Brocade Communications Systems A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Service manual

53-0000438-01
15 June 2007
Fabric Watch
Administrator’s Guide
Supporting Fabric OS v5.3.0

Copyright © 2007 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Brocade, the Brocade B weave logo, Fabric OS, File Lifecycle Manager, MyView, Secure Fabric OS, SilkWorm, and StorageX are
registered trademarks and the Brocade B wing logo and Tapestry are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in
the United States and/or in other countries. FICON is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation in the U.S. and 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.

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Brocade Communications Systems, Incorporated
Document History
Corporate Headquarters
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
1745 Technology Drive
San Jose, CA 95110
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Asia-Pacific Headquarters
Brocade Communications Singapore Pte. Ltd.
9 Raffles Place
#59-02 Republic Plaza 1
Singapore 048619
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
European and Latin American Headquarters
Brocade Communications Switzerland Sàrl
Centre Swissair
Tour A - 2ème étage
29, Route de l'Aéroport
Case Postale 105
CH-1215 Genève 15
Switzerland
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Title Publication Number Summary of Changes Date
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0001559-02 New document May 2000
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000198-02 n/a January 2002
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000186-02 n/a March 2002
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000504-02 n/a April 2003
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000524-02 n/a April 2003
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0000524-03 Updated default values and
restructured the document.
December 2003
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.
April 2004
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.”
September 2004

iv Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
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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.
March 2005
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000047-01 Updates to support Fabric
OS v5.1.0 features and
Brocade 4900 and 7500
switches.
November 2005
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.
September 2006
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000438-01 Updates to support Fabric
OS v5.3.0, implementation
of IPV6.
June 2007
Title Publication Number Summary of Changes Date

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide v
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Contents
About This Document
How This Document Is Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Supported Hardware and Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
What’s New in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Document Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Text Formatting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Notes, Cautions, and Warnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Brocade Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Optional Brocade features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Other Industry Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Getting Technical Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Document Feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Chapter 1 Fabric Watch Concepts
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Fabric Watch overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction to fabric health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Fabric Watch components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Configuring events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Event behavior types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Data values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Threshold values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Time bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Event settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Port persistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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Notification methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Switch event (error) log entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
SNMP trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
RAPI trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Port log lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
E-mail alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Assigning notification methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Switch policies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Interpreting event messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 2 Activating and Accessing Fabric Watch
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Activating Fabric Watch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Activating with telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Activating with Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Accessing Fabric Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
SNMP-based enterprise managers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Configuration file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 3 Configuring Fabric Watch
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Configuring Fabric Watch thresholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Step 1: Select the class and area to configure . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Step 2: Configure thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Step 3: Configure alarms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Step 4: Disable and enable thresholds by port (optional) . . . . 42
Configuring notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Configuring alarm notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Configuring SNMP notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Configuring API notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Configuring Port Log Lock actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Configuring E-mail notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

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Configuring switch status policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Step 1: Plan and define your switch status policy. . . . . . . . . . . 47
Step 2: Implement your switch status policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Step 3: View your switch status policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Configuring FRUs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Configuring Fabric Watch using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Configuring Fabric Watch using SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Chapter 4 Generating Fabric Watch Reports
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Types of Fabric Watch reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
SAM report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Switch health report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Switch status policy report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Port detail report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Viewing Fabric Watch reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Viewing Fabric Watch reports using telnet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Viewing Fabric Watch reports using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Appendix A Default Threshold Values
In this appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Environment class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Fabric class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Performance Monitor class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Port class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Resource class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Security class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
SFP class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Appendix B Basic Fabric Watch Configuration Guidelines
Appendix C Using Product Name with Configuration Files
In this appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Configuration files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

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Index

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About This Document
This document is an administrator’s guide to help you use the Fabric Watch product to monitor and
improve fabric health. This document is specific to Brocade Fabric OS version 5.3.0 and all
switches running Fabric OS v5.3.0. For a list of supported hardware for this release, see
“Supported Hardware and Software” on page x.
“About This Document” contains the following sections:
•“How This Document Is Organized,” next
•“Supported Hardware and Software” on page x
•“What’s New in This Document” on page x
•“Document Conventions” on page xi
•“Additional Information” on page xii
•“Getting Technical Help” on page xv
•“Document Feedback” on page xv
How This Document Is Organized
This document contains the following components:
•Chapter 1, “Fabric Watch Concepts,” provides an introduction to Fabric Watch and the benefits
of its use. It also defines concepts that are useful in Fabric Watch configuration.
•Chapter 2, “Activating and Accessing Fabric Watch,”describes the Fabric Watch requirements,
provides an overview of the interfaces, and explains the methods of accessing Fabric Watch
through each interface.
•Chapter 3, “Configuring Fabric Watch,” describes how to configure Fabric Watch.
•Chapter 4, “Generating Fabric Watch Reports,” describes the reports available through Fabric
Watch and the methods of accessing each.
•Appendix , “Default Threshold Values,” describes the Fabric Watch default threshold values for
all classes.
•Appendix , “Basic Fabric Watch Configuration Guidelines,” describes some of the modifications
Fabric Watch users should consider when configuring their implementation.
•Appendix , “Using Product Name with Configuration Files,” describes the two methods of using
configuration files.
•The index points you to the exact pages on which specific information is located.

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Supported Hardware and Software
This document is specific to Brocade Fabric OS version 5.3.0 and all switches running Fabric OS
version 5.3.0, including:
•Brocade 200E
•Brocade 3250
•Brocade 3850
•Brocade 3900
•Brocade 4100
•Brocade 4900
•Brocade 5000
•Brocade 7500
•Brocade 7600
•Brocade 24000
•Brocade 48000
Although many different software and hardware configurations are tested and supported by
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. for the Brocade Fabric OS v5.3.0, documenting all possible
configurations and scenarios is beyond the scope of this document; however, this document does
specify when procedures or parts of procedures apply only to specific switches.
This document does not support all 5.x Fabric OS versions. This document is specific to Fabric OS
v5.3.0. To obtain information about an OS version other than v5.3.0, see the documentation
specific to that OS version.
What’s New in This Document
The following Information was added:
-Administrative Domains: If the Administrative Domain feature is enabled, the local switch
must be a member of the Administrative Domain, or the following Fabric Watch tools might
not work correctly:
•Fabric Watch commands might not work correctly. By default, AD0 and AD255 have
permanent membership, and so the Fabric Watch commands should work unless you
change the default settings. See the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide for more
information on the Administrative Domains feature.
•Web Tools Fabric Watch interface will allow view-only access to all threshold
configuration and current values unless the local switch is a member of the current,
enabled Administrative Domain.
Information that was changed or removed:
•Updated fan and temperature default threshold values for the Brocade 7500.
•Updated fan default threshold value for the Brocade 4900.
•Updated temperature default threshold values for the Brocade 48000.
•Minor format changes.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xi
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For further information, see the release notes.
Document Conventions
This section describes text formatting conventions and important notices formats.
TEXT FORMATTING
The narrative-text formatting conventions that are used in this document are as follows:
bold text Identifies command names
Identifies the names of user-manipulated GUI elements
Identifies keywords and operands
Identifies text to enter at the GUI or CLI
italic text Provides emphasis
Identifies variables
Identifies paths and Internet addresses
Identifies document titles
code text Identifies CLI output
Identifies syntax examples
For readability, command names in the narrative portions of this guide are presented in mixed
lettercase: for example, switchShow. In actual examples, command lettercase is often all
lowercase. Otherwise, this manual specifically notes those cases in which a command is case
sensitive.
NOTES, CAUTIONS, AND WARNINGS
The following notices appear in this document.
NOTE: A note provides a tip, emphasizes important information, or provides a reference to related
information.
CAUTION
A caution alerts you to potential damage to hardware, firmware, software, or data.
WARNING
A warning alerts you to potential danger to personnel.

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KEY TERMS
For definitions specific to Brocade and Fibre Channel, see the Brocade Glossary.
For definitions of SAN-specific terms, visit the Storage Networking Industry Association online
dictionary at http://www.snia.org/education/dictionary.
Additional Information
This section lists additional Brocade and industry-specific documentation that may be helpful.
BROCADE RESOURCES
The following related documentation is provided on the Brocade Documentation CD-ROM and on
the Brocade Web site, through Brocade Connect.
NOTE: Go to http://www.brocade.com and click the Find Resources selector, and select Brocade
Connect from the drop down list to register at no cost for a user ID and password.
Fabric OS
•Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
•Fabric OS Command Reference
•Fabric OS MIB Reference
•Fabric OS Message Reference
Fabric OS Optional Features
•Web Tools Administrator’s Guide
•Secure Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
Brocade Hardware Documentation
Brocade 48000
•Brocade 48000 Hardware Reference Manual
•Brocade 48000 QuickStart Guide
•FA4-18 Hardware Reference Manual
•FR4-18i Hardware Reference Manual
•FC4-16IP Hardware Reference Manual
•FC10-6 Hardware Reference Manual

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xiii
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Brocade 24000
•Brocade 24000 Hardware Reference Manual
•Brocade 24000 QuickStart Guide
Brocade 24000/48000
•Port Blade and Filler Panel Replacement Procedure
•Control Processor Blade Replacement Procedure
•Blower Assembly Replacement Procedure
•Cable Management Tray and Guide Replacement Procedure
•Chassis Door Replacement Procedure
•WWN Bezel and Card Replacement Procedure
•Power Supply and Filler Panel Replacement Procedure
•14U Rack Mount Kit Installation Procedure
•Mid-Mount Rack Kit Installation Procedure
Brocade 7500
•Brocade 7500 Hardware Reference Manual
•Brocade 7500 QuickStart Guide
•Brocade 7500 Fan Assembly Replacement Procedure
•Brocade Mid Sized Power Supply Replacement Procedure
Brocade 7600
•Brocade 7600 Hardware Reference Manual
•Brocade 7600 QuickStart Guide
•Brocade 7600 Fan Assembly Replacement Procedure
•Brocade Mid Sized Power Supply Replacement Procedure
Brocade 4900
•Brocade 4900 Hardware Reference Manual
•Brocade 4900 QuickStart Guide
•Brocade 4900 Fan Assembly Replacement Procedure
•Brocade Mid Sized Power Supply Replacement Procedure
Brocade 4100
•Brocade 4100 Hardware Reference Manual
•Brocade 4100 QuickStart Guide
Brocade 5000
•Brocade 5000 Hardware Reference Manual
•Brocade 5000 QuickStart Guide

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Brocade 3900
•Brocade 3900 Hardware Reference Manual (for v4.x software)
•Brocade 3900 QuickStart Guide (for v4.x software)
•Brocade 3900 Fan Assembly Replacement Procedure
•Brocade 3900 Motherboard Assembly Replacement Procedure
•Brocade 3900 Power Supply Replacement Procedure
Brocade 3250/3850
•Brocade 3250/3850 Hardware Reference Manual (for v4.x software)
•Brocade 3250/3850 QuickStart Guide (for v4.x software)
Brocade 200E
•Brocade 200E Hardware Reference Manual (for v5.x software)
For practical discussions about SAN design, implementation, and maintenance, you can obtain
Building SANs with Brocade Fabric Switches through:
http://www.amazon.com
For additional Brocade documentation, visit the Brocade SAN Info Center and click the Resource
Library location:
http://www.brocade.com/san/
Customers with valid contracts may access release notes from the Brocade Connect Web site.
Release notes are also bundled with the Fabric OS firmware.
OPTIONAL BROCADE FEATURES
For a list of optional Brocade features and descriptions, see the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.
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

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Getting Technical Help
Contact your switch support supplier for hardware, firmware, and software support, including
product repairs and part ordering. To expedite your call, have the following information available:
1. General Information
-Technical Support contract number, if applicable
-Switch model
-Switch operating system version
-Error numbers and messages received
-supportSave command output
-Detailed description of the problem and specific questions
-Description of any troubleshooting steps already performed and 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 shown here:
*FT00X0054E9*
FT00X0054E9
The serial number label is located as follows:
-Brocade 2000-series switches: Bottom of chassis.
-Brocade 200E, 3200, and 3800 switches: nonport side of chassis.
-Brocade 3250, 3850, 3900, 4100, 4900, 5000, 7500, and 7600 switches: Bottom of
chassis.
-Brocade 24000, and 48000 directors: Inside the front of the chassis, on the wall to the
left of the ports.
3. World Wide Name (WWN)
4. For Brocade 200E, 3250, 3600, 3850, 3900, 4100, 4900, 5000, 7500 and 7600 switches
and Brocade 24000, and 48000 directors: Provide the license ID. Use the licenseIdShow
command to display the license ID.
Document Feedback
Because quality is our first concern at Brocade, 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 and as much detail as possible about your issue, including the
topic heading and page number and your suggestions for improvement.

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Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 1
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Chapter
1
Fabric Watch Concepts
In this chapter
•Fabric Watch overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
•Introduction to fabric health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
•Fabric Watch components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
•Configuring events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
•Port persistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
•Notification methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
•Switch policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
•Interpreting event messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Fabric Watch overview
Fabric Watch is an optional storage area network (SAN) health monitor software for Brocade
switches running Fabric OS v2.2 or higher. It enables each switch to constantly monitor its SAN
fabric for potential faults and to automatically alert you to problems long before they become costly
failures.
Fabric Watch tracks a variety of SAN fabric elements, events, and counters. Monitoring fabric-wide
events, ports, GBICs, and environmental parameters enables early fault detection and isolation as
well as performance measurement. You can select custom fabric elements and alert thresholds or
choose from a selection of preconfigured settings. You can also easily integrate Fabric Watch with
enterprise systems management solutions.
By implementing Fabric Watch, you can rapidly improve SAN availability and performance without
installing new software or system administration tools.
For a growing number of organizations, SAN fabrics are a mission-critical part of their systems
architecture. These fabrics can include hundreds of elements, such as hosts, storage devices,
switches, and interswitch links (ISLs). An instrumentation solution for SANs delivers optimal value
by tracking a wide spectrum of fabric events. For instance, Fabric Watch monitors:
•Fabric resources, including fabric reconfigurations, zoning changes, and new logins.
•Switch environmental functions such as temperature, power supply, and fan status, along with
security violations.
•Port state transitions, errors, and traffic information for multiple port classes as well as
operational values for supported models of “smart” GBICs/SFPs.
•Performance information for AL_PA, and end-to-end metrics.

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Fabric Watch lets you define how often to measure each switch and fabric element and to specify
notification thresholds. Whenever fabric elements exceed these thresholds, Fabric Watch
automatically provides notification using several methods, including e-mail messages, SNMP traps,
and log entries.
Fabric Watch provides the following types of automatic notifications:
•A continuous alarm provides a warning message whenever a threshold is breached; it
continues to send alerts until the condition is corrected. For example, if a switch exceeds its
temperature threshold, Fabric Watch activates an alarm at every measurement interval until
the temperature returns to an acceptable level.
•A triggered alarm generates the first warning when a threshold condition is reached and a
second alarm when the threshold condition is cleared.
Fabric Watch provides event notifications in several different formats to ensure that event details
are accessible from all platforms and operating systems. In response to an event, Fabric Watch can
record event data as any (or all) of the following:
•Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap
Following an event, Fabric Watch transmits critical event data as an SNMP trap. Support for
SNMP makes Fabric Watch readily compatible with both network and enterprise management
solutions.
•Event log entry
Following an event, Fabric Watch adds an entry to the internal event log for an individual
switch, which stores up to 1024 error messages.
•Lock port log
Following an event, Fabric Watch adds an entry to the internal port log for an individual switch
and freezes the log to ensure that detail-level information is available.
•Rapi Trap
Following an event, Fabric Watch forwards event information to a proxy switch, which then
forwards the information to a server to notify you.
•E-mail notification
Following an event, Fabric Watch creates and sends an informational e-mail to a designated
recipient.
Fabric Watch is designed for rapid deployment. Simply enabling Fabric Watch permits immediate
fabric monitoring. Fabric Watch is also designed for rapid custom configuration. You can easily
create and modify configuration files using a text editor and then distribute configurations to all the
switches in the SAN through the Fabric OS configuration management utility. Fabric Watch also
comes with preconfigured profiles for rapid implementation.
For information on configuring and managing your SAN, see the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.
Introduction to fabric health
Fabric health refers to the capability of the fabric to support data being routed through it. A healthy
fabric enables effective data transmission between networked devices.

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Although the concept of fabric health initially seems fairly simple, it can be a deep and complex
topic due to the number of factors that are involved. One of the more obvious criteria for fabric
health is the condition of the network hardware. A switch or port failure could easily prevent data
packets from reaching their destination. Network traffic can also influence fabric health.
If the number of packets routed through a port exceeds the port bandwidth, it causes network
delays and packet losses. Even environmental factors can become issues, as network hardware
can fail to function properly when stored in locations that do not meet the environmental conditions
for the device. For example, switches can fail when stored in rooms that are too hot.
Because of the varied and complex factors in determining fabric health, you need fabric monitoring
software such as Fabric Watch to help you to quickly detect, identify, and resolve fabric health
issues by continuously monitoring possible issues and reporting any potential concerns. Fabric
Watch automatically provides detailed reports on detected issues and helps you correct failures.
Fabric Watch provides customizable monitoring thresholds. You can configure Fabric Watch to
provide notification before problems arise, such as reporting when network traffic through a port is
approaching the bandwidth limit. This information enables you to perform preemptive network
maintenance such as trunking or zoning and avoid potential network failures.
Fabric Watch components
Fabric Watch uses a hierarchical organization to track the network device information it monitors.
There is a class, area, and element associated with every monitored behavior. Classes are the
highest level in the system, subdivided into one or more areas. Areas contain one or more
elements.
The following sections explain this hierarchy and its application within Fabric Watch.
CLASSES
Classes are high-level categories of elements. Classes are intentionally wide groupings of similar
fabric devices or fabric data.
Examples of classes include Port (which includes all physical ports on a switch), Security (which
includes information related to unauthorized login attempts), and Environment (which contains
information related to the internal temperature, supplied power and fan assemblies).
In some cases, classes are divided into subclasses. This additional level in the hierarchy increases
the flexibility of setting monitoring thresholds. You can use subclasses to add additional event
monitoring to fabric objects that meet the requirements of a subclass.
For example, ports connected to another switch can be monitored using both the Port class and
E_Port subclass. You can configure general port monitoring using the Port class and monitoring
specific to a type of port using the E_Port class. Ports connected to another switch can trigger
events based on either of these configurations. Ports that are not connected to another switch are
not affected by the additional monitoring configured into the E_Port class.

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Table 1 describes the classes into which Fabric Watch groups all switch and fabric elements.
AREAS
While classes represent large groupings of information, areas represent the information that
Product Name monitors. For example, switch temperature, one of the values tracked by Fabric
Watch, is an area within the class Environment.
The tables in this section describe all of the areas monitored by Fabric Watch, organized by their
associated classes.
TABLE 1 Product Name classes
Class Description
Environment Includes information about the physical environment in which the switch resides
and the internal environment of the switch. For example, an Environment-class
alarm alerts you to problems or potential problems with temperature, fans, and
power.
Fabric Groups areas of potential problems arising between devices, including interswitch
link (ISL) details, zoning, and traffic. A Fabric-class alarm alerts you to problems or
potential problems with interconnectivity.
Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) Monitors the status of FRUs and provides an alert when a part replacement is
needed. This class monitors states, not thresholds.
Performance Monitor Serves as a tuning tool. The Performance Monitor class groups areas that track the
source and destination of traffic. Use the Performance Monitor class thresholds
and alarms to determine traffic load and flow and to reallocate resources
appropriately.
The Performance Monitor class is divided into the areas AL_PA Performance
Monitor, EE (end-to-end) Performance Monitor, and Filter Performance Monitor.
Performance Monitoring is not supported on VE, EX, and VEX ports.
Port Enables you to set additional thresholds, specific to different types of ports.
The Port class is made up of the following classes:
•E_Port class—Represents ports connected to another switch.
Note: If you are using a Brocade 48000 with a FR4-18i blade, or the Brocade
7500, the E_Port class monitors the following additional ports and creates
monitors for each of the logical ports:
— FCR (includes EX_Ports)
— FCIP (includes VE_Ports, VEX_Ports)
•F/FL_Port class —Represents fabric or fabric loop ports that are made of
copper or optical fiber.
Resource Monitors flash memory. It calculates the amount of flash space consumed and
compares it to a defined threshold.
Security Monitors all attempts to breach your SAN security, helping you fine-tune your
security measures.
SFP Groups areas that monitor the physical aspects of SFPs. An SFP class alarm alerts
you to a SFP malfunction fault.
Note: SFPs connected to GbE ports are not monitored.