HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 5.0.0 Fabric Watch User Guide (AA-RW1TA-TE, May 2005)

107Fabric OS 5.0.0 Fabric Watch user guide
B Basic Fabric Watch configuration
guidelines
A default Fabric Watch configuration is available for the purpose of saving setup time. As you
gain familiarity with Advanced Fabric Watch features, they can be tailored to suit the fabric
environment. The custom settings available in Fabric Watch provide an advanced user much
needed flexibility of redefining boundary thresholds and alarm notification methods. The
basic concept of Fabric Watch is to monitor the health of an element by sampling the status,
comparing the sample data, and if found outside the threshold limits notify the user of the
event using one or more selected methods. Since Fabric Watch monitors a variety of
classes
and
class elements , each element with a unique trait must be evaluated prior to defining
custom thresholds to meet a specific objective. This section discusses some of the changes that
one should consider implementing to improve the overall efficiency of Fabric Watch.
Customization is recommended to achieve the following objectives.
• Selecting appropriate message delivery method for critical and non–critical events.
• Selecting appropriate thresholds and alarm levels relevant to each class element.
• Defining the appropriate Time Base event triggering based on the class element traits.
• Eliminating message delivery that has little or no practical value to the SAN
administrator.
• Consolidating multiple messages, generated from a single event.
When Fabric Watch is improperly configured, a large number of error messages can be sent
over a short period of time, making it difficult to find those messages that are actually
meaningful. If this happens, there are a few simple ways to improve the configuration.
When a large number of messages are sent that are not of importance, the source of the
messages can be identified from the error message. Examining error messages for the source
can identify those classes which need to be reconfigured.
When the messages are not desired or not of importance, consider the following options for
reconfiguration.
Recheck the threshold settings. If the current thresholds are not realistic for the class and area,
messages may be sent frequently without need. For example, a high threshold for temperature
monitoring set to less than room temperature is probably incorrectly configured.
If the event setting is continuous, consider switching to triggered. A continuos event setting will
cause error messages to be sent repeatedly as long as the event conditions are met. While