Operating instructions

206 Cisco Systems Intelligent Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module
8.2 Introduction to troubleshooting the IGESM
In this section we discuss general troubleshooting techniques and offer options for getting
started.
8.2.1 General comments on troubleshooting
Because of the highly integrated nature of the IGESM within the BladeCenter, it is usually
necessary to engage several teams for anything beyond basic hardware troubleshooting.
Experience has shown that the greater the communication between administrative groups,
the more likely an issue will be resolved sooner rather than later.
Upstream network goes
down when hooking up
IGESM to upstream
Cause: Attempting to connect any two switches in a production network
with incorrect or default configurations can lead to issues in the
network. This is also true of connecting an unconfigured IGESM to
unconfigured ports on an upstream switch.
Solution: Always configure both sides of a link before hooking up the
connections or enabling the connected ports. This is a an important
best practice for any switch-to-switch connections in a production
network, not just between the IGESM and its upstream connections.
Server running Red Hat
and tg3 driver not
connecting to network,
taking the upstream port
down, or both
Cause: Some versions of the tg3 driver cause port issues on the
IGESM.
Solution: 1) Use the Broadcom driver. 2) Get a version of the tg3 driver
that works. 3) Use the speed noneg command if IGESM code is at
12.1(22)AY1 or higher. 3) Use the interface command speed noneg if
IGESM code is at 12.1(22)AY1 or higher.
Unable to enable external
ports (g0/17-20) from
IGESM. Reports Shutdown
not allowed on this
interface.
Cause: Management Module Advanced I/O module setting for External
ports set to Disabled (default).
Solution: In Management Module I/O Module tasks Advanced settings,
set External ports to Enabled (for all IGESMs), then go into IGESM and
perform no shut to bring interfaces 17 through 20 up.
Outbound Etherchannel
traffic not load balancing,
most outbound traffic using
a single port in the
Etherchannel bundle.
Cause: Default outbound Etherchannel load balance is not necessarily
effective in BladeCenter environment.
Solution: Upgrade to 12.1(14)AY4 or newer and change the global load
balancing from the default of source MAC to XOR the source and
destination IP or MAC. (For example, to load-balance based on an XOR
of the source and destination MAC addresses: port-channel
load-balance src-dst-mac)
Serial over LAN (SoL) not
working or working
intermittently when IGESM
installed.
Cause: 1) SoL not configured properly on Management Module,
IGESM, or BladeServer. 2) Down-level firmware on Management
Module, IGESM, or BladeServer. 3) Down-level driver on BladeServer.
4) Management Module not restarted after configuring SoL.
Solution: 1) Use IBM SoL configuration guide to properly configure SoL
when an IGESM is present. (See section 7.8, “Serial over LAN feature
description and configuration” on page 198.)
2) Make sure all firmware is at recent levels. 3) Make sure driver on
BladeServers at recent revision. 4) After saving SoL configs on the
Management Module, even though it does not say it, it is strongly
recommended that you restart Management Module to allow SoL to
come ready. (It may take 2 or 3 minutes to come ready the first time.)
Symptoms specific to
BladeCenter
environment and IGESM
Possible cause/solution