Collecting data about fabrics

IBM Spectrum Control uses REST APIs, SMI agents, and SNMP agents to collect data about Brocade and Cisco fabrics and switches.

About this task

The actions that trigger data collection, and the data that is collected, depend on how the switch is monitored.

Brocade switches with Fabric OS 8.2.1 or later: REST API
You connect directly to Brocade switches that are running Fabric OS 8.2.1 or later, and monitor the switches by using the Fabric OS REST API. Data is collected in the following ways:
  • Probe jobs collect asset and status information about the switches. You can schedule probes or start them when you need them to collect data immediately. To collect complete asset and status information about a fabric, every switch on the fabric must be probed.
  • Performance monitors collect metrics about the performance of switches. You can schedule performance monitors for switches only, not for fabrics.
IBM Spectrum Control does not collect event-driven data for Brocade switches that are running Fabric OS 8.2.1 or later.
Brocade switches with a Fabric OS version earlier than 8.2.1: Network Advisor SMI agent
Brocade switches use the Brocade Network Advisor (BNA) SMI agents to send CIM indications to the IBM Spectrum Control server. IBM Spectrum Control automatically subscribes to these CIM indications, so you do not need to do any additional configuration to receive these notifications.
The SMI agent does a mini-probe to collect information that is relevant to the indication received. The SMI agent might do one of the following actions:
  • Retrieve switches and fabrics.
  • Retrieve zoning data.
  • Retrieve switch port status and connection to node.
  • Retrieve switch blade status and all port connections for the blade.
  • Set fabric, switch, blades, connections, or nodes as missing.
Cisco switches: SNMP agent
An SNMP trap is received from a Cisco switch, and this triggers data collection. The SNMP agent performs a probe of fabrics for which the traps were received. The SNMP agent does the following actions:
  • Retrieves switch and topology information. To collect complete asset and status information about a fabric, every switch on the fabric must be probed.
  • Retrieves Cisco VSAN and physical infrastructure and correlates VSAN to physical infrastructure.
  • Gathers zoning information and provides zone control support for Cisco switches.

For information about the supported agent types by switch vendor, see Planning for Brocade or Planning for Cisco.