Monitoring Hardware

This chapter includes the following sections:

Monitoring a Fabric Interconnect

Procedure
    Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
    Step 2   On the Equipment tab, expand Equipment > Fabric Interconnects.
    Step 3   Click the node for the fabric interconnect that you want to monitor.
    Step 4   In the Work pane, click one of the following tabs to view the status of the fabric interconnect:
    Option Description

    General tab

    Provides an overview of the status of the fabric interconnect, including a summary of any faults, a summary of the fabric interconnect properties, and a physical display of the fabric interconnect and its components.

    Physical Ports tab

    Displays the status of all ports on the fabric interconnect. This tab includes the following subtabs:

    • Uplink Ports tab

    • Server Ports tab

    • Fibre Channel Ports tab

    • Unconfigured Ports tab

    Fans tab

    Displays the status of all fan modules in the fabric interconnect.

    PSUs tab

    Displays the status of all power supply units in the fabric interconnect.

    Physical Display tab

    Provides a graphical view of the fabric interconnect and all ports and other components. If a component has a fault, the fault icon is displayed next to that component.

    Faults tab

    Provides details of faults generated by the fabric interconnect.

    Events tab

    Provides details of events generated by the fabric interconnect.

    Statistics tab

    Provides statistics about the fabric interconnect and its components. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

    Monitoring a Chassis


    Tip

    To monitor an individual component in a chassis, expand the node for that component.

    Procedure
      Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
      Step 2   On the Equipment tab, expand Equipment > Chassis.
      Step 3   Click the chassis that you want to monitor.
      Step 4   Click one of the following tabs to view the status of the chassis:
      Option Description

      General tab

      Provides an overview of the status of the chassis, including a summary of any faults, a summary of the chassis properties, and a physical display of the chassis and its components.

      Servers tab

      Displays the status and selected properties of all servers in the chassis.

      Service Profiles tab

      Displays the status of the service profiles associated with servers in the chassis.

      IO Modules tab

      Displays the status and selected properties of all IO modules in the chassis.

      Fans tab

      Displays the status of all fan modules in the chassis.

      PSUs

      Displays the status of all power supply units in the chassis.

      Hybrid Display tab

      Displays detailed information about the connections between the chassis and the fabric interconnects. The display has an icon for the following:

      • Each fabric interconnect in the system

      • The I/O module (IOM) in the selected component, which is shown as an independent unit to make the connection paths easier to see

      • The selected chassis showing the servers and PSUs

      Slots tab

      Displays the status of all slots in the chassis.

      Installed Firmware tab

      Displays the current firmware versions on the IO modules and servers in the chassis. You can also use this tab to update and activate the firmware on those components.

      SEL Logs tab

      Displays and provides access to the system event logs for the servers in the chassis.

      Faults tab

      Provides details of faults generated by the chassis.

      Events tab

      Provides details of events generated by the chassis.

      FSM tab

      Provides details about and the status of FSM tasks related to the chassis. You can use this information to diagnose errors with those tasks.

      Statistics tab

      Provides statistics about the chassis and its components. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

      Temperatures tab

      Provides temperature statistics for the components of the chassis. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

      Power tab

      Provides power statistics for the components of the chassis. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

      Monitoring a Blade Server

      Procedure
        Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
        Step 2   On the Equipment tab, expand Equipment > Chassis > Chassis Number > Servers.
        Step 3   Click the server that you want to monitor.
        Step 4   In the Work pane, click one of the following tabs to view the status of the server:
        Option Description

        General tab

        Provides an overview of the status of the server, including a summary of any faults, a summary of the server properties, and a physical display of the server and its components.

        Inventory tab

        Provides details about the properties and status of the components of the server on the following subtabs:

        • Motherboard—Information about the motherboard and information about the server BIOS settings. You can also recover corrupt BIOS firmware from this subtab.

        • CIMC—Information about the CIMC and its firmware, and provides access to the SEL for the server. You can also assign a static or pooled management IP address, and update and activate the CIMC firmware from this subtab.

        • CPUs—Information about each CPU in the server.

        • Memory—Information about each memory slot in the server and the DIMM in that slot.

        • Adapters—Information about each adapter installed in the server.

        • HBAs—Properties of each HBA and the configuration of that HBA in the service profile associated with the server.

        • NICs—Properties of each NIC and the configuration of that NIC in the service profile associated with the server. You can expand each row to view information about the associated VIFs and vNICs.

        • iSCSI vNICs—Properties of each iSCSI vNIC and the configuration of that vNIC in the service profile associated with the server.

        • Storage—Properties of the storage controller, the local disk configuration policy in the service profile associated with the server, and for each hard disk in the server.

        Tip   

        If the server contains one or more SATA devices, such as a hard disk drive or solid state drive, Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays the vendor name for the SATA device in the Vendor field.

        However, Cisco UCS Manager CLI displays ATA in the Vendor field and includes the vendor information, such as the vendor name, in a Vendor Description field. This second field does not exist in Cisco UCS Manager GUI.

        Virtual Machines tab

        Displays details about any virtual machines hosted on the server.

        Installed Firmware tab

        Displays the firmware versions on the CIMC, adapters, and other server components. You can also use this tab to update and activate the firmware on those components.

        SEL Logs tab

        Displays the system event log for the server.

        VIF Paths tab

        Displays the VIF paths for the adapters on the server.

        Faults tab

        Displays an overview of the faults generated by the server. You can click any fault to view additional information.

        Events tab

        Displays an overview of the events generated by the server. You can click any event to view additional information.

        FSM tab

        Provides details about the current FSM task running on the server, including the status of that task. You can use this information to diagnose errors with those tasks.

        Statistics tab

        Displays statistics about the server and its components. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

        Temperatures tab

        Displays temperature statistics for the components of the server. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

        Power tab

        Displays power statistics for the components of the server. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

        Step 5   In the Navigation pane, expand Server_ID > Adapters > Adapter_ID .
        Step 6   In the Work pane, right-click one or more of the following components of the adapter to open the navigator and view the status of the component:

        • Adapters

        • DCE interfaces

        • HBAs

        • NICs

        Tip   

        Expand the nodes in the table to view the child nodes. For example, if you expand a NIC node, you can view each VIF created on that NIC.

        Monitoring a Rack-Mount Server

        Procedure
          Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
          Step 2   On the Equipment tab, expand Equipment > Rack Mounts > Servers.
          Step 3   Click the server that you want to monitor.
          Step 4   In the Work pane, click one of the following tabs to view the status of the server:
          Option Description

          General tab

          Provides an overview of the status of the server, including a summary of any faults, a summary of the server properties, and a physical display of the server and its components.

          Inventory tab

          Provides details about the properties and status of the components of the server on the following subtabs:

          • Motherboard—Information about the motherboard and information about the server BIOS settings. You can also recover corrupt BIOS firmware from this subtab.

          • CIMC—Information about the CIMC and its firmware, and provides access to the SEL for the server. You can also assign a static or pooled management IP address, and update and activate the CIMC firmware from this subtab.

          • CPU—Information about each CPU in the server.

          • Memory—Information about each memory slot in the server and the DIMM in that slot.

          • Adapters—Information about each adapter installed in the server.

          • HBAs—Properties of each HBA and the configuration of that HBA in the service profile associated with the server.

          • NICs—Properties of each NIC and the configuration of that NIC in the service profile associated with the server. You can expand each row to view information about the associated VIFs and vNICs.

          • iSCSI vNICs—Properties of each iSCSI vNIC and the configuration of that vNIC in the service profile associated with the server.

          • Storage—Properties of the storage controller, the local disk configuration policy in the service profile associated with the server, and for each hard disk in the server.

          Tip   

          If the server contains one or more SATA devices, such as a hard disk drive or solid state drive, Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays the vendor name for the SATA device in the Vendor field.

          However, Cisco UCS Manager CLI displays ATA in the Vendor field and includes the vendor information, such as the vendor name, in a Vendor Description field. This second field does not exist in Cisco UCS Manager GUI.

          Virtual Machines tab

          Displays details about any virtual machines hosted on the server.

          Installed Firmware tab

          Displays the firmware versions on the CIMC, adapters, and other server components. You can also use this tab to update and activate the firmware on those components.

          SEL Logs tab

          Displays the system event log for the server.

          VIF Paths tab

          Displays the VIF paths for the adapters on the server.

          Faults tab

          Displays an overview of the faults generated by the server. You can click any fault to view additional information.

          Events tab

          Displays an overview of the events generated by the server. You can click any event to view additional information.

          FSM tab

          Provides details about the current FSM task running on the server, including the status of that task. You can use this information to diagnose errors with those tasks.

          Statistics tab

          Displays statistics about the server and its components. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

          Temperatures tab

          Displays temperature statistics for the components of the server. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

          Power tab

          Displays power statistics for the components of the server. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

          Step 5   In the Navigation pane, expand Server_ID > Adapters > Adapter_ID .
          Step 6   In the Work pane, right-click one or more of the following components of the adapter to open the navigator and view the status of the component:

          • Adapters

          • DCE interfaces

          • HBAs

          • NICs

          Tip   

          Expand the nodes in the table to view the child nodes. For example, if you expand a NIC node, you can view each VIF created on that NIC.

          Monitoring an I/O Module

          Procedure
            Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
            Step 2   On the Equipment tab, expand Equipment > Chassis > Chassis Number > IO Modules.
            Step 3   Click the I/O module that you want to monitor.
            Step 4   Click one of the following tabs to view the status of the I/O module:
            Option Description

            General tab

            Provides an overview of the status of the I/O module, including a summary of any faults, a summary of the module properties, and a physical display of the module and its components.

            Fabric Ports tab

            Displays the status and selected properties of all fabric ports in the I/O module.

            Backplane Ports tab

            Displays the status and selected properties of all backplane ports in the I/O module.

            Faults tab

            Provides details of faults generated by the I/O module.

            Events tab

            Provides details of events generated by the I/O module.

            FSM tab

            Provides details about and the status of FSM tasks related to the I/O module. You can use this information to diagnose errors with those tasks.

            Statistics tab

            Provides statistics about the I/O module and its components. You can view these statistics in tabular or chart format.

            Monitoring Management Interfaces

            Management Interfaces Monitoring Policy

            This policy defines how the mgmt0 Ethernet interface on the fabric interconnect should be monitored. If Cisco UCS detects a management interface failure, a failure report is generated. If the configured number of failure reports is reached, the system assumes that the management interface is unavailable and generates a fault. By default, the management interfaces monitoring policy is disabled.

            If the affected management interface belongs to a fabric interconnect which is the managing instance, Cisco UCS confirms that the subordinate fabric interconnect's status is up, that there are no current failure reports logged against it, and then modifies the managing instance for the endpoints.

            If the affected fabric interconnect is currently the primary inside of a high availability setup, a failover of the management plane is triggered. The data plane is not affected by this failover.

            You can set the following properties related to monitoring the management interface:

            • Type of mechanism used to monitor the management interface.

            • Interval at which the management interface's status is monitored.

            • Maximum number of monitoring attempts that can fail before the system assumes that the management is unavailable and generates a fault message.

            Important:
            In the event of a management interface failure on a fabric interconnect, the managing instance may not change if one of the following occurs:

            • A path to the endpoint through the subordinate fabric interconnect does not exist.

            • The management interface for the subordinate fabric interconnect has failed.

            • The path to the endpoint through the subordinate fabric interconnect has failed.

            Configuring the Management Interfaces Monitoring Policy

            Procedure
              Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
              Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Management.
              Step 3   Click Management Interfaces.
              Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Management Interfaces Monitoring Policy tab.
              Step 5   Complete the following fields:
              Name Description

              Admin Status field

              Whether the monitoring policy is enabled or disabled for the management interfaces.

              Poll Interval field

              The number of seconds Cisco UCS should wait between data recordings.

              Enter an integer between 90 and 300.

              Max Fail Report Count field

              The maximum number of monitoring attempts that can fail before Cisco UCS assumes that the management interface is unavailable and generates a fault message.

              Enter an integer between 2 and 5.

              Monitoring Mechanism field

              The type of monitoring you want Cisco UCS to use. This can be one of the following:

              • Mii Status—Cisco UCS monitors the availability of the Media Independent Interface (MII). If you select this option, Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays the Media Independent Interface Monitoring area.

              • Ping Arp Targets—Cisco UCS pings designated targets using the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). If you select this option, Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays the ARP Target Monitoring area.

              • Ping Gateway—Cisco UCS pings the default gateway address specified for this Cisco UCS domain on the Management Interfaces tab. If you select this option, Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays the Gateway Ping Monitoring area.
              Step 6   If you chose Mii Status for the monitoring mechanism, complete the following fields in the Media Independent Interface Monitoring area:
              Name Description

              Retry Interval field

              The number of seconds Cisco UCS should wait before requesting another response from the MII if a previous attempt fails.

              Enter an integer between 3 and 10.

              Max Retry Count field

              The number of times Cisco UCS polls the MII until the system assumes the interface is unavailable.

              Enter an integer between 1 and 3.
              Step 7   If you chose Ping Arp Targets for the monitoring mechanism, complete the following fields in the ARP Target Monitoring area:
              Name Description

              Target IP 1 field

              The first IP address Cisco UCS pings.

              Target IP 2 field

              The second IP address Cisco UCS pings.

              Target IP 3 field

              The third IP address Cisco UCS pings.

              Number of ARP Requests field

              The number of ARP requests Cisco UCS sends to the target IP addresses.

              Enter an integer between 1 and 5.

              Max Deadline Timeout field

              The number of seconds Cisco UCS waits for responses from the ARP targets until the system assumes they are unavailable.

              Enter an integer between 5 and 15.

              Type 0.0.0.0 for an IPv4 address to remove the ARP target or :: for an IPv6 address to remove the N-disc target.

              Step 8   If you chose Ping Gateway for the monitoring mechanism, complete the following fields in the Gateway Ping Monitoring area:
              Name Description

              Number of Ping Requests field

              The number of times Cisco UCS should ping the gateway.

              Enter an integer between 1 and 5.

              Max Deadline Timeout field

              The number of seconds Cisco UCS waits for a response from the gateway until Cisco UCS assumes the address is unavailable.

              Enter an integer between 5 and 15.
              Step 9   Click Save Changes.

              Server Disk Drive Monitoring

              The disk drive monitoring for Cisco UCS provides Cisco UCS Manager with blade-resident disk drive status for supported blade servers in a Cisco UCS domain. Disk drive monitoring provides a unidirectional fault signal from the LSI firmware to Cisco UCS Manager to provide status information.

              The following server and firmware components gather, send, and aggregate information about the disk drive status in a server:

              • Physical presence sensor—Determines whether the disk drive is inserted in the server drive bay.

              • Physical fault sensor—Determines the operability status reported by the LSI storage controller firmware for the disk drive.

              • IPMI disk drive fault and presence sensors—Sends the sensor results to Cisco UCS Manager.

              • Disk drive fault LED control and associated IPMI sensors—Controls disk drive fault LED states (on/off) and relays the states to Cisco UCS Manager.

              Support for Disk Drive Monitoring

              Disk drive monitoring only supports certain blade servers and a specific LSI storage controller firmware level.

              Supported Cisco UCS Servers

              Through Cisco UCS Manager, you can monitor disk drives for the following servers:

              • B200 M1/M2 blade server

              • B250 M1/M2 blade server

              Cisco UCS Manager cannot monitor disk drives in any other blade server or rack-mount server.


              Note

              Disk Drive Monitoring behavior and the CIMC sensor values are not consistent with the storage controller reported device status across various UCS servers. This is observed during various operations such as removing or inserting a storage device, or during rebuild operations.

              Storage Controller Firmware Level

              The storage controller on a supported server must have LSI 1064E firmware.

              Cisco UCS Manager cannot monitor disk drives in servers with a different level of storage controller firmware.

              Prerequisites for Disk Drive Monitoring

              In addition to the supported servers and storage controller firmware version, you must ensure that the following prerequisites have been met for disk drive monitoring to provide useful status information:

              • The drive must be inserted in the server drive bay.

              • The server must be powered on.

              • The server must have completed discovery.

              • The results of the BIOS POST complete must be TRUE.

              Viewing the Status of a Disk Drive

              Procedure
                Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
                Step 2   On the Equipment tab, expand Equipment > Chassis > Chassis Number > Servers.
                Step 3   Click the server for which you want to view the status of the disk drive.
                Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Inventory tab.
                Step 5   Click the Storage subtab.
                Step 6   Click the down arrows to expand the Disks bar and view the following fields in the States section for each disk drive:
                Name Description

                Operability field

                The operational state of the disk drive. This can be the following:

                • Operable—The disk drive is operable.

                • Inoperable—The disk drive is inoperable, possibly due to a hardware issue such as bad blocks.

                • N/A—The operability of the disk drive cannot be determined. This could be due to the server or firmware not being support for disk drive monitoring, or because the server is powered off.

                Note   

                The Operability field may show the incorrect status for several reasons, such as if the disk is part of a broken RAID set or if the BIOS POST (Power On Self Test) has not completed.

                Presence field

                The presence of the disk drive, and whether it can be detected in the server drive bay, regardless of its operational state. This can be the following:

                • Equipped—A disk drive can be detected in the server drive bay.

                • Missing—No disk drive can be detected in the server drive bay.

                Interpreting the Status of a Monitored Disk Drive

                Cisco UCS Manager displays the following properties for each monitored disk drive:

                • Operability—The operational state of the disk drive.

                • Presence—The presence of the disk drive, and whether it can be detected in the server drive bay, regardless of its operational state.

                You need to look at both properties to determine the status of the monitored disk drive. The following table shows the likely interpretations of the property values.

                Operability Status Presence Status Interpretation

                Operable

                Equipped

                No fault condition. The disk drive is in the server and can be used.

                Inoperable

                Equipped

                Fault condition. The disk drive is in the server, but one of the following could be causing an operability problem:

                • The disk drive is unusable due to a hardware issue such as bad blocks.

                • There is a problem with the IPMI link to the storage controller.

                N/A

                Missing

                Fault condition. The server drive bay does not contain a disk drive.

                N/A

                Equipped

                Fault condition. The disk drive is in the server, but one of the following could be causing an operability problem:

                • The server is powered off.

                • The storage controller firmware is the wrong version and does not support disk drive monitoring.

                • The server does not support disk drive monitoring.

                Note

                The Operability field may show the incorrect status for several reasons, such as if the disk is part of a broken RAID set or if the BIOS POST (Power On Self Test) has not completed.

                Managing Transportable Flash Module and Supercapacitor

                LSI storage controllers use a Transportable Flash Module (TFM) powered by a supercapacitor to provide RAID cache protection. With Cisco UCS Manager, you can monitor these components to determine the status of the battery backup unit (BBU). The BBU operability status can be one of the following:

                • Operable—The BBU is functioning successfully.

                • Inoperable—The TFM or BBU is missing, or the BBU has failed and needs to be replaced.

                • Degraded—The BBU is predicted to fail.

                TFM and supercap functionality is supported beginning with Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.1(2).

                TFM and Supercap Guidelines and Limitations

                TFM and Supercap Limitations

                • The CIMC sensors for TFM and supercap on the Cisco UCS B420 M3 blade server are not polled by Cisco UCS Manager.

                • If the TFM and supercap are not installed on the Cisco UCS B420 M3 blade server, or are installed and then removed from the blade server, no faults are generated.

                • If the TFM is not installed on the Cisco UCS B420 M3 blade server, but the supercap is installed, Cisco UCS Manager reports the entire BBU system as absent. You should physically check to see if both the TFM and supercap is present on the blade server.

                Supported Cisco UCS Servers for TFM and Supercap

                The following Cisco UCS servers support TFM and supercap:

                • Cisco UCS B420 M3 blade server

                • Cisco UCS C22 M3 rack server

                • Cisco UCS C24 M3 rack server

                • Cisco UCS C220 M3 rack server

                • Cisco UCS C240 M3 rack server

                • Cisco UCS C420 M3 rack server

                Monitoring RAID Battery Status

                This procedure applies only to Cisco UCS servers that support RAID configuration and TFM. If the BBU has failed or is predicted to fail, you should replace the unit as soon as possible.

                Procedure
                  Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
                  Step 2   In the Equipment pane, expand Chassis > Chassis Number > Servers > Server Number.
                  Step 3   In the Work pane, click the Inventory tab.
                  Step 4   Click the Storage subtab to view the RAID Battery (BBU) area.

                  Viewing a RAID Battery Fault


                  Note

                  This applies only to Cisco UCS servers that support RAID configuration and TFM.

                  Procedure
                    Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Equipment tab.
                    Step 2   In the Equipment pane, expand Chassis > Chassis Number > Servers > Server Number.
                    Step 3   In the Work pane, click the Faults tab.
                    Step 4   Select the battery to see more information on its condition.