Running Platform Hardware Diagnostics utility on the Security Network Protection appliance

 

Preparing the IBM Security Network Protection appliance for diagnostic tests

If you plan to test the network interfaces, you need to loop all the ports that use ethernet cable. Since the RJ45 ports support auto-crossover, it does not matter what type of cable you use for this test, but IBM Support recommends the use of crossover cables.

Connect management ports M.1 and M.2 together. For each additional monitoring segment, the ports need to be looped by connecting port x.1 to x.2 for each pair.

If you are not concerned with testing the network interfaces, you can skip recabling the ports; however, these tests fail when they are run. When If the appliance was not cabled for the network tests, it is normal to see a failed result for the network tests and this result can be ignored.

Booting the appliance into the diagnostic mode

 

1. Interface with the XGS Console by connecting a serial cable to the console port that uses the following settings: VT100, 9600, 8, None, 1.
    
2. Interrupt the boot process at the GRUB bootloader menu by pressing either the UP or DOWN arrow key while it is visible. Choose the option titled Hardware Diagnostics that uses the arrow keys and press Enter.
   
   It will appear on your console similar to this (depending on installed firmware versions):
   
   
   
   Note: If for some reason you are unable to boot into the diagnostic tool that uses this method, see Appendix A below to boot the diagnostic tool that uses a USB drive.
    
3. The appliance will now boot into diagnostic mode.

Running the diagnostics

Once the boot process is complete, you will see something similar to the following menu (depending on the hardware platform and phdiag version):

IBM Security Systems Platform Hardware Diagnostics v1.1.0 20130913-0325 for IBM Security XGS 4100 Copyright (C) IBM Corp. 2013

Type phdiag, and then press Enter.

Optional parameters:

• all - run all standard tests (No storage badblocks test -- default)
• lcd - run LCD tests
• network - run network port tests (Selftest, Traffic)
• storage - run storage tests (SMART, FSCK)
• system - run standard system tests (MTM-Serial, Inventory, PSU, FAN, SEL)
• badblocks - run storage badblocks

Other commands:

• menu - Show this menu
• reboot - reboot the system
• exit - shutdown/poweroff the system

In order to run the default set of hardware tests, you can simply enter phdiag and press Enter. If you suspect errors with the hard drive and want to perform the badblocks test, you can use phdiag badblocks to run this test, but be advised that this test can take a very long time to run.

Note: The user's interaction is required for the LCD portion of the tests. If you are running the default set of tests, it will not complete unattended.


Downloading the diagnostic log file

At the end of the diagnostic, you will be presented with the following text:

The log bundle contains the output of this diagnostic test plus additional debug output from the individual tests.

If you are using a serial console, you can connect a machine running Hyperterminal or Minicom to the serial console port of the appliance and type the usbdownload to save the log bundle to the flash drive.

PhD(v1.1.0) >

At this time, you type either download or usbdownload. The download command can be more convenient if your terminal application supports Zmodem protocol file transfers. If you don't know what this is, or are not sure if your client supports it, it can be simpler to use usbdownload to download the log file to a USB drive. Once you have a copy of the log file, execute the Exit command to gracefully power off the appliance. You can now submit the .tgz file to support.


Submitting the output file to support
 

This file will need to be sent in to Customer Support for review. If a PMR is already open, you can reply to an email in that PMR as an attachment if the file is less than 20 MB in size.

If the file is larger than 20 MB in size, you can either upload it using the HTTP/HTTPS uploader (up to 2 GB in size) or using the IBM FTP site (up to 100 GB in size). Be sure that the filename includes the PMR number in it.

Appendix A: Booting the appliance into the diagnostic mode using a USB stick image

In the event that you are unable to launch the diagnostics from the bootloader, you can download an image from the IBM Security Key License and Download Center. If you do not currently have a user account at this site, you can register a guest account that will be able to download the diagnostic tool image. Once you have the .img file, you can use a 3rd party tool such as Rufus to prepare the image on a USB drive. With a bootable USB drive attached, the appliance will boot from USB by default.