C H A P T E R 4

Monitoring the Chassis

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 4.1, Receiving Event Reports Passively Over the Serial Connection)

Section 4.2, Viewing Events Relating to the System Controller and Server Blades

Section 4.3, Interpreting Events

Section 4.4, Controlling the Number of Events Displayed

Section 4.5, Viewing Event Reports Sent by the Blade to syslogd

4.1 Receiving Event Reports Passively Over the Serial Connection

All events that are written to the System Controller's log files are, by default, also transmitted onto the serial interface. Therefore if you connect a terminal to the serial port of either SSC0 or SSC1, you will see any events that are reported.

4.1.1 Turning off Event Reporting for Telnet Connections

If you want to prevent events from being reported by the System Controller on telnet sessions, turn off the event reporting facility.

Note - You cannot disable event reporting on the serial interface.

To turn off event reporting on telnet connections to the SC:

1. Type:

sc> setupsc

2. Press [ENTER] in answer to each question until you are asked if you want to configure parameters for the System Controller.

Answer y for yes.

3. If CLI event reporting is currently disabled, you will be asked if you want to enable it.

If it is currently enabled, you will be asked if you want to disable it. Only event reporting on a telnet connection is affected. You cannot prevent events from being reported on the serial connection.

Answer y or n as required.

4.1.2 Checking Whether Event Reporting is On or Off

To check whether event reporting (on telnet connections only) is currently enabled or disabled, use the showsc command:

sc> showsc

The CLI prompt is set as:              sc>                sc>

Event Reporting via telnet interface:  Enabled            Enabled

The CLI event level is set as:         CRITICAL           CRITICAL

sc>

where the : character immediately above and below the sc> prompts indicates omitted data.

4.2 Viewing Events Relating to the System Controller and Server Blades

You can use the showlogs command to view events relating to specific server blades or to specific System Controllers.

To view events relating to a switch, refer to the Sun Fire B1600 Blade System Chassis Switch Administration Guide.

Note - Users with any of the four levels of user permission can view the event log by using the showlogs command. For information about the levels of permission available, see Chapter 3.

4.2.1 Viewing Events Relating to a System Controller

Type:

sc> showlogs sscn

where n is the number (0 or 1) of the System Controller whose events you want to view.

You can also view events relating to both System Controllers. To do this, type:

lom> showlogs ssc0 ssc1

4.2.2 Viewing Server Blade Events

Type:

sc> showlogs sn

where n is the number of the slot containing the server blade whose events you want to look at.

You can also view events relating to more than one server blade. To do this, type a space-separated list of the blades you are interested in.

For example, to view the events relating to the server blades in slots 4, 9, and 13, you would type:

sc> showlogs s4 s9 s13

Note - The showlogs command displays the most recent 20 events (by default) with the oldest of those 20 first. Each event has a date- and time-stamp, event level, FRU affected, and an event description.

4.3 Interpreting Events

There are four levels of events:

CRITICAL
These messages concern events that immediately affect the operation of a component of the system chassis. For example, they might concern exceeded temperature thresholds or supply rail failures.

MAJOR:
These messages concern events of less immediate severity, for example, fans turning too slowly or the Service Required LED having been turned on.

MINOR:
These messages concern events of no immediate severity.

INFO:
These events are most likely to inform you that some problem has been resolved (in other words, that it is now OK).

4.4 Controlling the Number of Events Displayed

The event log for the whole chassis is maintained by the System Controller in the active SSC. Events are stored from the very first time the chassis is powered up. When the buffer storing them becomes full, the events at the beginning of the buffer (the earliest events to have been recorded) are over-written.

By default, the showlogs command displays the last 20 lines of the event log associated with the System Controller or Server Blade you specify. However, you might want to see more or less than the last 20 events, or you might want to see a specific number of events counting from the beginning of the log file. Finally, you might want to display the events in groups of a specified number. To do these things, read this section.

4.4.1 Viewing the First n Events

You can use the -b option to indicate that you want to see a certain number of the earliest events in the log that relate to the SCs or blades you have specified.

The -b option must be followed by a space and then the number of events you want to see. For example, to see the first 15 events relating to the server blade in slot 7, you would type:

sc> showlogs -b 15 s7

4.4.2 Viewing the Last n Events

You can use the -e option to indicate that you want to see a certain number of the most recent events in the log that relate to the SCs or blades you have specified.

The -e option must be followed by a space and then the number of events you want to see. For example, to see the last 15 events relating to the server blade in slot 7, you would type:

sc> showlogs -e 15 s7

4.4.3 Viewing Events in Groups of a Specified Number

You can use the -g option to indicate that you want to see events in groups of a specified number. For example, to see events relating to the System Controller in SSC0 in groups of 10, you would type:

sc> showlogs -g 10 ssc0

Note - When you have read one group of event messages, press any key to see the next group.

4.4.4 Viewing the Entire Event Log of a System Controller or Server Blade

To view the entire event log for a System Cotnroller or server blade, use the -v option. For example, to see events relating to the System System Controller in SSC0, you would type:

sc> showlogs -v ssc0

4.5 Viewing Event Reports Sent by the Blade to `syslogd`

The server blade contains a processor called the Blade Support Chip (BSC). This monitors the temperature and the status of the fans and supply rails on the server blade even when the blade is powered down. If it detects a fault, it turns on the Service Required LED on the blade's front panel and sends a report to the chassis's active System Controller. When Solaris is running, the BSC also sends event reports to syslogd. syslogd handles these in the way it has been configured to handle event reports. This means that by default it sends them to the console and stores them in the following file:

/var/adm/messages

In this file the reports are displayed with a label identifying them as BSC reports and indicating their severity as either warnings or notices.