Administrator Guide

Fabric Watch Administrator’s Guide 11

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Fabric Watch audit messages

Fabric Watch events caused by configuration value changes are tagged as Audit messages. When

managing SANs you may want to filter or audit certain classes of events to ensure that you can view

and generate an audit log for what is happening on a switch, particularly for security-related event

changes. These events include login failures, zone configuration changes, firmware downloads,

and other configuration changes—in other words—critical changes that have a serious effect on the

operation and security of the switch.

Important information related to event classes is also tracked and made available. For example,

you can track changes from an external source by the user name, IP address, or type of

management interface used to access the switch.

NOTE

Audit messages are generated for port fencing configuration changes, whether port fencing is

enabled or disabled.

You can set up an external host to receive Audit messages so you can easily monitor unexpected

changes. For information on error messages generated by Fabric Watch, refer to the Fabric OS

Message Reference. For information on configuring an Audit Log, refer to the “Audit Log

Configuration” section of the Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide.

Data values

A data value represents a measured value or a state value, described as follows:

• Measured value is the current, measurable value of a fabric or fabric element, such as

environmental temperature.

• State value, which is the only qualitative data value, provides information on the overall state

of a fabric component. Instead of numerical data, state values contain information on whether

components are faulty, active, or in another state.

NOTE

Either measured values or state values can be used; mixed values are not supported.

Fabric Watch compares the measured values to a set of configurable limits to determine whether

fabric monitoring has occurred and whether to notify you. You must set appropriate threshold

boundaries to trigger an event.

State values are handled differently, as Fabric Watch monitors state values for certain states which

you can select. When a state value transitions to one of the monitored states, an event is triggered.

Time bases specify the time interval between two samples to be compared. You can set the time

base to day (samples are compared once a day), hour (samples are compared once an hour), or

minute (samples are compared every minute). Second samples are not advisable. This

configurable field affects the comparison of sensor-based data with user-defined threshold values.

Refer to “Time bases” on page 16 for more information.