958-000284-007, March 2005)

Advanced Fabric Diagnostics

This provides tools to monitor the fabric and identify potential p roblems before

they impact network and application performance. Tools include ISL Fencing, new

switch-centric Fabric and Embedded Port Logs, an Audit Log for the embedded user

interfaces, and access to the Digital Diagnostic capabilities included with newer SFP

transceivers.

ISL fencing

Also called Port Fencing, this feature allows customers to set up policies for blocking

an ISL when problems occur that cause an ISL to “bounce” or repeatedly attempt to

establish a connection. Any time an ISL is brought up or down, a fabric rebuild occurs,

which can cause disruption in some environments. ISL Fencing will lessen the likelihood

of having a problematic ISL connection disrupt a SAN.

To configure this feature , users set policies with thresholds based on the number of

port events occurring during a set time period. If a port generates enough events to

exceed the policy threshold, the port is automatically blocked and the user is notified.

Transmit and receive traffic is disabled until the user can investigate, solve the problem,

and manually unblock the port.

Embedded Audit Log

The Audit lo

g is a new log available through CLI and EWS. This is not the same Audit

Log availa

ble through HAFM. The log records all configuration changes to the switch to

provide d

ata for analyzing problems caused by configuration changes.

Embedded

Port Log

The Embedded Por t Log is a new log that records all Fibre Channel traffic from or to the

embedded port. This log is actually implemented as two logs, one that allows entr y

wrapping and one that stops adding entries when filled. The logs allow filtering based

on Class F frames, as well as by port number, to isolate specific events or problems.

This feature is intended for advanced users to diagnose and troubleshoot traffic

problems within a SAN. The Embedded Por t Log is available via EWS, CLI, and HA FM.