BrocadeÂ® Product Training

Brocade ® 

1 

Product Training 

Diagnostics and Troubleshooting 

Brocade Education Services 

© 2005 Brocade Communications Systems, 

Incorporated. 

© 2005 Brocade Communications Systems, Incorporated. 

Revision CFP261-02-2005 

Chapter 8 - 1 



Chapter 8 - 1

Learning Objectives and Topics 

2 

Describe troubleshooting processes and best practices 

‣ Gather, Analyze & Solve (GAS) 

‣ Predictive SAN problems 

Identify and categorize problems and associated 

commands that fall into the following categories: 

Timeout/ Sluggishness; Segmented Fabric; Port 

Configuration Issue; Missing device; Marginal link 

Discuss SAN troubleshooting approaches 

Describe switchshow & errshow 

Discuss supportshow & some associated commands 

Introduce hardware diagnostics 



Chapter 8 - 2 



Chapter 8 - 2

Troubleshooting - Divide and Conquer 

3 

P 

o 

w 

e 

r 

O 

n 

S 

w 

i 

t 

c 

h 

P Light/ 

O Signal 

S 

T 

- 

Power 

On 

Test 

LINK LOGIN FABRIC DEVICES 

Char 

Sync/ 

Word 

Sync 

S 

p 

e 

e 

d 

N 

e 

g 

Hardware Diags/ 

Marginal Links 

Loop 

Init / 

Link 

Init 

F 

L 

O 

G 

I 

S 

E 

C 

U 

R 

I 

T 

Y 

ACL 

P 

L 

O 

G 

I 

N 

S 

Query/ 

Registr. 

Configuration/CLI Commands 

Portlog Analysis 

Device 

Exists 

In 

NS 

Device 

Exists 

In 

Remote 

NS 

Z 

O 

N 

I 

N 

G 

Troubleshooting 

Divide and Conquer 

Nx_port1 

communicates 

with 

Nx_port2 

L 

u 

n 

M 

a 

s 

k 

i 

n 

g 

D 

e 

v 

i 

c 

e 

D 

r 

i 

v 

e 

r 

s 



Chapter 8 - 3 

GATHER, ANALYZE, and SOLVE (GAS) represent the 3 main processes that flow throughout 

this course. 

We will GATHER, ANALYZE, and SOLVE and sometimes even PRESENT to make sure devices 

go through (GASP): 

Link Login Fabric Devices 

Connection occurred can see it in the fabric can see it 

(LIVE LONG FABRIC DEVICES) 



Chapter 8 - 3

Predictive SAN Problems 

Brocade Support Department’s Problem Areas 

4 

Typical trouble calls today are related to switch 

maintenance and monitoring - in alphabetical order 

Firmware download 

Fabric Watch (FW) error message interpretation 

Password recovery 

SNMP 

Common SAN problems related to device performance and 

connectivity issues - in alphabetical order 

Configuration Problems - Port/ device/ switch is not correctly 

configured 

License Problems - Customers do not have a full fabric license 1 ; 

Customers do not have the license to do what they are attempting; 

Single use transaction key used to retrieve switch license expired 2 

Marginal Links - Bad or marginal cables/GBICs/SFPs 

Zoning Problems - Zoning is not configured correctly 



Chapter 8 - 4 

Footnote 1: A single use transaction key is used to retrieve an expired switch license. The customer used a transaction key and 

did not read the switch license correctly. The customer then tried to go back into SLK using the same transaction key, but the 

transaction key can only be used once. 

Footnote 2:The customer used a transaction key and did not read the switch license correctly. The customer then tried to go 

back into SLK using the same transaction key, but the transaction key can only be used once. 

Associated supportshow command outputs: 

•Configuration Problems: configshow; portcfgshow, slotshow.Additional non supportshow configuration 

related commands: configupload, switchstatuspolicyset/show, ifmodeshow, ipaddrshow 4 (the 4 

operand is not needed on non v4.x switches), hashow, powerofflist, firmwareshow, firmwarestatus, 

fabstatsshow and configure and HBA configuration considerations (drivers, settings, & relationships with OSs). 

•Brocade Zoning Problems: cfgshow, nscamshow (not in v4.0.2 supportshow output at this time). Additional non 

supportshow zoning related commands: portzoneshow 

•Brocade QuickLoop Problems: qlshow (this feature is not available on v4.x switches) 

•License Problems: licenseshow. Additional non supportshow license related commands: licenseidshow, 

lutil. 

•Marginal Link Problems: switchshow; nsshow; porterrshow; portshow , portstatsshow 

Associated dual CP supportshow high availability (HA) command outputs: 

•supportshow commands to check switch status: slotshow, chassisshow, historyshow. 

•Additional dual CP non supportshow status checking commands: hashow, powerofflst, firmwareshow, 

firmwarestatus, killtelnet. 

The Brocade Support Department asks the customer to recreate the problem, capture a supportshow output, and to submit the 

output along with any troubleshooting steps already performed. 



Chapter 8 - 4

Generic SAN Problem Possible Causes 

5 

1. Timeout/sluggishness ISL overloaded, insufficient BB-credit, marginal link 

2. Segmented Fabric Wrong product license, Domain ID conflicts, zoning 

conflicts, incompatible switch parameters 

3. Port/Node configuration Port/node offline and/or configured in wrong 

topology, incompatible node parameters or device drivers 

4. Missing Device Nx_Port is not registered with the name server, zoning is 

enabled and device is not in the zone, LUN masking is enabled and device is not 

properly defined, application accessing device is not configured correctly 

5. Marginal Link Unhealthy device or incomplete connection to device (bad 

contact), intermittent transmitting/receiving signal 



Chapter 8 - 5 



Chapter 8 - 5

Timeout/Sluggishness 

6 

Start 

What are the specifics 

regarding timeout 

symptoms? 

Congestion 

Marginal Link 

1 

Insufficient BB-Credit 

2 

Use Marginal Link 


Flowchart 



Chapter 8 - 6 



Chapter 8 - 6

Timeout/Sluggishness – (cont’d) 

Label Analysis Commands with an “A” and Solve Commands with an “S”: 

1 2 

7 

Congestion Related 

Commands/Tools 

portperfshow 

topologyshow 

urouteshow 

linkcost/lsdbshow 

porterrshow 

errshow/mqshow 

portstatsshow 

PerfMon & Scripts/API 

Fabric Watch 

spinfab 

BB-Credit Related 

Commands/Tools 

FC Analyzer 

portstatsshow 

portlogdump 

portcfgshow √ distance 

Check HBA configuration 

from its utility 

How can we solve these types of 

problems? 



Chapter 8 - 7 

Localize 

Trunk 

Add ISLs 

Footnote 1: Look at TX/RX counters in porterrshow 

Footnote 2: Execute Performance Monitor (PM) commands at the command line 

and write scripts to chronologically capture this output. 

Footnote 3: Web Tools port stats can also be used to monitor 

Footnote 4: Look in portlogdump for LINK FAILURES (LF’s), LINK 

RESET’s (LR’s), and Timeouts (TMO’s) 

Footnote 5: BB_Credits can be changed using the configure command but all 

switches in the Fabric need to have the same BB_credit value 

Additionally check for long distance SAN implementations – Are long distance 

SAN’s (over 10km) being implemented without the Extended Fabric License? 

Check portcfgshow output for BB credit allocations related to long distance 

SAN implementations. 



Chapter 8 - 7

Marginal Link 

8 

Start 

Move suspected marginal 

interface media to different 

port (See tip #1) 

Re-run the failing 

application to 

replicate the error 

(See tip #2) 

Does the error 

follow? 

No 

Run crossporttest 

in single port mode 

Does the test 

fail? 

Yes 

No 

Replace with known good 

media (See tip #3) 

Focus on Nx-Port 

(See Note 1) 

Yes 

Run loopporttest 

fporttest, spinfab 

or porttest 



Chapter 8 - 8 

Tip#1 – Interface media consists of GBIC/SFP, or Fibre Channel cable. Move each medium one at a 

time. Use porterrshow statistics to determine most likely medium to move 1 st . 

Tip#2 – If the original marginal link error was not initiated by I/O activities or POST, then run 

crossporttest to verify. While crossporttest is running, check the 8 statistic counts via 

errshow, porterrshow or portshow command outputs. 

Tip#3 – Always verify that new media is “known good”. If the error was not initiated by I/O 

activities or POST, then run crossporttest to verify correction. 

Note 1 – You have isolated the problem, it is the Nx_Port (HBA or storage controller card). Use the 

Nx_Port utilities to troubleshoot this problem. Suggestion: You may need to verify with the latest 

HBA/controller driver before replacing the device. Check the vendor compatibility matrix. 



Chapter 8 - 8

Segmented Fabric 

9 

Start 

What are the specific 

Fabric segment 

symptoms? 

Domain ID conflict 

1 

Incompatible switch 

parameters 

2 

Zoning conflict 

3 



Chapter 8 - 9 



Chapter 8 - 9

Segmented Fabric – (cont’d) 


1 2 

3 

10 

Domain Related 

Commands 

configshow 

configure 

fabricshow 

Incompatible Switch 

Parameter Related 

Commands 

 

 

 

 

 

configshow 

configure 

configdownload 

configupload 

portcfgshow 

Zoning Related 

Commands 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cfgshow 

licenseshow 

fashow 

portzoneshow 

zonehelp 

Zoning commands: 

‣ cfgcreate 

‣ zoneadd 

‣ alidelete 

FM 4.x Fabric merge capability, switchshow, 

errshow, fabstatsshow & portshow 



Chapter 8 - 10 



Chapter 8 - 10

Port Configuration 

11 

Start 

What are the specific 

port configuration 

symptoms? 

Topology related 

Speed related 

1 

Trunking related 

2 

3 






Chapter 8 - 11

Port Configuration – (cont’d) 


12 

1 2 

3 

Topology Related 

Commands 

Trunking Related 

Commands 

Speed Related 

Commands 

configshow 

version 4 

version 4 

licenseshow 1 

licenseshow switchcfgspeed 

portshow 

portcfgtrunk portcfgspeed 

portcfglport 

switchcfgtrunk portcfglongdistance 

portcfggport 

trunkshow 

licenseshow 

portcfgeport 

islshow 

portshow 

fabricshow 

trunkdebug 

Web Tools 

topologyshow 

Web Tools 

Check HBA 

configuration 3 

portcfgshow 2 , switchshow & portlogdump 




Footnote 1: licenseshow can be used to validate switch has a full Fabric 

license, entry Fabric licenses only allow you to cascade to one other switch. 

There are also OEM “special” Fabric licenses that will only allow you to 

cascade to “n” switches, where n is defined by OEM. These switches 

would have different switch types than those listed under 

switchshow in reference guide. 

Footnote 2: For FOS versions prior to v3.x use portcfgeport, 

portcfglport, and portcfggport to independently view 

portcfgshow outputs. 

Footnote 3: Check OEM and/or Brocade compatibility matrices for correct driver 

version. Check Brocade release notes and Brocade Connect for known issues. 

Check HBA manufacturer’s web site release notes and FAQs. 

Footnote 4: The version command output can be used to determine if the switch 

is capable of performing configuration function. Ex: Switches with less than 

v3.x are not capable of speeds greater than 1 Gbit/sec, they are also not capable 

of trunking. 



Chapter 8 - 12

Missing Device 

Start 

13 

Does device have a 

good physical connection 

to the Fabric? 

(See tip#1) 

No 

Use Marginal Link 


Flowchart 

Yes 

Is the device 

logically connected 

to the Fabric? 

(See tip#2) 

Yes 

Does the device 

correctly follow FC 

connection protocol? 

(See tip#3) 

Yes 

Check zoning, 

QuickLoop (See 

tip#4) and LUN 

masking 

configurations 

No 

No 

Is there a port 

configuration problem? 

Yes 

Use port/node configuration 

troubleshooting commands/tools 

No 

Run loopporttest 

fporttest, spinfab 

or porttest 

Use device troubleshooting procedures 

(See tip#5) 




Tip#1 – Visually check port LEDs status, and use the switchshow port state command output to 

check link status. 

Tip#2 – use the nsshow, nsallshow and nscamshow commands. 

Tip#3 – Issue portlogclear and force the device to log into the Fabric (portdisable then 

portenable), then analyze the portlogdump/show or portlogdumpport command outputs and/or use a FC analyzer. 

Tip#4 – Prior to Brocade Fabric OS v2.6, the Name Server does not have QuickLoop entries. Check 

the QuickLoop database using the qlshow command for firmware releases less than v2.6. Use 

the cfgshow and nscamshow commands to check zoning. 

Tip#5 – Check host log files, compatibility matrices and vendor web sites (HBA, server, storage). 

Statistically, the most common culprit is the device driver (usually a mismatch with server OS 

version). 



Chapter 8 - 13

SAN Troubleshooting Approach 

14 

Host 

Fibre Channel Fabric 

Storage 

The “Cable” 

To troubleshoot this scenario (assuming a single switch SAN), 

you must concentrate on: 

‣The Storage 

‣The Host 

‣The HBA 

‣The Host OS/Driver 

‣The Cable/Terminator 




‣The FC Media (SFPs/GBICs/GLMs) 

‣The Switch and Brocade Fabric OS 

‣Heterogeneity 

How do you troubleshoot? 

Start at the switch switchshow and error log then look 

at additional supportshow output 

At a conceptual level there are really only three “pieces”: the storage, the host and the 

“cable”. 

Start in the middle and determine if you are “above” or “below” the problem. 

HBA – Host Bus Adapter 

GBIC – Gigabit Interface Converter 

SFP – Small Form Factor Pluggable 

GLM – Gigabit Link Modules 

How do you troubleshoot this? Use the process of deduction and logical elimination with 

an added caveat – Fabric problems could effect other devices in the Fabric. An example 

would be a marginal connection to an HBA. This could cause problems to any devices this 

marginally connected HBA accesses. This would not have occurred outside of the SCSI bus 

in the traditional world. 



Chapter 8 - 14

Start at the Switch... Divide and Conquer 

RSL_SWT153:admin> switchshow 

switchName: RSL_SWT153 

switchType: 9.1 

switchState: Online 

switchMode: Native 

switchRole: Principal 

switchDomain: 1 

switchId: fffc01 

switchWwn: 10:00:00:60:69:50:0d:d6 

switchBeacon: OFF 

Zoning: 

ON (Main_cfgA) 

port 0: id N2 No_Light 



port 3: id N2 Online 

Loopback->3 


E-Port (segmented,incompatible,(Op Mode incompatible)) 






















15 

errshow is the best tool to determine why there is a segmentation issue. Look for fabric.ops issues (domain overlaps, 

mismatched parameters), or look for zoning errors like cfg mismatch. The error log should be consulted first. 

The portshow command can also be used to analyze fabric segmentation issues. 

To see a generic reason for segmentation: 

RSL_SWT153:admin> fabstatsshow 

Description 

Count Port Time 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

Domain ID forcibly changed: 0 

E_Port offline transitions: 0 

Reconfigurations: 1 8 SUN MAY 15 18:16:46 2022 

Segmentations due to: 

Loopback: 0 

Incompatibility: 8 < SUN MAY 15 03:02:16 2022 

Overlap: 0 

Zoning: 0 

Routing: 0 

Licensing: 0 

Disabling E_Port: 0 

Incompatible platform DB: 0 

Security violation: 0 

Security incompatibility: 0 



Chapter 8 - 15

Error Logs and Sample Log Entry 

Error 02 

0x10fbdca0 (tSwitch): Feb 17 19:21:29 

Error DIAG-POST_SKIPPED, 3, (999) 

Skipped POST tests: assuming all ports are healthy, 

Err# 0004 

Task ID 

Task Name 

Date and Time 

of Occurrences 

Error Message Code = Error Types 

Error Types, and Error 

Level, (Level 3) 

Error Description 

16 

Logs can be forwarded to six locations using syslogdipadd 

Log file sizes for Loom and Bloom differ 

v2.x/3.x circular log with 64 entries, viewed with errshow 

v4.x circular log with 1536 entries (256 entries per message level) 

Persistent log saves errors across reboots, viewed with errshow -p 

Persistent log can be resized from 1024 to 2048 with errnvlogsizeset 




errdump 

•This command displays the error log, and shows all entries without page breaks. It is identical to 

errshow, except that errshow prompts the user to press Return between each log entry. 

•Error numbers start at one. If there are more errors than the size of the log, only the most recent 

errors are shown. If you want to keep a log of more errors, invoke the syslogipadd command. 

•Error Count - For errors that occur multiple times, the repeat count is shown in parentheses at the 

end of the first line of output just after the time stamp. The maximum count is 999. 

•Error Type - An upper-case string shows the error type. 

•Error Level (Note - Level information reflects SNMP usage): 

0 panic (the switch reboots) 

1 critical 

2 error 

3 warning 

4 information 

5 debugging 



Chapter 8 - 16

Brocade Support Department Procedures 

supportshow 

17 

 

 

 

 

supportshow is a “super” command 

Group of pre-selected Fabric OS and LINUX commands 

Commands can be controlled 

supportshowcfgshow 

supportshowcfgenable 

supportshowcfgdisable 

When executed, it will gather information and display numerous 

Brocade Fabric OS command outputs on the terminal screen 

If the problem can be reproduced: 

1. Clear the old portlog by invoking portlogclear 

2. Recreate the problem or force suspected port to login 

3. Capture supportshow 




supportshowcfgshow 

supportshowcfgenable 

Display which groups of commands are enabled to display under 

supportshow. 

Enable a group of commands to display under supportshow. 

supportshowcfgenable [os | exception | port | fabric | services | 

security | network | portlog | system extend | filter | perfmon] 

supportshowcfgdisable 

Disable a group of commands from displaying under 

supportshow. 

supportshowcfgdisable [os | exception | port | fabric | services | 

security | network | portlog | system extend | filter | perfmon] 



Chapter 8 - 17

supportshow Command Groups 

18 

switch:admin> supportshowcfgshow 

os 

enabled 

exception enabled 

port enabled 

fabric enabled 

services enabled 

security enabled 

network enabled 

portlog enabled 

system enabled 

extend disabled 

filter disabled 

perfmon disabled 

Remember to 

enable any groups 

you may disable, 

when a full 

supportshow is 

needed by your 

Support department 




Many of the commands executed by supportshow are intended for support use only. These 

commands are not intended for end-users. 



Chapter 8 - 18

v3.1 supportshow 

19 

 

OS 

 

Fabric 

 

 

mqshow 

i 

memshow 

alishow 

fastcheckheap 

Exception 

faultshow 

traceshow 

errdump 

Ports 

portshow 

portregshow 

portstructshow 

bloomdatashow 

portrouteshow 

portsemshow 

bloomsemshow 

semashow 

 

 

fabricshow 

islshow 

trunkshow 

topologyshow 

fashow 

qlshow 

cfgshow 

fabstatsshow 

fablogdump 

Services 

nsshow 

nsallshow 

nscamshow 

Security 

secmodeshow 

secpolicydump 

secstatsshow 

secfabricshow 

 

portlogdump 




The v3.1 supportshow reference manual, 53-0000500-02 lists these commands 

in their entirety. 



Chapter 8 - 19

v3.1 supportshow (Cont’d) 

20 

 

System 

 

Filter 

version 

uptime 

switchshow 

tempshow 

psshow 

licenseshow 

diagshow 

portflagsshow 

porterrshow 

portcfgshow 

configshow 

 

filtershow 

PerfMon 

ps_dump 

 

Extend 

bloomlistdisplay 

bloomfdetshow 

bloomramdump 








Chapter 8 - 20

v4.1 supportshow 

21 

 

OS 

 

Fabric 

 

 

mii-tool –vv 

/usr/bin/du -xh / | /bin/sort: 

/bin/ps –elfh 

/bin/echo /bin/rpm –qa 

/bin/cat /var/log/dmesg 

/bin/cat /etc/fstab 

/bin/cat /etc/mtab 

Exception 

errdump –a/-p 

Ports 

diagshow 

portshow 

portloginshow 

protregshow 

portrouteshow 

fabricshow 

islshow 

trunkshow 

topologyshow 

fabstatsshow 

fabswitchshow 

fabstatsshow 

fabportshow 

fspfshow 

fcplogsshow 

/fabos/bin/zone stateshow 

portzoneshow 

portcamshow 

cfgsize 

cfgshow 

rcssmshow 

rcsinfoshow 

rcsregistryshow 

 

portlogdump 








Chapter 8 - 21


22 

 

Services 

 

Network 

 

nsshow 

nsallshow 

fdmishow 

fdmicacheshow 

Security 

/sbin/bootenv 

/sbin/sin 

/bin/df 

/sbin/ifconfig 

/sbin/route 

/bin/hostname 

 

Extend 

secmodeshow 

secpolicydump 

secstatsshow 

secfabricshow 

ptbufshow 

ptcreditshow 

ptdatashow 

ptphantomshow 

ptpropshow 

ptstatsshow 

 

 

Filter 

filtershow 

PerfMon 

ps_dump –a –n port# 








Chapter 8 - 22


23 

 

System 

myid 

version 

firmwareshow 

uptime 

switchstatusshow 

switchshow 

hadump 

tempshow 

sensorshow 

psshow 

fanshow 

licenseshow 

portflagsshow 

portcfgshow 

sfpshow 

porterrshow 

fwsamshow 

agtcfgshow 

chassisshow 

switchstatuspolicyshow 

fwalarmsfiltershow 

timeout 

historyshow 

configshow 








Chapter 8 - 23

Commands to Help Troubleshoot 

24 

 

 

 

diagshow 

porterrshow 

portshow 




•Indicates commands that we will review because they are the commands used to ascertain the source(s) of the 

most common problems Brocade support encounters. More information on all other commands can be found in 

the supportShow Reference Guide. These commands, including the ones for Brocade use only, are all executed at 

approximately the same time to permit more accurate investigation by development engineers if needed. 

1.There are more than 100 Brocade Fabric OS commands. Instead of asking the customer to issue every single 

command, Brocade engineers took the most useful commands and combined them into the supportshow 

super command. 

2.The supportshow command prints the switch information for debugging purposes. Not all versions of 

Brocade Fabric OS include headers to identify and distinguish command outputs, so we must be able to identify 

relevant outputs. Version 3.0 and above includes header information. 

3.Some commands are used only by Brocade software developers. These command generate information about 

the registers to the component level. We are only interested in the Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) level. 

4.One of the main objectives of this module for you is to learn how to collect and interpret supportshow data 

using Telnet commands outputs. 

5.There is a supportshow Reference Guide available. 

We will use the supportshow Reference Guide to briefly discuss each output shown above with an asterisk (*). 



Chapter 8 - 24

v3.x sw1:admin> diagshow 

Note: v4.x output is depicted vertically 

Diagnostics Status: Thu Oct 17 15:24:01 2002 

Date of Capture 

port#: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 

diags: OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK 

state: UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP DN UP UP UP UP UP UP 

speed: 2G 2G 1G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 2G 

pt0: 43036276 frTx 107084405 frRx 38 LLI_errs. 



pt3: 10575553 frTx 7349761 frRx 95825 LLI_errs. porterrshow 












Central Memory OK 

Total Diag Frames Tx: 3472 Diagnostic frames from POST 

Total Diag Frames Rx: 5068 




diagshow outputs for Linux based switches are depicted vertically and are displayed for specified blades after the portlogdump, before 

specified port command outputs (portshow, portregshow and portrouteshow) 

Example: diagshow [ --slot number ] [ -uports itemlist ] [ -bports itemlist ] [ -use_bports 

value ] 

This view is from a production SAN. If diagnostics were running you would see ptx loopback information: 

pt0: 100 frTx 100 frRx 0 LLI_errs. 

pt7: 100 frTx 100 frRx 0 LLI_errs. 

•diagshow prints the information listed since the switch was last rebooted and shows the state of all ports in the switch that are based on 

the results of diagnostic executions. 

• Ports that passed diagnostic testing are marked OK. 

• Ports that failed one or more diagnostic tests are marked BAD. 

• Ports that failed centralmemorytest are marked FAULTY. 

•Current state of the ports (current state): Active ports are shown as UP and inactive ports are shown as DN. 

•Current speed of the port: NX => negotiated to X speed; 1G => set to 1 Gbps speed; 2G => set to 2 Gbps speed. Ports can be set to specific 

speeds using the portcfgspeed command. 

•Frame counts of active ports. The number of frames transmitted are indicated by frTx and the number of frames received are indicated by 

frRx. 

•The LLI_errs ( Low Level Interrupt errors) are the sum of the port's 8 statistical error counters: ENC_in, CRC_err, TruncFrm, 

FrmTooLong, BadEOF, Enc_out, BadOrdSet & DiscC3. Check porterrshow output to determine what generated the 

LLI_errs. 

•Total diagnostic frames transmitted and received since last reboot. 

The section with the ptX: shows the number of frames transmitted and received so far by each present and active port. These are the values 

as read from the statistical counters. At the beginning of each functional test, these statistical counters are reset to 0. 

The section with the Total Diag Frames shows the state of the central memory and the total number of frames transmitted and 

received, as kept by the diagnostics, since the last reboot. This means portloopbacktest and crossporttest update both frame 

counters; spinSilk updates only the frames-transmitted counter. 

To re-test a failed port, to clear the BAD or FAULTY state by invoking the diagclearerror command. 

25 



Chapter 8 - 25

v3.x sw1:admin> porterrshow 

Note: v4.x has identical output 

26 

d 

i 

a 

g 

S 

h 

o 

w 

frames enc crc too too bad enc disc link loss loss frjt fbsy 

tx rx in err shrt long eof out c3 fail sync sig 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

0: 33 32 0 0 0 0 0 15 0 271 14 0 0 0 

1: 35m 107m 0 0 0 0 0 39 0 75 111 17 0 0 

2: 70m 29m 0 0 0 0 0 1.6k 0 9 5 9 0 0 

3: 10m 7.3m 0 0 0 0 0 95k 33 0 21 30 0 0 

4: 3.0m 2.0m 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 1 15 22 0 0 

5: 1.3m 859k 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 2 16 18 0 0 

6: 08m 36m 0 0 0 0 0 8 70 0 10 13 0 0 

… < truncated output> … 

14: 23m 46m 0 0 0 0 0 37 0 826 107 20 0 0 

15: 21m 47m 0 0 0 0 0 38 0 888 140 20 0 0 

portstatsclear can be used to clear port errors on error statistics to left 

of the dotted line. The other counters get cleared on a reboot/fastboot. 




The lines of the display show: 

frames tx 

frames rx 

enc in 

crc err 

too shrt 

too long 

bad eof 

enc out 

disc c3 

link fail 

loss sync 

loss sig 

frjt 

fbsy 

LLI ERRORS 

Frames transmitted. 

Frames received. 

Encoding errors inside of frames. 

Frames with CRC errors. 

Frames shorter than minimum. 

Frames longer than maximum. 

Frames with bad end-of-frame delimiters. 

Encoding error outside of frames. 

Class 3 frames discarded. 

Link failures (LF1 or LF2 states). 

Loss of synchronization. 

Loss of signal. 

Frames rejected with F_RJT. 

Frames busied with F_BSY. 

Note - Loss of Sync; Loss of Signal; Enc_Out Error are expected every time 

a user brings the port down and up (reboots host, power-cycles storage subsystem, 

disconnects/reconnects cable, or invokes portdisable portenable, etc.). Enc_Out 

Errors are also generated during the speed negotiation process so should be cleared after ports 

have negotiated speed. If speeds are known and these errors are being tracked then the port can be 

set to the same speed as attached device using the portcfgspeed command. 

Statistically, enc_out errors alone imply primarily cable problems, the enc_out and 

crc_err combination imply primarily GBIC/SFP problems. 



Chapter 8 - 26

v3.x sw1:admin> portshow 

Note: v4.x has identical output 

portFlags: 0x1023805b portLbMod: 0x0 PRESENT ACTIVE F_PORT G_PORT U_PORT 

LOGIN NOELP LED ACCEPT 

portType: 4.1 

portState: 1 

Online 

portPhys: 6 

In_Sync 

portScn: 6 F_Port 

portRegs: 0x81030000 

portData: 0x1022d830 

portId: 0b0300 

portWwn: 20:03:00:60:69:51:3a:ba 

portWwn of device(s) connected: 50:06:0b:00:00:10:e9:26 

Distance: normal 

Speed: 2Gbps 

Interrupts: 2957 Link_failure: 0 Frjt: 0 

Unknown: 119 Loss_of_sync: 21 Fbsy: 0 

Lli: 174 Loss_of_sig: 30 

Proc_rqrd: 2730 Protocol_err: 0 

Timed_out: 0 Invalid_word: 0 

Rx_flushed: 0 Invalid_crc: 0 

Tx_unavail: 0 Delim_err: 0 

Free_buffer: 0 Address_err: 0 

Overrun: 0 Lr_in: 0 

Suspended: 0 Lr_out: 22 

Parity_err: 0 Ols_in: 22 

Ols_out: 0 




Standards: Link Error Status 

Block (LESB) Counters 

27 

This command displays port status. Information varies with the switch model and port type. 

Interrupts Total number of interrupts to the port 

Unknown 

Interrupts that are not counted elsewhere 

Lli 

Low-level interface (physical state, primitive sequences) 

Proc_rqrd Frames delivered for embedded N_Port processing 

Timed_out Frames which have timed out 

Rx_flushed Frames requiring translation 

Tx_unavail Frames returned from an unavailable transmitter 

Free_buffer Free buffer available interrupts 

Overrun 

Buffer overrun interrupts 

Suspended Transmission suspended interrupts 

Parity_err Real Tx data parity errors 

2ndary_parity_err Secondary Tx data parity errors. These are not real data parity errors, but instead are forced by the ASIC 

due to certain central memory problems. 

The box in the second column shows Link Error Status Block (LESB) counters. These errors are generated over time by a port in response 

to a read link error status (RLS) command. The rest of the second column shows delimiter, address, link reset (LR), and offline sequence 

(OLs) errors. The third column shows the number of Fabric Rejects (F_RJT) and Fabric Busies (F_BSY) generated. For L_Ports, the third 

column also shows the number of LIPs received, number of LIPs transmitted, and the last LIP received. Invoke the portshow command 

for link-level and LIP statistics (link failure, loss of synchronization, loss of signal, etc.). Updated statistics are gathered in software when a 

port interrupt is received. Errors occurring between interrupts are not logged (they are in portstatsshow) but portshow provides LIP 

statistics that portstatsshow does not provide. Examples include: Lip_in ≤ Lip_out 

Lip_in - # tx LIPs from connected device to switch port 

Lip_out - # of LIPs tx switch port to connected device 

Lip_rx – Type of LIP (F7,F8) last received from connected device 



Chapter 8 - 27

portlogdump 

28 

What a portlogdump is: 

The command invoked to retrieve switch portlog information 

A “recorder” inside the switch with a limited length or record time 

Captures only activities that are related to the fabric and fabric services 

Port states, fabric and port logins, state changes, name service queries 

What a portlogdump is not: 

portlogdump is not an FC analyzer trace 

No “trigger” capability 

Limited storage capacity 

No “end-to-end” device activity 

portlogdump is not an Event Log 

The Event Log is separate 

portlogdump does not “point out” errors 

You must analyze and catch abnormal fabric activities 






Chapter 8 - 28

portlog Entry Example 

29 

Port 6 

D_ID = name server 

ELS -> PLOGI 

21:01:30.216 tReceive Rx3 6 116 22fffffc,00011600,00f2ffff,03000000, 11e14ae0 

Timestamp 

Task 

Class 3 

frame 

received 

R_CTL Task Task 

Frame 

payload 

size 

S_ID = 

Domain 1 

Port 6 

Source file 

debug code, 

Internal use only 

If the portlog output persuades you to investigate further, 

use an analyzer 




Brocade switch portlogs and Fibre Channel analyzers are often referred to as low-level 

debugging tools. 

The 5 th field only appears in v3.x code. 



Chapter 8 - 29

Hardware Diagnostics 

General Behavior of the Tests 

30 

The first argument of most of the tests is the number of passes: 

If none entered, most tests default to run one set 

If none entered, the following tests default to an infinite loop: 

portloopback crossporttest spinsilk 

Tests are invoked from either the command line or the front panel, with results 

shown in both interfaces. 

If a test is invoked from a command line: 

The test stops at the first error it finds 

The test can be interrupted with the Enter key while still running, if the 

number of passes is not specified. The QCSL prompts: 

Diags: (Q)uit, (C)ontinue, (S)tats, (L)og: 




When you put a value for the number of passes, the test is no longer interruptible. The only two 

exceptions to the # of passes rule are the ramtest and the portregtest. 

Type ? at the QCSL prompt to get the following: 

QCSL command summary: 

q 

quits 

c 

continues testing 

s 

runs diagshow 

l 

runs errshow 

? prints this help message 

e 

runs porterrshow with optional repeat delay interval 

f 

runs portflagsshow 

g 

runs portperfshow and prompts user for delay if absent 

p runs portregshow and prompts user for port# if N is absent 

u runs portrouteshow and prompts user for port# if N is absent 

v 

runs versionshow 

x runs statsclear on ASIC containing port N. Stats for all ports on the ASIC 

are cleared. Prompts user for port# if N is absent. 

z runs portstatsshow and prompts user for port# if N is absent 

The above is for a Brocade SilkWorm 3200/3800. A Brocade SilkWorm 2xx0 displays slightly 

different choices, but both are viewed by entering ? at the QCSL prompt. 



Chapter 8 - 30

Telnet Interface Error Message Format 

31 

0x103d7bf0 (tPBmenu): Mar 22 11:03:23 

Error DIAG-REGERR, 1, RegTest, 

Pt0 (Lm0) "WordsTx" is 0x200020 sb 0x400040 er 0x600060, 

off 0x100 phy 0x80030100 msk 0xffffffff, Err# 0415 

Line 1 shows the task (tPBmenu) and the date/time (Mar 22 11:03:23) 

 

 

 

Line 2 shows the error (DIAG-REGERR), the severity (1) and the test (RegTest) 

Line 3 (or more lines) describes the failure often showing the actual (is) and 

the expected (sb) values 

The last line shows the equivalent error number 

See the Brocade Fabric OS Diagnostic and Error Reference Guides 

–per OS version 




Some keywords appear in several error messages: 

bLine Central Memory buffer Line number 

bNum Central Memory buffer Number 

er 

bit error difference between the actual and expected values 

is 

actual value “seen” by the test 

lineOff Central Memory buffer line offset number 

Lm Loom ASIC number (if from Loom driver, then port #) 

msk 

test mask – a 1 means test that bit; a 0 means “do not test”. 

off 

offset 

phy 

physical address 

Pt 

port number 

sb 

expected value the test wants to “see” 

TX Transmitter port as in TX Pt 2 

RX Receiver port as in RX Pt 2 

SilkWorm 2800 Front Panel Display format: 

02 Aug 28 19:03:23 

Err DIAG-REGERR-1 

1st line shows the chrono. no. (02) and date/time (Aug 28 19:03:23) 

2nd line shows the error (DIAG-REGERR) and the severity (1) 

The severity codes are: 0: PANIC (switch reboots), 1: CRITICAL, 2: ERROR, 3: WARNING, 4: INFO, 

5: DEBUG. 



Chapter 8 - 31

Hardware Diagnostic Test Commands 

Structural Tests (POST 1): 

ramtest 3 5 6 

portregtest 13 

centralmemorytest 13 

cmitest 13 

sramretentiontest 13 

cmemretentiontest 13 

turboramtest 13 

backport 4 

1 

Part of v4.x ↑ POST 1 

2 

Part of v4.x ↑ POST 2 

3 

Part of v3.x ↓ POST 

4 

Available on v4.x ↑ only 

5 

Can be run while switch is online 

6 

Can be run in OS versions 2.x 

while switch is online 

 

Port (or Frame-based) 

Functional Tests (POST 2): 

camtest 2 3 

portloopbacktest 2 3 

portloopbacktestserdes 2 

txdtest 2 

crossporttest 5 6 

spinsilk 3 

spinsilktestserdes 2 

filtertest 3 

statstest 3 

porttest 5 

loopporttest 5 

spinfab 5 

fporttest 5 6 

backplanetest 2 4 

32 




See the diagHelp Reference Manual for additional information: 

portregtest 

Port register diagnostic 

sramretentiontest SRAM Data Retention diagnostic 

spinsilk 

Cross-connected line-speed exerciser 

minicycle 

Cross-connected line-speed exerciser 

spinjitter 

line-speed jitter measurement 

crossporttest Cross-connected port diagnostic 

loopporttest L-port diagnostic 

portloopbacktest Port internal loopback diagnostic 

txdpath 

Miniswitch TX data path diagnostic 

spinfab 

circulates frames between live switches 

backport 

backplane routing and VC allocation test 

centralmemorytest Central memory diagnostic 

cmemretentiontest Central Mem Data Retention diagnostic 

cmitest 

CMI bus connection diagnostic 

camtest 

Quickloop CAM diagnostic 

turboramtest Turbo speed ASIC SRAM diagnostic 

statstest 

Statistics counter diagnostic 

portledtest 

User Ports LED exerciser 

filtertest 

Frame filter diagnostic 

backplanetest Backplane connection diagnostic 

v4.x POST is divided into two sections: 

• The structural tests do basic tests of the circuitry tested during POST 1 

• The functional tests verify intended operational behavior and are tested 

during POST 2 



Chapter 8 - 32

v3.x Power-On Self-Test (POST) 

33 

 

 

 

 

POST includes the following tests: 

ramtest 

turboramtest 

portregtest 

camtest 

centralmemorytest statstest 

cmitest 

filtertest 

sramretentiontest portloopbacktest 

spinsilk 

diagpostdisable permanently disables POST 

diagpostenable turns POST back on 

fastboot disables POST this boot only 

There are 3 boot types: 

Cold boot 

Warm boot (reboot) 

Fast boot (fastboot) 

Full POST 

Partial POST 

No POST 




POST includes the following tests: 

ramtest - Bit write and read test of SDRAMS in the switch. 

portregtest - Bit write and read test of the ASIC SRAMs and registers. 

centralmemorytest - Bit write and read test of the ASIC central memory. 

cmitest – ASIC-to-ASIC connection test of the Control Message Interface bus. 

sramretentiontest - Data retention test of the SRAMs in the ASIC. 

turboramtest - Functional test of RAM. 

camtest - Functional test of the CAM memory. 

statstest - Runs a statistics counter diagnostic test. 

filtertest - Functional test of filter configuration. 

portloopbacktest - Functional test of switch by sending and receiving frames from the same port. 

spinsilk - Functional test of port-to-port path at maximum switch speed. 

Note - The cold boot (power reset) runs the long ramtest while the warm boot (software reset) runs the 

short ramtest. fastboot does not run POST in this boot. diagdisablepost disables POST for all 

power cycles and reboots until it is reset using diagenablepost. See the diaghelp Reference 

Guide for more information about each of these tests. 



Chapter 8 - 33

v4.x Power-On Self-Test (POST) 

34 

POST 1 includes the 

following tests 1 : 

turboramtest 

portregtest 

centralmemorytest 

cmitest 

sramretentiontest 

cmemretentiontest 

POST 2 includes the 

following tests 2 : 

camtest 

portloopbacktest 

portloopbacktestserdes 

txdpath 

spinsilkserdes 

backplanetest 

There are 4 boot types 

Cold boot 

Warm boot (reboot) 

Fast boot (fastboot) 

Logical switch boot (switchreboot) 

Full POST 

Partial POST 

No POST 

Partial POST 




POST 1 includes the following tests: 

turboramtest - Functional test of RAM. 

portregtest - Bit write and read test of the ASIC SRAMs and registers. 


cmitest – ASIC-to-ASIC connection test of the Control Message Interface bus. 

sramretentiontest - Data retention test of the SRAMs in the ASIC. 


POST 2 includes the following tests: 

camtest - Functional test of the CAM memory. 

portloopbacktest - Functional test of switch by sending and receiving frames from the same 

port. 

portloopbacktestserdes - Functional test of switch by sending and receiving frames from 

the same port Serdes chip. 

txdpath - Functional test of ASIC TXA, TXD connections 

spinsilkserdes - Functional test of port-to-port path at maximum switch speed. 

backplanetest - Backplane connection diagnostic 

Footnote 1: POST 1 tests could change by firmware version. What is actually being testing is 

displayed in /fabos/share/switchpost1.sh. 

Footnote 2: POST 2 tests could change by firmware version. What is actually being testing is 

displayed in /fabos/share/switchpost2.sh. 



Chapter 8 - 34

Hardware Diagnostic Tests For the Field 

35 

crossporttest 

spinsilk 

spinfab 

loopporttest 

fporttest 

porttest/stopporttest/porttestshow 






Chapter 8 - 35

crossporttest 

36 

 

 

 

 

Functionally verifies the port’s ability to send and receive 

frames across different or same port(s) 

Tests the entire path: main board, SFP/GBIC, and cable 

To run this test, external cables are required 

It tests the data integrity of each frame 

Ports can be connected to any port according to these rules: 

SW connects to SW 

LW connects to LW 

Only one frame is transmitted and received at any one time 

The port LEDs rapidly flicker green while the test is running 




This test is similar to the portloopbacktest except that the loopback is done via an external cable thus testing 

all the switch components: main board, SFP/ GBIC, and cabling. The cables can be connected in any combination 

except for the one condition that the cables and SPF/ GBICs connected are of the same technology. If a short 

wavelength cable is used, both its ends should be connected to SWL SFP/ GBICs also. Any port connection is 

allowed; but for best test coverage, ports connected should be from different ASICs. A connection from port 0 to port 

15 “crosses” ASICs. A connection from port 0 to port 3 tests only one ASIC. The test method is as follows: 

1.Determine which ports are connected to each other. 

2.Enable ports for cabled loopback mode. 

3.Create a frame F of maximum data size (2112 bytes). 

4.Transmit frame F via port M. 

5.Pick up frame from its cross connected port N - complain if port other than N actually received the frame. 

6.Check if any of the 8 statistic error counters are non-zero: ENC_in, CRC_err, TruncFrm, 

FrmTooLong, BadEOF, Enc_out, BadOrdSet, DiscC3. 

7.Check if the tx, rx or class 3 receiver counters are stuck at some value. 

8.Check if the number of frames tx is not equal to the number of frames rx. 

9.Repeat steps 3 through 8 for all ports present until: 

a. the number of frames requested is reached, 

b. all ports are marked bad. 

At each pass, a different data type is used to create the frame from a palette of 7 below; meaning if a pass of 13 is 

requested, all 7 from the pallete are used and then 6 of the 7 are used next: 

CSPAT: 0x7e, 0x7e, 0x7e, 0x7e, ... 

BYTE_LFSR: 0x69, 0x01, 0x02, 0x05, ... 

CHALF_SQ: 0x4a, 0x4a, 0x4a, 0x4a, ... 

QUAD_NOT: 0x00, 0xff, 0x00, 0xff, ... 

CQTR_SQ: 0x78, 0x78, 0x78, 0x78, ... 

CRPAT: 0xbc, 0xbc, 0x23, 0x47, ... 

RANDOM: 0x25, 0x7f, 0x6e, 0x9a, ... 



Chapter 8 - 36

crossporttest Modes 

37 

 

 

With the switch enabled; it probes for at least one M-M or M-N 

connection, the test fails if at least one loop (M-M or M-N) is not 

found 

Two ports cross connected (M-N)where N is on the same or different 

switches 

Single ports using a loopback cable (M-M) using the singlePortAlso 

With the switch disabled; it probes all ports cross or self 

connected on the same switch 

Test aborts if any port is not connected 

If setgbicmode 1 (a separate FOS command): 

‣ Only ports with SFPs or GBICs are included in the test 

‣ Disconnect all non-looped SFPs/GBICs 




Since this test includes the GBIC and the fiber cable in its test path, its results combined with the results of 

portLoopbackTest and spinSilk can be used to deduce which components of the switch are bad. 

switchname:admin> setgbicmode 1 

When activated, only ports with GBICs present are included in the crossporttest list of ports to 

test. For example if only ports 0 and 3 are connected with GBICs and the GBIC mode is activated, 

crossporttest limits its testing solely to ports 0 and 3. The state of the GBIC mode is saved in flash 

memory. It stays activated (even after reboots or power cycles) until it is disabled as follows: 

sw1:admin> setgbicmode 0 

To determine if diag.mode.gbic is enabled invoke diagmodeshow: 

V3.X_ sw1:admin> diagmodeshow Note: For v4.x use setgbicmode –show, some mode 

names could be slightly different. 

diag.mode* parameters saved in flash: 

diag.mode.burnin = 0 

diag.mode.burnin.level = 0 

diag.mode.burnin.firstPowerUp 

= NONE 

diag.mode.esd = 0 

diag.mode.gbic = 0 

diag.mode.splb = 0 

diag.mode.parity = 1 

diag.mode.lab = 0 

diag.mode.mfg = 0 

Burnin passnum = 5 

Burnin nExec = 86 

SilkWorm Mode 

= OFF 

Disable Modes Print 

= OFF 

diag.mode.skipenable = 1 

See the diagHelp Reference Guide for more information. 



Chapter 8 - 37

crossporttest Examples 

38 

 

This example will run crossporttest an infinite number of times (or until you 

press Enter) and allows ports to be connected to themselves (M-M): 

v3.x:admin> crossporttest 0,1 

Running Cross Port Test ... 

This example will run crossporttest online or offline 100 (default value is 10) 

times on slot 2 to the SERDES at 2 Gbit/sec, not all SFPs are looped back, it only 

uses ports 4 and 15: 

v4.x:admin> crossporttest –nframes 100 –lb_mode 2 –spd_mode 2 

–ports 2/4,15 

Running Cross Port Test ... 




What is displayed when you execute this test depends on the level of verbosity that you have selected. 

The diagdebugshow command depicts available levels of debugging. It is not recommended going 

over level 5 – there is such a thing as too much information! This setting could adversely effect other 

switch operations, so set it back to the default setting after you have finished using it. Depending on 

the tests, setting the debugging level high (via the command: setdbg “DIAG”, 9) may generate 

more informative messages. Put the debugging mode back to the default by invoking setdbg 

“DIAG”,0 because verbose mode (9) could affect the behavior of the switch! 

See the diaghelp Reference Guide for a complete “help” output. 

nframes count will specify the number of frames to send. The test will progress until the 

specified number of frames has been transmitted on each port. The default value is 10. 

lb_mode will select the loopback point for the test. By default, crossporttest uses cable 

loopback. 

spd_mode will specify the speed mode for the test. This parameter is only used for Bloom- based 

products where it controls the speed at which each port is operated. The exact operation of each modes 

3-6 depends upon the loopback mode selected. When speed modes 3-6 are used with cables, they must 

be connected EVEN->ODD or the test will fail. 

gbic_mode the option may be used to override the global GBIC mode described above for the 

duration of this test. When it is enabled (1) then testing is limited to user ports with media installed. 

no_restore this option may be set in order to force the test to skip part of the POST cleanup 

normally performed. This may be helpful during debugging. This parameter should normally be left at 

the default value of 0. 

ports itemlist will specify a list of user ports to test. By default all of the user ports in the 

selected slot will be assumed. 



Chapter 8 - 38

spinsilk 

39 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full speed functional test of internal/external tx and rx paths 

Configures each looped port pair to route received frames to each other 

Four frames spin around each two-port loop at full hardware speed 

continuously 

All loop back plug ports will send frames to all other loop back plugs and 

themselves 1 

There is no CPU intervention during the test 

Some variations of this test require external cables 

Ports can be connected to any port as long as SW connects to SW and LW 

connects to LW 

Tests the entire path: main board, SFP/GBIC, and cable 

To run this test, the switch must be disabled 

Looks at the error counters like enc_in enc_out these are the 8b/10b 

encoders 




This test is different from the other functional tests. It does not transmit a frame one-at-a- time, nor receive it via the 

CPU one-at-a-time, nor does it check the data at all. It sets up the routing hardware so that no CPU intervention is 

required to route frames continuously back and forth between a pair of loopback cabled ports. In effect the test spins the 

frames between the paired ports at the maximum hardware speed of 1Gbps or 2Gbps. 

Note - If you wish to specify a single operand, the others may become required, because operands are identified by 

position. For example, if you want to specify a gbic_mode value, you must also specify an nmegs value as well. 

Footnote 1: If all ports have loop back plugs installed then, for example, port 15 will send one frame to all other ports 

and two frames to itself. 

Command syntax spinsilk [ nMillionFrames [, gbicMode [, lbMode [, spdMode]]]] 

The following operands are optional: 

nMillionFrames The number of million frames per port to execute this test. 

If omitted, the default value used is 0xfffffffe (or almost infinite for 

practical purposes) as passCount. 

gbicMode Puts it in gbic mode for this execution only. 

lbMode 

Loopback Mode selector. 

0 cabled loopback Port MN only (default) 

1 cabled loopback Port M->M & MN allowed 

3 external silkscreen loopback (no retry) 

none of the above means internal loopback 

spdMode 

Speed at which test will be run. 

0 set port speed for auto-negotiate 

1 set port speed to lock at 1 GBit 

2 set port speed to lock at 2 GBit 



Chapter 8 - 39

spinsilk Examples 

40 

v3.x sw1:admin> spinsilk 10,1,1,0 

Test will run 10 times, only ports with SFP/GBICs will be tested (this test 

only), both M-M and M-N cables are allowed, ports with SFPs/ GBICs will 

auto-negotiate speed 

v4.x sw1:admin> spinsilk –slot 1 -nmegs 100 -lb_mode 1 

–spd_mode 2 -verbose 1 –ports 1/4-15 

Test will run on slot 1, test will run 100 times, only ports with GBICs will be 

tested (this test only), both M-M and M-N cables are allowed, ports are 

locked at 2 Gbit/sec, verbosity is on, will run test port 4 - 15 on slot 1 




v3.x+: spinsilk [nmegs, gbic_mode, lb_mode, spd_mode] 

v4.x+: spinsilk [--slot number] [-nmegs count] [-gbic_mode mode] [lb_mode 

mode][-spd_mode mode] [-norestore mode][-verbose mode] [-ports 

itemlist] 

nmegs - The number of times (or number of frames per port) to execute this test (default value is almost 

infinite) 

gbic_mode - Determines which ports are included in the test 

0 all ports are included (default) 

1 only ports with SFPs or GBICs are included 

Use is for this execution only 

Permanently set gbic_mode by using the setgbicmode command 

lb_mode - Specify the loopback mode 

0 cabled loopback Port M-N only (default) 

1 cabled loopback Port M-M and M-N allowed 

2 external loopback (loopback in Serdes chip) 

5 internal loopback (loopback in ASIC) 

spd_mode - Specify the speed of the connection to test 

0 set port speed for auto-negotiate (AN) 

1 set port speed to lock at 1 Gbps 

2 set port speed to lock at 2 Gbps 

3 odd ports 1Gbps, even ports AN 

4 odd ports 2 Gbps, even ports AN 

5 even ports 1 Gbps, odd ports AN 

6 even ports 2 Gbps, odd ports AN 

See Fabric OS Error message guides for additional information. 



Chapter 8 - 40

spinfab 

41 

Exercises E_Port connections in a manner similar to 

what spinsilk does for a single switch 

Sends frames out ISL or Trunk Group with OX_ID, 

spins them, verifies that the frames are still in order 

and there are no 8b/10b encoder errors 

The frame is sent with the original switches S_ID so 

it returns to same place 




The frames are continuously transmitted and received in all ports in parallel. The port LEDs flicker 

green rapidly while the test is running. While the frames are circulating the Rx frame count and port 

CRC and encoder error statistics will be monitored and errors will be generated if a port stops or a 

low level error occurs. Every one million frames, the circulating frames will be captured to verify 

that they are still circulating and that they are still in-order. In this manner the entire path to the 

remote switch may be verified. 

The switch will remain in normal operation while this test is running. However, some performance 

degradation will occur due to the ISL links being saturated with test frames. Because of this you 

should use caution when running this test on live Fabrics. Consider only testing one ISL link at a 

time. Do not run the tests for extended periods of time. 



Chapter 8 - 41

spinfab Examples 

42 

v3.x sw1:admin> spinfab 4,4,10 

will run spinfab 4 million frames on ports 4 – 10 

v4.x sw1:admin> spinfab –nmegs 4 -ports 2/4 – 2/10 

will run spinfab 4 million frames on slot 2 ports 4 – 10 




v3.X spinfab [nMillionFrames, ePortBeg, ePortEnd, setFail] 

nMillionFrames The number of million frames per port to execute this test. If omitted, the default value used is 100. 

This operand is optional. 

ePortBeg First port to test, if omitted 0 will be used. This operand is optional. 

ePortEnd The last port to test. The test will be performed on ePortBeg to ePortEnd inclusive. If ePortEnd is 

omitted, then the default will be to test all ports if ePortBeg is also omitted or to test only ePortBeg if it is specified. 

This operand is optional. 

setFail Specify 1 to mark failing ports as BAD, or specify 0 to not mark failed ports as bad. To minimize the impact on 

live Fabrics, this test normally logs errors but does not set the port status to FAILED. This parameter is provided to force 

the failing ports to be marked as BAD in the same manner as other diagnostics. In test or qualification environments without 

live traffic, this may be useful with large values of nMillionFrames. This operand is optional. 

v4.X spinfab [-nmegs count] [-ports itemlist] [-setfail mode] [-domain value] 

nmegs The number of million frames per port to execute this test (default is 100); 

ports Specify a list user ports to test. By default, all of the ISL ports in the current switch will be tested 

setFail Specify 1 to mark failing ports as bad, or 0 to not mark failed ports as bad 

domain This parameter is used to specify a specific remote domain that the switch is connected to (default is to 

automatically determine the remote domain number) 



Chapter 8 - 42

loopporttest 

43 

Used to test NL_Ports and the devices attached 

Tests from main board through devices 

Should be connected with the same SFP/GBIC type; SW 

connects to SW and LW connects to LW 

Only one frame is transmitted at a time 




This command verifies the intended functional operation of the switch by sending frames 

from port M's transmitter and looping the frames back via an external fiber cable (including 

all the devices on the loop) into port M's receiver. This exercises all the switch components: 

main board; SFP/GBIC; fiber cable; SFP/GBICs (of the devices and the switch) and back to 

the main board. 

The cables and SFP/GBICs connected should be of the same technology: a short wavelength 

SFP/ GBICed (switch) port is connected to another short wavelength SFP/ GBICed (device) 

port via a short wavelength cable; a long wavelength port is connected to a long wavelength 

port; and a copper port is connected to a copper. Only one frame is transmitted and received 

at any one time. The port LEDs flicker green rapidly while the test is running. The test 

method is as follows: 

1) Determine which ports are L-ports 

2) Enable ports for cabled loopback mode 

3) Create a frame F of data size (1024 bytes) 

4) Transmit frame F via port M, with D_ID to the FL port (ALPA = 0) 

5) Pick up the frame from port M, the FL_Port 

6) Check if any of the 8 statistic error counters are non-zero: ENC_in, CRC_err, 

TruncFrm, FrmTooLong, BadEOF, Enc_out, BadOrdSet, DiscC3 

7) Check if the transmit, receive or class 3 receiver counters are stuck at some value 

8) Check if the number of frames transmitted is not equal to the number of frames received 

9) Repeat steps 3 through 8 for all ports present until: 

a) the number of frames (or passCount) requested is reached 

b) all ports are marked bad 



Chapter 8 - 43

loopporttest - Examples 

44 

v3.x sw1:admin> loopporttest 100,8,0xaa55,2 

This will execute loopporttest 100 times on port 8 with payload pattern 

0xaa55 and pattern width 2 (meaning word width) 

v4.x sw1:admin> loopporttest –nframes 100 –ports 1/8 

This will execute loopporttest with 100 frames on port 8 




v3.x+ loopporttest [passcount, port_number, payload_pattern, pattern_width] 

passcount The number of frames per port) to execute this test (default is infinite or until enter key is hit) 

port_number The port to run to test on - the test will be executed on all online L-ports by default 

payload_pattern The pattern of the test packets payload 

pattern_width The width of the pattern which user specified – it could be 1, 2, or 4 (which are byte, word, or quad) 

v4.x+ loopporttest [-nframes count] [-ports itemlist ] [-seed payload_pattern] [-width 

pattern_width] 

nframes The number of million frames per port to execute this test (default is 10) 

ports Specify a list of user ports to test 

seed The pattern of the test packets payload 

width The width of the pattern which user specified. It could be 1, 2, and 4 (which are byte, word, and quad) 

User could specify a payload pattern to be used when executing this test. If the pattern was not user specified, then at every 30th pass, a 

different built-in data type from a palette of 7 is used to generate different data pattern to create the frame. The data pattern will be 

generated based on each data type. Some data types may generate different data patterns on every pass; conversely, some data types 

may not change data patterns in every pass. These 7 data types will be repeated every 210 passes. 

Pattern_width 2 which is word represents 2 bytes, while 4 which is quad represents 4 bytes. 

payload_pattern: 

The data palette of 7 consists of: 

1) CSPAT: 0x7e, 0x7e, 0x7e, 0x7e, ... 

2) BYTE_LFSR: 0x69, 0x01, 0x02, 0x05, ... 

3) CHALF_SQ: 0x4a, 0x4a, 0x4a, 0x4a, ... 

4) QUAD_NOT: 0x00, 0xff, 0x00, 0xff, ... 

5) CQTR_SQ: 0x78, 0x78, 0x78, 0x78, ... 

6) CRPAT: 0xbc, 0xbc, 0x23, 0x47, ... 

7) RANDOM: 0x25, 0x7f, 0x6e, 0x9a, ... 



Chapter 8 - 44

fporttest 

45 

Functional test of F N, N F Ports 

Tests from mainboard through devices N_Port receiver 

and back again by sending ECHO frames 







This command verifies the intended functional operation of the switch by sending els 

ECHO frames from switch F_Port's transmitter, and receive els ECHO ACC back 

from N_Port device into F_Port's receiver; thus exercising all the switch components 

from the main board to the GBIC to the fiber cable to the GBICs(of the N_Port devices 

and the switch F_Port) and back to the main board. 

The cables and GBICs connected should be of the same technology, meaning a short 

wavelength GBIC (switch) port is connected to another short wavelength GBIC (device) 

port via a short wavelength cable; and a long wavelength port is connected to a long 

wavelength port; and a copper port is connected to a copper port. 

Only one frame is transmitted and received at any one time. The port LEDs flicker green 

rapidly while the test is running. The test method is as follows: 

1) Determine which ports are F_Port 

2) Create a ELS_ECHO frame with payload size, data pattern build in, or user payload 

size, data pattern 

3) Transmit frame F via F_Port, with D_ID to the N_Port device 

4) Wait for N_Port device to response ECHO ACC 

5) Compare ECHO data transmitted is equal to the ECHO data received 

6) Repeat steps 3 through 5 for all ports present until: 

a) the number of frames (or passCount) requested is reached 

b) all ports are marked bad 



Chapter 8 - 45

fporttest - Examples 

46 

v3.x sw1:admin> fporttest 100,8,0xaa55,2, 512 

This will execute fporttest 100 times on port 8 with payload pattern 0xaa55, 

pattern width 2 (meaning word width) and default payload size 512 bytes 

v4.x sw1:admin> fporttest –nframes 100 -ports 1/8 

This will execute fporttest with 100 frames on port 8 and default payload size 512 

bytes 




The following operands are optional: 

passcount (nframes count) times (or number of frames per port) to execute this test. If omitted, or set to 0 

the default value used is 0xfffffffe (or almost infinite for practical purposes) as passCount. 

port_number (-ports) The port to run to test on. If omitted, the test will be executed on all online F_Ports 

seed Used for the payload pattern 

payload_pattern The same as loopporttest 

pattern_width The width of the pattern which user specified. It could be 1, 2, and 4 (which are byte, word, and 

quad). When payload_pattern is set to 0x00, pattern_width will be ignored. 

pattern_size (-size) Number of words of the test packets payload. If omitted, the default value is 512. 



Chapter 8 - 46

porttest 

47 

Used to isolate problems to a single replaceable element 

Diagnostics can be run on demand 

Verifies functional operation of the switch by sending 

frames from port’s Tx to the Rx 

Exercises all components: 

Main board 

SFP 

Cable 







v3.x porttest [ports, iteration, delay, timeout, pattern, patsize, seed] 

ports The type of port on which to run the test 

iteration Number of times to run the test; -1 runs infinitely 

delay Time delay in minutes between frames being sent; 20 is default 

timeout Max seconds to allow test to run; default is 0 

pattern The pattern of the test packets payload (refer to notes) 

patsize The width of the pattern; default is 2112 

seed Seed value used with the pattern; default is 0xaa 

v4.x porttest [-ports itemlist, -iteration count, -userdelay time,-timeout time, -pattern pattern, 

-patsize size, -seed seed, -listtype porttype] 

userdelay Time delay in minutes between frames sent; 10 is default 

seed Seed value used with the pattern; default is 0xaa 

lisType Type of ports on which to run the test (v4.1.0 is case sensitive) 

This command verifies the intended functional operation of the switch by sending frames from port M's transmitter and looping the frames back 

via an external fiber cable (including all the devices on the loop) into port M's receiver. This exercises all the switch components: main board; 

SFP/GBIC; fiber cable; SFP/GBICs (of the devices and the switch) and back to the main board. 

The cables and SFP/GBICs connected should be of the same technology: a short wavelength SFP/GBICed (switch) port is connected to another 

short wavelength SFP/ GBICed (device) port via a short wavelength cable; a long wavelength port is connected to a long wavelength port; and a 

copper port is connected to a copper. Only one frame is transmitted and received at any one time. The port LEDs flicker green rapidly while the 

test is running. The following port types are supported: 

1) E_Ports, 2) F_Ports that support ELS ECHO, 3) L_Ports, 4) N->N loopback ports 

Tests are initiated with certain ports with porttest. Tests can be stopped at any time with stopporttest. Snapshot output can be viewed 

with porttestshow. 



Chapter 8 - 47

v3.1:admin> porttest 

Command Example 

v3.1:admin> porttest –4,30 

48 

Test run with 4 ports on switch: 

Port 12 contained a loopback adapter 

Port 13 was an F_Port attached to a server 

Port 14 was an E_Port 

Port 15 was an L_port attached to a JBOD 

Operand –4,30 used to run the test only against E_Ports, 30 iterations 

Possible port types are as follows: 

-1 All ports 

-2 All L_Ports 

-3 All F_Ports 

-4 All E_Ports 

-5 All N->N loopback ports 

stopporttest used to halt test 

porttestshow displays the output 




Sample output from porttestshow (Ports 0-11 are truncated): 

Port 13 : PASS 

PortType: F PORT 

PortState: NO TEST 

PortInternalState: INIT 

PortTypeToTest: NO_TEST 

Pattern: 0xb Seed: 0xaa UserDelay: 10 

TotalIteration: 30 CurrentIteration: 0 

TotalFail: 0 ConsecutiveFail: 0 

StartTime: NONE 

StopTime: NONE 

Timeout: 0 ErrorCode: 0 


PortType: E PORT(MASTER) 

PortState: TEST DONE 






StartTime: Apr 25 11:51:39 

StopTime: Apr 25 11:51:50 



PortType: L PORT 

PortState: NO TEST 






StartTime: NONE 

StopTime: NONE 




Chapter 8 - 48

v4.1:admin> porttest 

Command Example 

49 

v4.1:admin> porttest -ports 1/12-14 -iteration 50 

Test run with 3 ports on switch: 

Port 12 contained a loopback adapter 

Port 13 was an F_Port attached to a server 

Port 14 was an E_Port 

Operand –ports 1/12-14 indicates test run against slot 1, ports 12-14 

Operand -iteration 50 used to run test 50 times 

stopporttest used to halt test 




Sample output from porttestshow: 

left_12k:admin> porttest -ports 1/12-14 -iteration 50 

left_12k:admin> 

left_12k:admin> porttestshow -ports 1/12-14 


PortType: LOOPBACK PORT 







StartTime: Fri Apr 25 12:25:06 2003 

StopTime: Fri Apr 25 12:25:17 2003 



PortType: F PORT 











PortType: E PORT(MASTER) 












Chapter 8 - 49

Probably Failing Modules 

50 

Structural test fails: 

ramtest failed: 

portregtest failed: 

centralmemorytest failed: 

cmitest failed: 

(sram,cmem)retentiontest failed: 

camtest failed: 

turboramtest failed: 

Action 

replace MB 

replace MB 

replace MB 

replace MB 

replace MB 

replace MB 

replace MB 

Group tests: 

systemtest failed: 

Action 

replace MB 

MB: main board 




Each line in the table shows the probable bad components for each failing test. To use this 

table, all of the tests must be run and all of the results recorded in the assessment. The 

tests must be run in the above sequence. Certain tests depend on others to pass before they 

can be expected to pass. For example, the portloopbacktest requires that all of the 

tests prior to it must pass before it can be expected to pass. 

The high integration of the switch means that the major components that might possibly 

fail are limited to either the Loom ASIC or the main board. In the field, the main board is 

replaceable, but not the ASIC. 

The “circuit” tests are standalone. The error results directly point to the probably failing 

modules. For example if Port N fails portregtest,this directly points to a bad Port N 

or a bad CPU. To further isolate, the results of the other ports from the same test are 

required. If only Port N failed, then the most probable failure is port N. If all ports failed 

similarly, then it points to a common problem - the CPU. 

The results of the functional tests may need to be correlated with results of the other 

functional tests or/and the bit write/read tests. For example if portloopbacktest, 

crossporttest, and spinsilk failed while all other tests passed, that implies that 

the (B)loom or main board is bad since they appear as probably failing modules among 

the failing three tests. 



Chapter 8 - 50

Probably Failing Modules, Cont. 

51 

Functional test fails: 

portloopbacktest failed: 

crossporttest failed: 

spinsilk failed: 

filtertest failed: 

statstest failed: 

Action: 

replace MB 

replace CBL, GBC, SFP or MB 

replace CBL, GBC, SFP or MB 

replace MB 

replace MB 

porttest failed: 

loopporttest failed: 

fporttest failed: 

spinfab failed: 

replace CBL, GBC, SFP, MB, or 

attached device, CBL, GBC, 

SFP, MB 

MB: mainboard 

GBC: GBIC 

SFP : Small Form-Factor Pluggable 

CBL: cable 






Chapter 8 - 51

Summary 

52 

Divide and Conquer - Troubleshoot starting at the 

switch 

Brocade commands in supportshow can help 

determine where problem breakdown occurred in 

LINK, LOGIN, FABRIC, DEVICE process 

Hardware diagnostics can be useful to the field 






Chapter 8 - 52

Review Questions 

1. Trunking problems fall into which categories? Choose all that apply: 

a. Port Configuration Problem 

b. Fabric Issues 

c. Marginal Link 

d. Optional Product License 

53 

2. How can the nsshow command output help you to troubleshoot a SAN? 

3. What are the differences between the portstatsclear and the 

portlogclear commands? 

4. What information is provided in response to the diagshow command? 

5. Why would you use crossporttest at your site? 

6. What is the first argument of most of the tests? 

7. Describe how to perform a supportshow. 






Chapter 8 - 53

Review Answers 

54 

1. Trunking problems fall into which categories? Choose all that apply: 

a. Port Configuration Problem 

b. Fabric Issues 

c. Marginal Link 

d. Optional Product License 

2. How can the nsshow command output help you to troubleshoot a SAN? 

3. What are the differences between the portstatsclear and the 

portlogclear commands? 

4. What information is provided in response to the diagshow command? 

5. Why would you use crossporttest at your site? 

6. What is the first argument of most of the tests? 

7. Describe how to perform a supportshow. 




1. All of them apply 

2. When a device is displayed in the name server with nsshow, the device has 

successfully attached and been registered to the fabric. 

3. portstatsclear will clear ASIC counters displayed with the command 

porterrshow. portlogclear will clear the error log on the switch. 

4. Status of all ports based on the diagnostics since the last reboot, current state of 

the ports (UP or DN) and frame count of active ports (frTX and frRX) 

5. Used to verify the functional operation of the switch by sending frames from 

port M's transmitter, and looping the frames back via an external fiber cable into 

another port N's receiver; thus exercising all of the switch components from the 

main board to the media to the fiber cable to the media and back to the main 

board. 

6. Pass count 

7. Open telnet, turn on capture and issue supportshow. 



Chapter 8 - 54

BrocadeÂ® Product Training

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?