Administrators Guide (Supporting Fabric OS v7.3.0) Manual

Working with Diagnostic Features
● Trace dumps................................................................................................................. 159
● Displaying switch information........................................................................................161
● Defining switch policy....................................................................................................165
● Port LED interpretation..................................................................................................166
Trace dumps
A trace dump is a snapshot of the running behavior within the Brocade switch. The dump can be used
by developers and troubleshooters at Brocade to help understand what might be contributing to a
specific switch behavior when certain internal events are seen. For example, a trace dump can be
created each time a certain error message is logged to the system error log. Developers can then
examine what led up to the message event by studying the traces.
Tracing is always "on." As software on the switch executes, the trace information is placed into a
circular buffer in system RAM. Periodically, the trace buffer is "frozen" and saved. This saved
information is a "trace dump."
A trace dump is generated when:
• It is triggered manually (use the traceDump command).
• A critical-level LOG message occurs.
• A particular LOG message occurs (use the traceTrig command to set up the conditions for this).
• A kernel panic occurs.
• The hardware watchdog timer expires.
For information about the traceDump and traceTrig commands, refer to the Fabric OS Command
Reference.
The trace dump is maintained on the switch until either it is uploaded to the FTP host or another trace
dump is generated. If another trace dump is generated before the previous one is uploaded, the
previous dump is overwritten.
When a trace dump is generated, it is automatically uploaded to an FTP host if automatic FTP
uploading is enabled.
Using the Trace tab of the Switch Administration window, you can view and configure the trace FTP
host target and enable or disable automatic trace uploads.
How a trace dump is used
The generation of a trace dump causes a CRITICAL message to be logged to the system error log.
When a trace dump is detected, issue the supportSave command on the affected switch. This
command packages all error logs, the supportShow output, and trace dump, and moves these to your
FTP server. You can also configure your switch to automatically copy trace dumps to your FTP server
(refer to Setting up automatic trace dump transfers on page 160).
In addition to automatic generation of trace dumps on faults, you can also generate a trace dump
manually or when certain system error messages are logged. This is normally done with assistance
from Brocade customer support when diagnosing switch behavior.
Web Tools Administrator's Guide
159
53-1003169-01