Reference Guide

1068 Brocade Fabric OS Command Reference
53-1004112-02
switchBeacon
switchBeacon
Sets switch beaconing mode on or off.
Synopsis switchbeacon [mode]
Description Use this command to enable or disable switch beaconing mode. Switch beaconing can be used to locate a failing
unit.
When beaconing mode is turned on, the port LEDs flash amber, left to right and right to left, from port 0 to the
highest port number and back to port 0. The beaconing mode continues until you turn it off.
The beaconing LED pattern continues until you turn it off. Beaconing mode takes over the port LEDs. Other
commands are still executable and functional. The normal flashing LED pattern (associated with an active, faulty or
disabled port for example) is suppressed and only the beaconing pattern is shown. However, if diagnostic
frame-based tests (such as portLoopbackTest) are executed, two patterns are interleaved. The diagnostic test
flickers the LEDs green and the beaconing mode runs the LEDs amber at the same time.
The switchBeacon command is one of the commands that controls beaconing. Each command has a clearly
defined scope of action:
• The portBeacon command enables or disables beaconing on a specified port.
• The switchBeacon command enables or disables beaconing on all ports in the current logical switch.
• The chassisBeacon command enables or disables beaconing on all ports in the chassis.
• The portPeerBeacon command enables or disables beaconing to identify the interconnections between ports.
The actions of the beaconing commands are independent and mutually exclusive. For example, if you enabled
beaconing on the logical switch (1) and you want to enable beaconing on the entire chassis, you must first disable
switch beaconing with the switchBeacon command before you can use the chassisBeacon command to enable
beaconing on the entire chassis. Likewise, existing portBeacon settings remain unaffected if you enable or disable
beaconing on the switch or on the chassis. Failure to disable existing beaconing commands before using a
different type of beaconing may cause the commands to interfere with each other in unexpected ways.
To determine beaconing status, use the switchBeacon or chassisBeacon command without operands. A value of
0 indicates that the command is disabled, a value of 1 indicates that the command is enabled. Issue the
portBeacon --show command to display beaconing for a specific port. The switchShow command displays the
status of the switchBeacon command only.
Notes The switchBeacon command is not supported on the Brocade FCOE10-24 blade.
The execution of this command is subject to Virtual Fabric restrictions that may be in place. Refer to "Using Fabric
OS Commands" and "Command Availability" for details.
Operands This command has the following operand:
mode
Specify 1 to enable beaconing mode or 0 to disable beaconing mode. This operand is
optional. If no operand is specified, the current value is displayed.