Brocade Fabric Watch Administrator's Guide - Supporting Fabric OS v5.3.0 (53-1000438-01, June 2007)

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 19

53-0000438-01

Notification methods

Fabric Watch uses port persistence for a port event that requires the transition of the port into a

marginal status. Fabric Watch does not record any event until the event persists for a length of time

equal to the port persistence time. If the port returns to normal boundaries before the port

persistence time elapses, Fabric Watch does not record any event.

The port persistence time is measured in seconds, and can be configured. Configuring the port

persistence time to zero disables this feature. The default value for port persistence is 18 seconds.

Notification methods

There are five notification methods available through Fabric Watch, but not all notification methods

can be applied to all of the classes. Valid notification methods are represented through the valid

alarm matrix.

Fabric Watch provides the following notification methods:

• “Switch event (error) log entry,” next

• “SNMP trap” on page 19

• “RAPI trap” on page 20

• “Port log lock” on page 20

• “E-mail alert” on page 20

To enable event settings, you must set the associated attribute to a nonzero value between 1 and

31. The exact value you specify determines which event notification method Fabric Watch uses if

the event setting criteria is met.

For details about valid notification methods in the alarm matrix, see “Assigning notification

methods” on page 21.

SWITCH EVENT (ERROR) LOG ENTRY

The switch event (error) log holds up to 1024 entries. This error log stores event information but

does not actively send alerts. Use the errShow command to view the log.

Log entries can also trigger SNMP traps if the SNMP agent is configured. When the SNMP agent is

configured to a specific error message level, then error messages at that level trigger SNMP traps.

For information on configuring the SNMP agent using the agtCfgSet command, see the Fabric OS

Command Reference.

SNMP TRAP

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) performs an operation called a trap that

notifies a management station (a workstation that runs network management applications using

SNMP protocol) when events occur.

You must configure the software to receive trap information from the network device. You must also

configure the SNMP agent on the switch to send the trap to the management station using the

agtCfgSet command. For more information on this command, see the Fabric OS Command

Reference.

An SNMP trap forwards the following information to an SNMP management station:

• Name of the element whose counter registered an event