Switches

Use the Switches page to administer and monitor the configuration and status information that is collected about the Switches in your storage environment.

IBM Storage Insights subscribers: If you're using the free version of IBM Storage Insights, some of the columns that are listed might not be available.

Information about switches

A switch is component in a SAN fabric that sends and receives FC requests from host servers to storage systems.
Tip: Exploit the metadata that is collected for you by adding or editing properties. When you see the edit icon (Edit icon), it means that you can add a value or edit the existing value. Right-click the resource, click View Properties, and make your changes. You can use, for example, name and location properties in filters to refine the information in the reports that you create. When you define location information, IBM® Support can investigate metadata collection issues more efficiently.

More detailed information than that provided in the hover help text is provided here for the following columns:

Acknowledged
The issue was resolved or the user decided that the issue did not need to be investigated.
Chassis
The name of the chassis where the switch is available. The name of the chassis was defined in an element manager or when the chassis was added to IBM Storage Insights.
Condition
The overall condition of the switch is determined by the most critical status of any one of the switch's internal resources.
Connected Ports
The number of ports that are connected to servers, switches, storage systems, or unmanaged resources.
Tip: Click the link in the Ports column to find out more about the connected ports.
Custom tag 1, 2, and 3 Edit icon
The user-defined text that you can add to provide more information about the switch. You can include this additional information or use the custom tags to filter the information that you want to share with your colleagues in reports.
Data Collection
The aggregated status for the collection of capacity, configuration, status, and performance metadata. Two separate jobs are run to collect the metadata:
  • A probe is run once every 24 hours to collect capacity, configuration, and status metadata.
  • A performance monitor is run every 5 minutes to collect performance metadata.
Because separate jobs are run to collect the metadata, both collection jobs must be successful to get a Running status. If an issue occurs during metadata collection, the following statuses might also be displayed:
Degraded
Not all metadata for the device was collected. This status is displayed when metadata collection is interrupted and only partial metadata is available.
Failed
Metadata was not collected for the device. This status might be displayed for a number of conditions, such as a service interruption, a network outage, or a device that is unavailable. If the failure was caused by an interruption or a global problem with the service, IBM is investigating the issue and you'll be notified when the data collection service is resumed.
Not Connected
Asset and configuration metadata or performance metadata, or both can't be collected. If the data collection service isn't resumed, try these self-help options:
  • Check that your switch is online and that your network is up and running.
  • Check that your firewall is configured to allow outbound access over HTTPS port 443 to your instance of IBM Storage Insights Pro.
  • Check that the server where the data collector was installed is online.
  • Restart the data collector.
  • Refresh your browser.
Not Monitored
When you add a chassis, its hosted switches are automatically discovered and added for monitoring. Any other switches that are connected to the switches on the monitored chassis are also discovered.
  • If chassis that host the other, connected switches use the same connection credentials as the chassis that you added, the chassis and their switches are also added for monitoring.
  • If chassis that host the other, connected switches don't use the same credentials, the chassis and their switches are added to IBM Storage Insights but are not monitored.
Task expired
This status might be displayed for a number of conditions or temporary problems within the service.
Help with statuses:
  • For more information about these statuses and how you can troubleshoot them, see Monitoring the status of data collection.
  • Subscribers are notified by email when issues with collecting data are detected. If an issue with collecting data persists and you can't resolve the issue, you can get help by submitting a post in the IBM Storage Community. For other support options, see Looking for help.
Domain ID
The domain ID of a switch. The ID is an 8-bit identifier with a range of 0-255.
Fabric
The name of the fabric where a switch is a member. The name of the fabric was defined in an element manager or when the fabric was added to for monitoring. If a name is not defined, the WWN of the fabric is used.
Firmware
The firmware version of the microcode on the chassis where a switch is defined.
IP Address
The IP address of the switch which can be in IPv4 or IPv6 format.
Last Successful Monitor
The last time that the performance information was refreshed.
Last Successful Probe
The most recent date and time when data was collected about a switch.
Links
The number of inter-switch links (ISLs) on the switch. An ISL is a single link between two ports on two different switches. An ISL is a member of a trunk that consists of all ISLs between two switches.
Location Edit icon
The location of the switch, which can be defined when you add the switch for monitoring.
Mode
Mode is a configuration setting that is defined on the chassis. Mode can be either native or NPV.
Model
Manufacturer provides the model name of chassis.
Name Edit icon
The logical name of the switch or the name that was defined by the user after the switch was added for monitoring. If the name isn't available, the worldwide name (WWN) of the switch is shown.
Performance Monitor Status
The status of the most recent run of a performance monitor. Use this value to quickly identify a performance monitor that failed or generated warning messages during processing. The following statuses might be displayed:
  • Starting: The performance monitor is starting.
  • Running: The performance monitor is running.
  • Running with problems: The performance monitor is running, but encountered warning conditions during processing. Check the log to view the warning messages.
  • Stopping: The performance monitor is stopping.
  • Completed: The performance monitor completed data collection.
  • Completed with warnings: The performance monitor completed, but encountered warning conditions during processing. Check the log to view the warning messages.
  • Failed: The performance monitor encountered error conditions during processing and is no longer running. Check the log of a performance monitor to view its error messages.
  • Canceled: The performance monitor was stopped and is no longer collecting performance data.
  • Not running: The performance monitor is not running.
  • Disabled: The performance monitor never ran. To start a probe, complete these steps:
    1. From the Resources menu, click Switches and select Chassis tab.
    2. Select and right-click the chassis that host the switch.
    3. Click Configure Data Collection and provide the IP address and credentials for the chassis that host the switches.
    4. Click Connect.
Ports
The number of ports on the switch.
Tip: Click the link to find out more about the ports, the resources it connects to, and its' links.
Principal Switch of Fabric
The name of the principal switch of the fabric when the switch was last probed. The fabric can change its principal switch dynamically when conditions require it.
Probe Status
The probe is run to collect asset and configuration information about your switch. If one of the following values is displayed, you might need to investigate or take remedial action:
  • Failed: The asset and configuration information was not collected.
  • Warning: Warning conditions were encountered when asset and configuration information was collected.
  • Never probed: The asset and configuration information was not collected because the resource or device is offline. The asset and configuration information was not collected because the resource or device is offline.
Serial number
A number or alphanumeric identifier that is given by manufacturer to each chassis.
System UUID
A unique identifier that assigns to the switches when it is added to IBM Storage Insights.
Vendor
The name of the vendor or manufacturer of the switch.
WWN
The worldwide name (WWN) of the switch, which is a 64-bit unsigned name identifier that is unique.