Dell Brocade 6520 Message Reference Supporting Fabric OS v7.1.0 - Page 49

Responding to a system message 1 • Are serial port (console) logs available? • Which CP was master? • What and when were the last actions or changes made to the system? Common steps to be followed when troubleshooting a system message are as follows: • Execute the errDump command on each logical switch. • Execute the supportFtp command (as needed) to set up automatic FTP transfers, and then execute the supportSave command. Support Fabric OS creates a number of files that can help support personnel troubleshoot and diagnose a problem. This section describes those files and how to access or save the information for support personnel. Panic dump and core dump files The Fabric OS creates panic dump files and core files when there are problems in the Fabric OS kernel. You can view panic dump files using the pdShow command. These files can build up in the kernel partition (typically because of failovers) and might need to be periodically deleted or downloaded using the supportSave command. The software watchdog process (SWD) is responsible for monitoring daemons critical to the function of a healthy switch. The SWD holds a list of critical daemons that ping the SWD periodically at a predetermined interval defined for each daemon. The ping interval is set at 133 seconds, with the exception of the Fabric Watch daemon and the IP storage demon, which ping the SWD every 333 seconds. (For a complete listing of daemons, refer to the KSWD entry in Table 6.) If a daemon fails to ping the SWD within the defined interval, or if the daemon terminates unexpectedly, then the SWD dumps information to the panic dump files, which helps to diagnose the root cause of the unexpected failure. Execute the pdShow command to view these files or the supportSave command to send them to a host workstation using FTP. The panic dump files and core files are intended for support personnel use only. Trace dumps The Fabric OS produces trace dumps when problems are encountered within Fabric OS modules. The Fabric OS trace dump files are intended for support personnel use only. You can use the supportSave or supportFTP commands to collect trace dump files to a specified remote location to provide to support when requested. supportSave command The supportSave command can be used to send the output of the system messages (RASLog), the trace files, and the output of the supportShow command to an off-switch storage location through FTP. Prior to running the supportSave command, you can optionally set up the FTP parameters using the supportFtp command. The supportShow command runs a large number of dump and show commands to provide a global output of the status of the switch. Refer to the Fabric OS Command Reference for more information on these commands. Fabric OS Message Reference 27 53-1002749-01