Brocade Communications Systems A7990A - StorageWorks SAN Director 4/16 Blade... Service manual

Publication Number: 53-1000243-01
Publication Date: 9/29/2006
Fabric Watch
Administrator’s Guide
Supporting Fabric OS v5.2.0

Copyright © 2006 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 Tapestry is a trademark of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the
United States and/or in other countries. FICON is a registered trademarks 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.
Brocade Communications Systems, Incorporated
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
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Document History
Title Publication Number Summary of Changes Date
Fabric Watch User’s Guide 53-0001559-02 n/a 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
SilkWorm 3016 and 4100
switches.
Rewrote Chapter 4,
“Configuring Fabric
Watch.”
September 2004
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-0000524-06 Renamed book. Combined
the Introduction and
Concepts chapters into a
single chapter. Added
support for SilkWorm 200E,
SilkWorm 3014, and
SilkWorm 48000.
March 2005
Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 53-1000047-01 Updates to support Fabric
OS v5.1.0 features and
SilkWorm 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 SilkWorm 3014 and
3016,asembeddedswitches
are not supported in Fabric
OS v5.2.0.
September 2006

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Getting Technical Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Document Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
Chapter 1 Fabric Watch Concepts
Fabric Watch Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Introduction to Fabric Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Fabric Watch Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11

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Configuring Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
Event Behavior Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
Data Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13
Threshold Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13
Time Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-15
Event Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-17
Port Persistence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-20
Notification Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-20
Switch Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-23
Interpreting Event Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-23
Chapter 2 Activating and Accessing Fabric Watch
Activating Fabric Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
Activating with Telnet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Activating with Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Accessing Fabric Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Telnet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4
Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4
SNMP-Based Enterprise Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5
Configuration File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6
Chapter 3 Configuring Fabric Watch
Configuring Fabric Watch Thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Step 1: Select the Class and Area to Configure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2
Step 2: Configure Thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4
Step 3: Configure Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-10
Step 4: Disable and Enable Thresholds by Port (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15

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Configuring Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-16
Configuring Alarm Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-16
Configuring SNMP Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-17
Configuring API Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-17
Configuring Port Log Lock Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-17
Configuring E-mail Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-17
Configuring Switch Status Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-20
Step 1: Plan and Define Your Switch Status Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-21
Step 2: Implement Your Switch Status Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22
Step 3: View Your Switch Status Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22
Configuring FRUs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-22
Configuring Fabric Watch Using Web Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-24
Configuring Fabric Watch Using SNMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-24
Chapter 4 Generating Fabric Watch Reports
Types of Fabric Watch Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
SAM Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
Switch Health Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3
Switch Status Policy Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Port Detail Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Viewing Fabric Watch Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8
Viewing Fabric Watch Reports Using Telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8
Viewing Fabric Watch Reports Using Web Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8
Appendix A Default Threshold Values
Environment Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2
Fabric Class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-5
Performance Monitor Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6
Port Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-8
Resource Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-13
Security Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-14
SFP Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-17

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Appendix B Basic Fabric Watch Configuration Guidelines
Appendix C Using Fabric Watch with Configuration Files
Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1
Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-2
Index

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide ix
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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 5.2.0 and all switches
running Fabric OS v5.2.0. 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 xvi
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 A, “Default Threshold Values,” describes the Fabric Watch default threshold values for
all classes.
•Appendix B, “Basic Fabric Watch Configuration Guidelines,” describes some of the modifications
Fabric Watch users should consider when configuring their implementation.
•Appendix C, “Using Fabric Watch with Configuration Files,” describes the two methods of using
configuration files.
•The index points you to the exact pages on which specific information is located.

xFabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
Publication Number: 53-1000243-01
Supported Hardware and Software
This document is specific to Brocade Fabric OS version 5.2.0 and all switches running Fabric OS
version 5.2.0, including:
•SilkWorm 200E
•SilkWorm 3250
•SilkWorm 3850
•SilkWorm 3900
•SilkWorm 4100
•SilkWorm 4900
•SilkWorm 7500
•SilkWorm 24000
•SilkWorm 48000
Although many different software and hardware configurations are tested and supported by Brocade
Communications Systems, Inc. for the Brocade Fabric OS v5.2.0, 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
v5.2.0. To obtain information about an OS version other than v5.2.0, see the documentation specific to
that OS version.
What’s New in This Document
The following changes have been made since this document was last released:
•Information that 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 SilkWorm 7500.
-Updated fan default threshold value for the SilkWorm 4900.
-Updated temperature default threshold values for the SilkWorm 48000.
-Minor format changes.
For further information, see the release notes.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xi
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Document Conventions
This section describes text formatting conventions and important notices formats.
Text Formatting
The narrative-text formatting conventions that are used in this document are as follows:
bold text Identifies command names
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.
N
ote
A note provides a tip, emphasizes important information, or provides a reference to related information.
C
aution
A caution alerts you to potential damage to hardware, firmware, software, or data.
W
arning
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 you might find helpful.
Brocade Resources
The following related documentation is provided on the Brocade Documentation CD-ROM and on the
Brocade Web site, through Brocade Connect.
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
SilkWorm 48000
•SilkWorm 48000 Hardware Reference Manual
•SilkWorm 48000 QuickStart Guide
•FR4-18i Hardware Reference Manual
•FC4-16IP Hardware Reference Manual
SilkWorm 24000
•SilkWorm 24000 Hardware Reference Manual
•SilkWorm 24000 QuickStart Guide
N
ote
Go to http://www.brocade.com and click Brocade Connect to register at no cost for a user ID and
password.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide xiii
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SilkWorm 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
SilkWorm 7500
•SilkWorm 7500 Hardware Reference Manual
•SilkWorm 7500 QuickStart Guide
•SilkWorm 7500 Fan Assembly Replacement Procedure
•SilkWorm Mid Sized Power Supply Replacement Procedure
SilkWorm 4900
•SilkWorm 4900 Hardware Reference Manual
•SilkWorm 4900 QuickStart Guide
•SilkWorm 4900 Fan Assembly Replacement Procedure
•SilkWorm Mid Sized Power Supply Replacement Procedure
SilkWorm 4100
•SilkWorm 4100 Hardware Reference Manual
•SilkWorm 4100 QuickStart Guide
SilkWorm 3900
•SilkWorm 3900 Hardware Reference Manual (for v4.x software)
•SilkWorm 3900 QuickStart Guide (for v4.x software)
•SilkWorm 3900 Fan Assembly Replacement Procedure
•SilkWorm 3900 Motherboard Assembly Replacement Procedure
•SilkWorm 3900 Power Supply Replacement Procedure
SilkWorm 3250/3850
•SilkWorm 3250/3850 Hardware Reference Manual (for v4.x software)
•SilkWorm 3250/3850 QuickStart Guide (for v4.x software)
SilkWorm 200E
•SilkWorm 200E Hardware Reference Manual (for v5.x software)

xiv Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
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For practical discussions about SAN design, implementation, and maintenance, you can obtain Building
SANs with Brocade Fabric Switches through:
http://www.amazon.com
For additional Brocade documentation, visit the Brocade SAN Info Center and click the Resource
Library location:
http://www.brocade.com
Release notes are available on the Brocade Connect Web site and are also bundled with the Fabric OS
firmware.
Optional Brocade Features
Optional Brocade features include:
Advanced Performance Monitoring
Enables more effective end-to-end SAN performance analysis to enhance
performance tuning, increase productivity, optimize resource utilization, and
reduce costs.
Extended Fabrics Supports the reliable, high-speed connectivity of SilkWorm switches over dark
fiber or Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) equipment at distances up
to 500 kilometers to enhance business continuance operations.
ISL Trunking Optimizes the performance and availability of SAN fabrics while simplifying
ISL management. Two 4 Gbit/sec SilkWorm switches can automatically group up
to eight ISLs into a single logical “trunk” with a total throughput of up to 32
Gbit/sec.
Advanced Zoning Automatically groups SAN fabric-connected devices into logical zones that
restrict access to “member” devices in the zone. Advanced Zoning uses hardware
enforcement at both the port and WWN level to provide more robust data
protection.
Secure Fabric OS Provides a comprehensive security solutions to help protect mission-critical data.
Key features include centralized policy-based security management, encryption
of management data, and authentication to create a fabric-wide trusted
environment with control over all levels of fabric access and communication.
FICON CUP Enables IBM host-based management programs to manage FICON fabric
switches in-band by sending commands to the Fabric OS emulated control
device.
FC-FC Routing The FC-FC (Fibre Channel) Routing Service is an optionally licensed product
that provides Fibre Channel routing between two or more fabrics without
merging those fabrics. FC-FC Routing is supported on the SilkWorm 7500 and
SilkWorm 48000 when it is configured with a FR4-18i blade and uses
configuration option 5. The FR4-18i blade can be used simultaneously as a Fibre
Channel router and as an FCIP tunnel.

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FCIP Tunneling The optional Fibre Channel over Internet protocol (FCIP) Tunneling Service
enables Fibre Channel frames to “tunnel” through IP networks by dividing
frames, encapsulating the result in IP packets on entering the tunnel, and then
reconstructing them as they leave the tunnel. Fabric OS supports eight FCIP
interswitch links between two SilkWorm switches (SilkWorm 7500 or SilkWorm
48000 with a FR4-18i blade) or routes. All 16 links can be used as FCIP links
with the remaining links going to other routers.
NPIV N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) enables you to assign a different virtual port ID
to each Fibre Channel protocol for SCSI (FCP). NPIV is designed to enable you
to allocate virtual addresses without impacting your existing hardware
implementation. The virtual port has the same properties as an N_Port, and is
therefore capable of registering with all services of the fabric.
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
•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

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2. Switch Serial Number
The switch serial number and corresponding bar code are provided on the serial number label, as
shown here:
:
The serial number label is located as follows:
•SilkWorm 2000-series switches: Bottom of chassis.
•SilkWorm 200E, 3200, and 3800 switches: nonport side of chassis.
•SilkWorm 3250, 3850, 3900, 4100, 4900, and 7500 switches: Bottom of chassis.
•SilkWorm 24000, and 48000 directors: Inside the front of the chassis, on the wall to the left of
the ports.
3. World Wide Name (WWN)
•SilkWorm 200E, 3250, 3600, 3850, 3900, 4100, 4900, and 7500 switches and SilkWorm 24000,
and 48000 directors: Provide the license ID. Use the licenseIdShow command to display the
license ID.
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Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 1-1
Publication Number: 53-1000243-01
Chapter
1
Fabric Watch Concepts
This chapter contains the following sections:
•“Fabric Watch Overview,” next
•“Introduction to Fabric Health” on page 1-3
•“Fabric Watch Components” on page 1-3
•“Configuring Events” on page 1-12
•“Port Persistence” on page 1-20
•“Notification Methods” on page 1-20
•“Switch Policies” on page 1-23
•“Interpreting Event Messages” on page 1-23
Fabric Watch Overview
Fabric Watch is an optional storage area network (SAN) health monitor software for Brocade SilkWorm
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.

1-2 Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
Publication Number: 53-1000243-01
Fabric Watch Overview
1
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.

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 1-3
Publication Number: 53-1000243-01
Introduction to Fabric Health 1
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.
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.

1-4 Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide
Publication Number: 53-1000243-01
Fabric Watch Components
1
Table 1-1 describes the classes into which Fabric Watch groups all switch and fabric elements.
Table 1-1 Fabric Watch Classes
Class Description
Environment Includes information about the physical environment in which the switch
resides and the internal environment of the switch. For example, an
Environment-class alarm alerts you to problems or potential problems
with temperature, fans, and power.
Fabric Groups areas of potential problems arising between devices, including
interswitch link (ISL) details, zoning, and traffic. A Fabric-class alarm
alerts you to problems or potential problems with interconnectivity.
Field Replaceable Unit
(FRU) Monitors the status of FRUs and provides an alert when a part replacement is needed. This class monitors states, not thresholds.
Performance Monitor Serves as a tuning tool. The Performance Monitor class groups areas that
track the source and destination of traffic. Use the Performance Monitor
class thresholds and alarms to determine traffic load and flow and to
reallocate resources appropriately.
The Performance Monitor class is divided into the areas AL_PA
Performance Monitor, EE (end-to-end) Performance Monitor, and Filter
Performance Monitor.
Performance Monitoring is not supported on VE, EX, and VEX ports.
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 SilkWorm 48000 with a FR4-18i blade, or
the SilkWorm 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.