEDs are flashing Links Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”

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Questions for common symptoms
1
LEDs are steady Links Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
License issues Licensing Chapter 2, “General Issues”
LSAN is slow or times-out LSAN tagging Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Marginal link Links Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
No connectivity between host and storage Cables
SCSI timeout errors
SCSI retry errors
Zoning
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 8, “ISL Trunking Issues”
Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
No connectivity between switches Licensing
Fabric parameters
Segmentation
Virtual Fabrics
Zoning, if applicable
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
No light on LEDs Links Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Performance problems Links
FCR LSAN tags
FCIP tunnels
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
Port cannot be moved Virtual Fabrics Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
SCSI retry errors Buffer credits
FCIP tunnel bandwidth
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
SCSI timeout errors Links
HBA
Buffer credits
FCIP tunnel bandwidth
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 8, “ISL Trunking Issues”
Fibre Channel over IP Administrator’s
Guide
Switch constantly reboots Rolling reboot detection
FIPS Chapter 6, “Security Issues”
Switch is unable to join fabric Security policies
Zoning
Fabric parameters
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
Switch reboots during configup/download Configuration file discrepancy Chapter 4, “Configuration Issues”
Syslog messages Hardware
SNMP management station
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Chapter 6, “Security Issues”
Trunk bounces Cables are on same port group
SFPs
Trunked ports
Chapter 8, “ISL Trunking Issues”
Trunk failed to form Licensing
Cables are on same port group
SFPs
Trunked ports
Zoning
E_Port QOS configuration mismatch
Chapter 2, “General Issues”
Chapter 3, “Connectivity Issues”
Chapter 8, “ISL Trunking Issues”
Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
User forgot password Password recovery Chapter 6, “Security Issues”
TABLE 2 Common symptoms (Continued)
Symptom Areas to check Chapter or Document

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Gathering information for your switch support provider 1
Gathering information for your switch support provider
If you are troubleshooting a production system, you must gather data quickly. As soon as a problem
is observed, perform the following tasks. For more information about these commands and their
operands, refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference.
1. Enter the supportSave command to save RASLOG, TRACE, supportShow, core file, FFDC data,
and other support information from the switch, chassis, blades, and logical switches.
2. Gather console output and logs.
NOTE
To execute the supportSave command on the chassis, you will need to log in to the switch on an
account with the admin role that has the chassis role permission.
Setting up your switch for FTP
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Type the supportFtp command and respond to the prompts.
Example of supportFTP command
switch:admin> supportftp -s
Host IP Addr[1080::8:800:200C:417A]:
User Name[njoe]: userFoo
Password[********]: <hidden>
Remote Dir[support]:
supportftp: parameters changed
Capturing a supportSave
The supportSave command uses the default switch name to replace the chassis name regardless
if the chassis name has been changed to a non-factory setting. If Virtual Fabrics is enabled, the
supportSave command uses the default switch name for each logical fabric.
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
User is unable to change switch settings RBAC settings
Account settings
Chapter 6, “Security Issues”
Virtual Fabric does not form FIDs Chapter 7, “Virtual Fabrics”
Zone configuration mismatch Effective configuration Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
Zone content mismatch Effective configuration Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
Zone type mismatch Effective configuration Chapter 9, “Zone Issues”
TABLE 2 Common symptoms (Continued)
Symptom Areas to check Chapter or Document

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Gathering information for your switch support provider
1
2. Type the appropriate supportSave command based on your needs:
•If you are saving to an FTP or SCP server, use the following syntax:
supportSave
When invoked without operands, this command goes into interactive mode. The following
operands are optional:
-n Does not prompt for confirmation. This operand is optional; if omitted, you are prompted
for confirmation.
-c Uses the FTP parameters saved by the supportFtp command. This operand is optional; if
omitted, specify the FTP parameters through command line options or interactively. To
display the current FTP parameters, run supportFtp (on a dual-CP system, run supportFtp
on the active CP).
•On platforms that support USB devices, you can use your Brocade USB device to save the
support files. To use your USB device, use the following syntax:
supportsave [-U -d remote_dir]
-d Specifies the remote directory to which the file is to be transferred. When saving to a
USB device, the predefined /support directory must be used.
•While running the supportSave command you may encounter a timeout. A timeout occurs
if the system is in busy state due to CPU or I/O bound from a lot of port traffic or file
access. If this occurs an SS-1004 is generated to both the console and the RASlog to
report the error. You need to rerun the supportSave command with the -t option.
Example of SS-1004 message:
SS-1004: “One or more modules timed out during supportsave. Please retry supportsave
with -t option to collect all logs.”
Changing the supportSave timeout value
1. Connect to the switch and log in using an account assigned to the admin role.
2. Enter the supportSave command with the -t operand, and specify a value between 1 through
5.
The following example increases the supportSave modules timeout to 2 times of original timeout
setting.
switch:admin> supportSave –t 2
Capturing output from a console
Some information, such as boot information is only outputted directly to the console. In order to
capture this information you have to connect directly to the switch through its management
interface, either a serial cable or an RJ-45 connection.
1. Connect directly to the switch using hyperterminal.
2. Log in to the switch using an account assigned to the admin role.