Dell Brocade Adapters User manual

53-1002145-01
5 August 2011
®
Brocade Adapters
Troubleshooting Guide
Supporting CNA models 1741, 1020, 1010, 1007
Supporting HBA models 825, 815, 804, 425, 415
Supporting Fabric Adapter model 1860

Copyright © 2011 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Brocade, the B-wing symbol, BigIron, DCFM, DCX, Fabric OS, FastIron, IronView, NetIron, SAN Health, ServerIron, TurboIron, and
Wingspan are registered trademarks, and Brocade Assurance, Brocade NET Health, Brocade One, Extraordinary Networks,
MyBrocade, VCS, and VDX are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other
countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned are or may be trademarks or service marks of their respective
owners.
Brocade, the B-wing symbol, BigIron, DCFM, DCX, Fabric OS, FastIron, IronView, NetIron, SAN Health, ServerIron, TurboIron, and
Wingspan are registered trademarks, and Brocade Assurance, Brocade NET Health, Brocade One, Extraordinary Networks,
MyBrocade, VCS, and VDX are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other
countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned are or may be trademarks or service marks of their respective
owners.
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://.brocade.com/support/oscd.
Brocade Communications Systems, Incorporated
Document History
Corporate and Latin American Headquarters
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
130 Holger Way
San Jose, CA 95134
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-inf[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
Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide 53-1001253-01 New document June 2009
Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide 53-1001253-02 New document September 2009
Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide 53-1001253-03 Updates for Release 2.2 May 2010
Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide 53-1001582-01 Updates to support the
Brocade 804 adapter
June 2010
Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide 53-1001253-04 Updates to support the
Brocade 1007 Adapter
September 2010
Brocade Adapters Installation and
Reference Manual
53-1001925-01 Updates to support Release
2.3
October 2010
Brocade Adapters Installation and
Reference Manual
53-1001925-02 Updates to support Brocade
1741 adapter
December 2010
Brocade Adapters Installation and
Reference Manual
53-1002145-01 Updates to support Release
3.0 and Brocade 1860
Adapter
August 2011

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iv Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide
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Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide v
53-1002145-01
Table of Contents
About this Document
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
How this document is organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Supported adapter hardware and software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Fabric Adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
CNAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
HBAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Fabric OS and switch support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Host operating system support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Host operating system support for adapter drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Fibre Channel support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
FCoE support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Ethernet support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Hypervisor support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
Host operating system support for HCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
What’s new in this document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii
Document conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Text formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Command syntax conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Command examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Notes, cautions, and warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Key terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Notice to the reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xx
Brocade resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Other industry resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Providing details for support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
Chapter 1 Introduction to Troubleshooting
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
How to use this manual for troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Gathering problem information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2 Isolating Problems
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
How to use this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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General adapter problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Adapter not reported under server’s PCI subsystem. . . . . . . . . . 9
No adapters reported though BCU adapter --list command . . . 10
Port link is not active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Device drivers not loading for all adapter instances . . . . . . . . .11
Installer program does not autorun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Host system freezes or crashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Operating system errors (blue screen) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Driver event messages appearing in host system log files . . . . 13
BCU version mismatch warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Errors or problems when entering BCU commands . . . . . . . . . 14
bcu pcifn --list and vhba --query commands return errors . . . . 14
I/O data traffic issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Support Save file is too large (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Host system running Microsoft Windows fails to hibernate . . . 16
Driver incompatible with CNA drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Brocade BCU desktop shortcut missing (Windows only). . . . . . 16
Driver installation fails and system cannot be booted . . . . . . . 17
Cannot remove Linux driver with uninstaller application or
scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Removing Ethernet (network) drivers causes error . . . . . . . . . . 17
Files needed for bfad.sys message appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Cannot roll back driver on all adapter instances using Device
Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Device drivers not loading due to lack of MSI-X interrupt
vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Driver installation fails on ESX systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Errors when using GUI-based software installer . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Errors when installing brocade_driver_linux_<versions>.tar.gz
package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
UEFI boot problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
BIOS boot problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Fabric Adapter problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
VLANs and teams persist after changing port to HBA mode . . 27
HCM not discovering all Ethernet ports for vNICs . . . . . . . . . . .28
HBA problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
No adapters found on local host” message in HCM . . . . . . . . .28
Quality of Service performance issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Quality of Service not functioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Trunking problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Unable to create more than 126 Virtual (NPIV) ports for
adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
CNA problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Cannot manage CNAs after attempting upgrade to 3.0
drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
VMQs not created for virtual network adapter instances . . . . . 31

Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide vii
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Network interface problems (CNA or NIC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Ethernet loopback test problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Ethernet link ports or LOM not coming up on reboot in Linux .33
Loss of adapter hardware address in Linux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Loss of adapter IP address in Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Network stack runs out of heap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
NIC numbering unexpected on VMware systems . . . . . . . . . . .34
Ping to remote host is failing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Receive-side scaling disables unexpectedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Applications using TDI driver stop responding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
RSS network throughput decreases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
SNMP MIB browser not displaying information on VLAN
-related OIDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Teaming errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
VLAN creation and operation problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Teaming or VLAN operations through HCM fail . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Poor network performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Binding issues after Hyper-V enabled with teaming . . . . . . . . .39
FCoE and Fibre Channel problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Loss of sync and loss of signal errors in port statistics . . . . . . 41
Fabric authentication failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Adapter is not showing in the fabric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Virtual devices not listed in name server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Adapter not registering with the name server or cannot
access storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
FCoE link is down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
I/O problem on connected FCoE device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
I/Os are not failing over immediately on path failure in MPIO
setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Disk I/O requests cause low throughput and high latency on
Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Disk I/O requests cause low throughput and high latency on
VMware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
DCB network problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
DCB is not enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
HCM and HCM Agent problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Failed to connect to agent on host... error when using HCM . .46
HCM Agent service cannot start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
HCM Agent not auto starting if 3.0 driver updated with 2.3
HCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Unable to completely uninstall HCM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Time on HCM screens does not match system time. . . . . . . . . 50
Verifying Fibre Channel and DCB links (stand-up adapters) . . . . . . 50
Adapter driver installation verification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Confirming driver package installation with HCM . . . . . . . . . . .52
Confirming driver package installation in Windows systems . .52
Confirming driver package installation in Linux systems . . . . . 53
Confirming driver package installation in Solaris systems . . . .54
Confirming driver package installation in VMware systems . . .54
Troubleshooting mezzanine card problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

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Additional references for isolating problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
Chapter 3 Tools for Collecting Data
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
For detailed information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Data to provide technical support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Data collection using host system commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Data collection using BCU commands and HCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Support Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Using BCU commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Data collection using Fabric OS commands (Brocade switches
only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Adapter event messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Host system logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
HCM logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Logging levels adjustment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Authentication statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
DCB statistics (CNA only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
DCB query (CNA only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
FCoE statistics (CNA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Fabric statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Displaying FCP initiator mode statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
FCP initiator mode statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Firmware statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
I/O performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Logical port statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Performance data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
PHY module statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Port Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Port statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Real-time and historical performance statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Remote port statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Quality of Service statistics (HBA). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Trunking attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
vHBA statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
vNIC statistics (CNA or NIC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Virtual port statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
VLAN statistics for a team (CNA and NIC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
VLAN statistics for a port (CNA and NIC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

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Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Beaconing (stand-up adapters). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Internal and external loopback tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Ethernet port loopback test (CNA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
PCI loopback test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Memory test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Pinging Fibre Channel end points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Adapter temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Queue test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
SCSI test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Trace route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Echo test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Collecting BIOS data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Displaying BIOS data through BCU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Display BIOS data through HCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Collecting LLDP data (CNA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Collecting SFP data (stand-up adapters). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
SFP properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Predictive optical monitoring (POM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Collecting port data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Displaying port properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Displaying DCB port properties (CNA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Displaying Ethernet port properties (CNA or NIC) . . . . . . . . . .100
Displaying FCoE port properties (CNA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Displaying FC port properties (HBA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Displaying remote port properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Displaying logical port properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Displaying virtual port properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Displaying the port log. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Displaying the port list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Performing a port query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Displaying port speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
FCP-IM I/O profiling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Enabling FCP-IM profile through HCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Collecting teaming information (CNA or NIC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Displaying team data and statistics through HCM . . . . . . . . .104
Displaying configured team data through BCU . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Authentication settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Displaying authentication settings through HCM . . . . . . . . . .105
Displaying authentication settings through BCU . . . . . . . . . . .106
PHY module data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
QoS settings (HBA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Determining QoS settings through HCM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Target rate limiting settings (HBA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Determining target rate limiting settings through BCU . . . . . .107
Determining settings through HCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

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Persistent binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Displaying Persistent Binding settings through BCU . . . . . . . .109
Displaying Persistent Binding settings through HCM . . . . . . .109
Adapter properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
CNA Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
HBA Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Adapter queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Chapter 4 Performance Optimization
In this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Tuning storage drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Linux tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Solaris tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Windows tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
VMware tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Tuning network drivers (CNA or NIC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Windows tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Linux tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
VMware tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Solaris tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Appendix A Adapter BIOS and Event Message Reference
Adapter BIOS messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Adapter driver event messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Appendix B HCM and Installer Message Reference
Index

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About this Document
In this chapter
•How this document is organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
•Host operating system support for adapter drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
•Host operating system support for HCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
•What’s new in this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
•Document conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
•Notice to the reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
•Additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
•Providing details for support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
•Document feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
How this document is organized
This manual provides troubleshooting information on Brocade host bus adapters (HBAs),
converged network adapters (CNAs), and Fabric Adapters. It is organized to help you find the
information that you want as quickly and easily as possible.
The document contains the following components:
•Chapter 1, “Introduction to Troubleshooting” provides an introduction and approach to
troubleshooting adapter problems, as well as tips for gathering problem information. A
checklist is also provided to verify that required procedures have been followed during
installation.
•Chapter 2, “Isolating Problems” provides information on common adapter problems and
procedures to diagnose and recover from these problems.
•Chapter 3, “Tools for Collecting Data” provides a summary of diagnostic and monitoring tools
available through the Host Connectivity Manager (HCM), Brocade Command Line Utility (BCU),
Fabric OS commands, and host system to help you isolate and resolve adapter-related
problems.
•Chapter 4, “Performance Optimization” contains guidelines for optimizing adapter
performance on your host system.
•Appendix A, “Adapter BIOS and Event Message Reference” contains details on all event
messages generated by adapter drivers.
•Appendix B, “HCM and Installer Message Reference” lists all error messages that may display
during operation of HCM and the Brocade Adapter Software Installer application. Causes of
each message and actions to perform to resolve problems are also included.

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NOTE
This publication is a companion guide to be used with the Brocade Adapters Administrator’s Guide.
That publication provides detailed information on adapter monitoring and diagnostic tools in the
HCM and the BCU.
Supported adapter hardware and software
This section provides an overview of Brocade adapter supported hardware and software.
Fabric Adapters
Brocade 1860 Fabric Adapter ports can be configured for CNA, NIC, or HBA operation using
Brocade Command Utility (BCU) commands. Ports configured in CNA or NIC mode require
appropriate 10GbE SFPs or direct-attached copper cables and operate at a 10 Gbps maximum
rate. Those configured in HBA mode require appropriate 8 or 16 Gbps Fibre Channel SFPs and
operate at an 8 or 16 Gbps maximum rate depending on the installed small form factor pluggable
transceiver (SFP+).
Brocade 1860 single or dual-port adapter models can ship in the following configurations:
•Single-port model - 16 Gbps Fibre Channel SFP, 10GbE SFP, or no optics.
•Dual-port model - Two 16 Gbps Fibre Channel, two 10 GbE, or no optics.
Note that although adapters may ship with specific optics installed, you can install any compatible
component, such as 8 Gbps FC SFPs, long-wave SFPs, and direct-attached SFP+ copper cables.
Refer to the appropriate “Hardware Compatibility” section for the adapter in the Brocade Adapters
Installation and Reference Manual for more information.
NOTE
Install only Brocade-branded small form factor pluggables (SFPs) in stand-up Fabric Adapters.
CNAs
The following Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) CNAs are supported:
•Brocade 1007. Dual-port mezzanine CNA with a per-port maximum of 10 Gbps. This is an IBM
compact form factor horizontal (CFFh) mezzanine-type adapter that installs on supported
server blade.
•Brocade 1010. Single-port stand-up CNA with a per-port maximum of 10 Gbps.
•Brocade 1020. Dual-port stand-up CNA with a per-port maximum of 10 Gbps.
•Brocade 1741. Dual-port mezzanine card CNA with a per-port maximum of 10 Gbps. This is a
small-form-factor (SFF) mezzanine card that mounts in a Dell blade server.
NOTE
Install only Brocade-branded small form factor pluggables (SFPs) in stand-up CNAs. Mezzanine CNAs
do not have SFPs and external port connectors, but utilize internal ports and connections to switch
and I/O modules installed in the blade system enclosure.

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HBAs
The following Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) are supported:
•Brocade 415. Single-port stand-up HBA with a per-port maximum of 4 Gbps using a 4 Gbps
SFP.
•Brocade 425. Dual-port stand-up HBA with a per-port maximum of 4 Gbps using a 4 Gbps SFP.
•Brocade 804. Dual-port mezzanine HBA with a per-port maximum of 8 Gbps. This HBA installs
on Hewlett Packard blade servers.
•Brocade 815. Single-port stand-up HBA with a per-port maximum of 8 Gbps using an 8 Gbps
SFP+.
•Brocade 825. Dual-port stand-up HBA with a per-port maximum of 8 Gbps using an 8 Gbps
SFP+.
NOTE
Install only Brocade-branded small form factor pluggables (SFPs) in stand-up HBAs. Mezzanine
HBAs do not have SFPs and external port connectors, but utilize internal ports and connections to
switch and I/O modules installed in the blade system enclosure.
Note the following about HBA support
•This publication only supports the HBA models listed under “HBAs” and does not provide
information about the Brocade 410 and 420 Fibre Channel HBAs, also known as the Brocade
400 Fibre Channel HBAs.
•Although you can install an 8 Gbps SFP+ into a Brocade 415 or 425 HBA, only 4 Gbps
maximum port speed is possible.
Fabric OS and switch support
Brocade adapters support Brocade Fabric OS and switches.
Fabric Adapters
•Ports on Fabric Adapters configured in CNA mode can connect to Fibre Channel SANs and
Ethernet data networks through a compatible FCoE switch. These ports can also connect to an
Ethernet data network as a NIC. For a current list of compatible switches, refer to the latest
interoperability matrices on the adapters website a www.brocade.com/adapters.
•Ports configured in HBA mode support the Fabric OS and connect to SANs through fabric
switches or connect directly to storage. For a current list of compatible switches, refer to the
latest interoperability matrices on the adapters website at www.brocade.com/adapters.
•Ports configured in NIC mode fully support the Ethernet protocol and connect directly to the
Ethernet LAN.
CNAs
Brocade CNAs must connect to Fibre Channel SANs and Ethernet data networks through a
compatible FCoE switch. These ports can also connect to standard Ethernet LAN switch. For a
current list of compatible switches, refer to the latest interoperability matrices on the adapters
website at www.brocade.com/adapters.

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HBAs
Brocade HBAs connect to Fibre Channel SANs through compatible fabric switches or connect
directly to storage. For a current list of compatible switches, refer to the latest interoperability
matrices on the adapters website at www.brocade.com/adapters.
Host operating system support
Refer to “Host operating system support for adapter drivers” for information on operating systems
that support the Brocade Host Connectivity Manager (HCM), Brocade Command Line Utility (BCU),
and adapter drivers.
Host operating system support for adapter drivers
This section lists operating system support for all models of the following types of Brocade
adapters:
•Fabric Adapters - Refer to the following subsections depending on your port configurations:
-“FCoE support” on page xv and “Ethernet support” on page xv for ports configured in CNA
mode.
-“Fibre Channel support” on page xiv, for ports configured in HBA mode.
-“Ethernet support” on page xv for ports configured in NIC mode.
•CNAs- Refer to the following subsections:
-“FCoE support” on page xv
-“Ethernet support” on page xv.
•HBAs - Refer to “Fibre Channel support” on page xiv.
NOTE
Specific operating system release levels, service pack levels, and other patch requirements are
detailed in the current adapter release notes.
NOTE
Also refer to the latest Brocade interoperability matrices on the Brocade website at
www.brocade.com/adapters for a list of supported host systems and operating systems.
Fibre Channel support
The following lists operating systems that support Fibre Channel operation for HBAs and for Fabric
Adapter ports configured in HBA mode:
•Windows 2003 R2/SP2 (x86 and x64)
•Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn) (x86 and x64)
•Windows Server 2008 R2/SP1 (x64)
•Microsoft Hyper V for Windows 2008 x86, x64
•Windows 7 (x86 and x64)

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•Windows Server Core for Windows 2008 (x86 and x64)
•Microsoft WinPE 3.0 for Windows 2008 (x86 and x64)
•Linux RHEL 4.9, 5.5, 5.6, 6.0, 6.1
•SLES 10 and 11 (x86 and x64)
•Solaris 10 (x86, x64, and SPARC)
NOTE
Solaris is not supported on Brocade 804 or 1007 adapters.
•VMware ESX Server 4.0, 4.1, 5.0 (x64)
NOTE
Drivers and BCU are supported on the VMware ESX platforms. HCM is supported only on the
guest system on VMware.
•Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 5.6, 6.0 (x86 and x64), Oracle VM 3.0
FCoE support
The following lists operating systems that support FCoE operation for Brocade CNAs and Fabric
Adaptor ports configured in CNA mode:
•Windows Server 2008 (x86 and x64)
•Windows Server 2008 R2/SP1 (x64)
•Microsoft Hyper V for Windows 2008 x86, x64
•Windows 7 (x86 and x64)
•Windows Server Core for Windows 2008 (x86 and x64)
•Microsoft WinPE 3.0 for Windows 2008 (x86 and x64)
•Linux RHEL4.9, 5.5, 5.6, 6.0, 6.1 (x86 and x64)
•Linux SLES 10 and 11(x86 and x64)
•Solaris 10 (x86, x64, and SPARC)
NOTE
Solaris is not supported on Brocade 804 or 1007 adapters.
•VMware ESX Server 4.0, 4.1, 5.0 (x64)
NOTE
Drivers and BCU are supported on the VMware ESX platforms. HCM is supported only on the
guest system on VMware.
•Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 5.6, 6.0 (x86 and x64)
Ethernet support
The following lists operating systems that support Ethernet operation for Brocade CNAs and Fabric
Adaptor ports configured in CNA or NIC modes:
•Windows Server 2008 (x86 and x64)

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•Windows 2008 R2/SP1 (x64)
•Windows Server Core for Windows 2008 (x86 and x64)
•Windows 7 (x86 and x64)
•Microsoft WinPE 3.0 for Windows 2008 (x86 and x64)
•Linux RHEL 4.9, 5.5, 5.6, 6.0, 6.1 (x86 and x64)
•Linux SLES 10 and 11 (x86 and x64)
•Solaris 10 (x86, x64, and SPARC)
NOTE
Solaris is not supported on Brocade 804 or 1007 adapters.
•Xen Hypervisor (x86 and x64)
Refer to “Hypervisor support” on page xvi.
•VMware ESX Server 4.0, 4.1, and 5.0 (x64)
NOTE
Drivers and BCU are supported on the VMware ESX platforms. HCM is supported only on the
guest system on VMware. Network drivers are not supported on IA-64 systems.
•Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 5.6, 6.0 (x86 and x64)
Hypervisor support
The following lists operating systems that support hypervisor operation for Brocade adapters:
•Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V (x64)
•Linux RHEVH 6.x (x64)
•Linux XEN (x86 and x64)
•Linux KVM (x64)
•VMware ESX 4.0, 4.1, and 5.0 (x64)
•Oracle VM 3.0 (x64)
•Citrix XenServer 6.0 (x64)
Host operating system support for HCM
The following operating systems support HCM management for adapters.
•Windows Server 2008 (x86 and x64)
•Windows Server 2008 R2/SP1 (x86 and x64)
•Windows SBS 2011 (x64)
•Windows XP
•Windows Vista
•Windows 7 SP1 (x86 and x64)
•Linux 5.5, 5.6, 6.0, 6.1 (x86 and x64)

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NOTE
HCM is a 32-bit application. To use HCM on Linux RHEL 6.0 x64 systems, you must install the
x32-compatible libraries because they are not installed by default.
•Linux SLES 10 and 11 (x86 and x64)
•Solaris 11, except Open Solaris (x86, x64, and SPARC)
•VMware ESX Server 4.0, 4.1, 5.0 (x64)
NOTE
HCM is not supported in ESXi systems.
NOTE
HCM is supported only on the guest operating system for VMware.
•Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 5.6, 6.0 (x86 and x64)
NOTE
Specific operating system service patch levels and other patch requirements are detailed in the
current release notes for your adapter software version.
What’s new in this document
This document adds details on adapter release 3.0 and the Brocade 1860 Fabric Adapter. For
further information about new features not covered in this document and documentation updates,
refer to the release notes for your adapter software version.

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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
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.
Command syntax conventions
Command syntax in this manual follows these conventions:
Command examples
This book describes how to perform configuration tasks using the Fabric OS command line
interface and the BCU interface, but does not describe the commands in detail. For complete
descriptions of all commands, including syntax, operand description, and sample output, see the
Fabric OS Command Reference and Brocade Adapters Administrator’s Guide.
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 < >.
... 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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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 technical glossaries on MyBrocade.
See “Brocade resources” on page xx for instructions on accessing MyBrocade.
For definitions of SAN-specific terms, visit the Storage Networking Industry Association online
dictionary at:
http://www.snia.org/education/dictionary
Notice to the reader
This document may contain references to the trademarks of the following corporations. These
trademarks are the properties of their respective companies and corporations.
These references are made for informational purposes only.
Corporation Referenced Trademarks and Products
Microsoft Corporation Windows, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Vista,
XP, PE for Windows, Hyper V for Windows, Windows Automated
Installation Kit (WAIK), and Windows 7.
Oracle Corporation Solaris
Red Hat Inc. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

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Additional information
This section lists additional Brocade and industry-specific documentation that you might find
helpful.
1. Go to the adapters website at www.brocade.com/adapters.
2. Navigate to the adapters Downloads page.
3. Select your operating system from the Downloads list to display appropriate downloads or
download the ISO image.
Brocade resources
To get up-to-the-minute information, go to http://my.brocade.com to register at no cost for a user ID
and password. A variety of resources for Brocade products is available.
Adapters
For adapter resources, such as product information, software, firmware, and documentation, visit
the adapters website at www.brocade.com/adapters.
For additional information on Brocade adapters, refer to the following publications:
•The Brocade Quick Installation Guide (provided with your adapter model).
•Brocade Adapters Troubleshooting Guide
•Brocade Adapters Administrator’s Guide
•CIM Provider for Brocade Adapters Installation Guide
FCoE Switch
For information on the Brocade FCoE Switch for connecting stand-up CNAs, refer to the following
publications:
•Brocade 8000 Hardware Reference Manual
•WebTools Administrator’s Guide
•EZSwitchSetup Administrator’s Guide
•Fabric OS Command Reference Manual
Novell, Inc. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)
VMware, Inc. ESX Server
SPARC International, Inc. SPARC
Hewlett Packard Corp. BladeSystem
IBM BladeCenter
Dell PowerEdge
Corporation Referenced Trademarks and Products