Dell POWEREDGE M1000E - Manual (Page 16)

2 Fabric OS Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Guide
53-1001769-01
Most common problem areas
1
Most common problem areas
Table 1 identifies the most common problem areas that arise within SANs and identifies tools to
use to resolve them.
Questions for common symptoms
You first need to determine what the problem is. Some symptoms are obvious, such as the switch
rebooted without any user intervention, or more obscure, such as your storage is having
intermittent connectivity to a particular host. Whatever the symptom is, you will need to gather
information from the devices that are directly involved in the symptom.
Table 2 lists common symptoms and possible areas to check. You may notice that an intermittent
connectivity problem has lots of variables to look into, such as the type of connection between the
two devices, how the connection is behaving, and the port type involved.
TABLE 1 Common troubleshooting problems and tools
Problem area Investigate Tools
Fabric
•
Missing devices
•
Marginal links (unstable connections)
•
Incorrect zoning configurations
•
Incorrect switch configurations
•
Switch LEDs
•
Switch commands (for example,
switchShow or nsAllShow) for
diagnostics
•
Web or GUI-based monitoring and
management software tools
Storage Devices
•
Physical issues between switch and
devices
•
Incorrect storage software
configurations
•
Device LEDs
•
Storage diagnostic tools
•
Switch commands (for example,
switchShow or nsAllShow) for
diagnostics
Hosts
•
Physical issues between switch and
devices
•
Downgrade HBA firmware
•
Incorrect device driver installation
•
Incorrect device driver configuration
•
Device LEDs
•
Host operating system diagnostic
tools
•
Device driver diagnostic tools
•
Switch commands (for example,
switchShow or nsAllShow) for
diagnostics
Also, make sure you use the latest HBA
firmware recommended by the switch
supplier or on the HBA supplier's web site
Storage Management
Applications
•
Incorrect installation and
configuration of the storage devices
that the software references.
For example, if using a
volume-management application,
check for:
•
Incorrect volume installation
•
Incorrect volume configuration
•
Application-specific tools and
resources