Configuring Online Diagnostics

This chapter describes how to configure the generic online diagnostics (GOLD) feature.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Information About Online Diagnostics

Online diagnostics provide verification of hardware components during switch bootup or reset, and they monitor the health of the hardware during normal switch operation.

This section includes the following topics:

Online Diagnostics Overview

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches support bootup diagnostics and runtime diagnostics. Bootup diagnostics include disruptive tests and nondisruptive tests that run during system bootup and system reset.

Runtime diagnostics (also known as health monitoring diagnostics) include nondisruptive tests that run in the background during normal operation of the switch.

Bootup Diagnostics

Bootup diagnostics detect faulty hardware before bringing the switch online. Bootup diagnostics also check the data path and control path connectivity between the supervisor and the ASICs. Table 1-1 describes the diagnostics that are run only during switch bootup or reset.

 

Table 1-1 Bootup Diagnostics
Diagnostic
Description

USB Flash

Verifies the integrity of the USB flash device.

PCIe

Tests PCI express (PCIe) access.

OBFL

Verifies the integrity of the onboard failure logging flash.

NVRAM

Verifies the integrity of the NVRAM.

Voltage

Verifies that the voltage levels are within the correct range.

GPIO

Tests the general purpose I/O (GPIO) components.

In band port

Tests connectivity of the inband port to the supervisor.

Management port

Tests the management port.

Memory

Verifies the integrity of the DRAM.

Bootup diagnostics also include a set of tests that are common with health monitoring diagnostics. The bootup and health monitoring diagnostics are described in Table 1-3 .

Bootup diagnostics log any failures to the onboard failure logging (OBFL) system. Failures also trigger an LED display to indicate diagnostic test states (on, off, pass, or fail).

You can configure Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches to either bypass the bootup diagnostics, or run the complete set of bootup diagnostics. See the “Configuring Online Diagnostics” section.

Health Monitoring Diagnostics

Health monitoring diagnostics provide information about the health of the switch. They detect runtime hardware errors, memory errors, software faults, and resource exhaustion.

Health monitoring diagnostics are nondisruptive and run in the background to ensure the health of a switch that is processing live network traffic.

Table 1-2 describes the health monitoring diagnostics for the switch.

 

Table 1-2 Health Monitoring Diagnostics Tests

Diagnostic
Description

LED

Monitors port and system status LEDs.

Power Supply

Monitors the power supply health state.

Temperature Sensor

Monitors temperature sensor readings.

Test Fan

Monitors fan speed and fan control.

Table 1-3 describes the health monitoring diagnostics that also run during system boot or system reset.

 

Table 1-3 Health Monitoring and Bootup Diagnostics Tests

Diagnostic
Description

SPROM

Verifies the integrity of backplane and supervisor SPROMs.

Fabric engine

Tests the switch fabric ASICs.

Fabric port

Tests the ports on the switch fabric ASIC.

Forwarding engine

Tests the forwarding engine ASICs.

Forwarding engine port

Tests the ports on the forwarding engine ASICs.

Front port

Tests the components (such as PHY and MAC) on the front ports.

Expansion Module Diagnostics

During switch bootup or reset, the bootup diagnostics include tests for the in-service expansion modules in the switch.

When you insert an expansion module into a running switch, a set of diagnostics tests are run. Table 1-4 describes the bootup diagnostics for an expansion module. If the bootup diagnostics fail, the expansion module is not placed into service.

 

Table 1-4 Expansion Module Bootup and Health Monitoring Diagnostics

Diagnostic
Description

SPROM

Verifies the integrity of backplane and supervisor SPROMs.

Fabric engine

Tests the switch fabric ASICs.

Fabric port

Tests the ports on the switch fabric ASIC.

Forwarding engine

Tests the forwarding engine ASICs.

Forwarding engine port

Tests the ports on the forwarding engine ASICs.

Front port

Tests the components (such as PHY and MAC) on the front ports.

Health monitoring diagnostics are run on in-service expansion modules. Table 1-4 describes the tests that are common with the bootup diagnostics. Table 1-5 describes the additional tests that are specific to health monitoring diagnostics for expansion modules.

 

Table 1-5 Expansion Module Health Monitoring Diagnostics

Diagnostic
Description

LED

Monitors port and system status LEDs.

Temperature Sensor

Monitors temperature sensor readings.

Configuring Online Diagnostics

You can configure the bootup diagnostics to run the complete set of tests, or you can bypass all bootup diagnostic tests for a faster module boot up time.

Note We recommend that you set the bootup online diagnostics level to complete. We do not recommend bypassing the bootup online diagnostics.

To configure the bootup online diagnostics level, perform these steps:

 

Command
Purpose

Step 1

switch# configure terminal

Enters configuration mode.

Step 2

switch(config)# diagnostic bootup level [ complete | bypass ]

Configures the bootup diagnostic level to trigger diagnostics when the device boots, as follows:

  • complete—Performs all bootup diagnostics. This is the default value.
  • bypass—Does not perform any bootup diagnostics.

Step 3

switch# show diagnostic bootup level

(Optional) Displays the bootup diagnostic level (bypass or complete) that is currently in place on the switch.

The following example shows how to configure the bootup diagnostics level to trigger the complete diagnostics:

switch# configure terminal
 switch(config)# diagnostic bootup level complete

Verifying Online Diagnostics Configuration

To display online diagnostics configuration information, perform one of the following tasks:

 

Command
Purpose

show diagnostic bootup level

Displays the bootup diagnostics level.

show diagnostic result module slot

Displays the results of the diagnostics tests.

Default Settings

Table 1-6 lists the default settings for online diagnostics parameters.

 

Table 1-6 Default Online Diagnostics Parameters

Parameters
Default

Bootup diagnostics level

complete