Brocade® Product Training

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
© 2005 Brocade Communications Systems, Incorporated.
Revision CFP261-02-2005
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.
© 2005 Brocade Communications Systems, Incorporated.
Revision CFP261-02-2005
Chapter 8 - 4