Is FC analyser and Fabric analyser the same thing?

[tarun.pahuja]

Folks,

Is FC analyser and fabric analyser in MDS series switches the same thing. I am confussed. Also,

Does the FC analyser has a Test based ( Etherreal) and GUI based interface? has anyone installed the GUI interface? which one is better?

[j.sargent]

The Cisco "Fabric Analyzer" that is included with the MDS is a tool for monitoring control traffic on the switch - in other words, anything that passes through the Supervisor module. It has both interfaces, or you can export the traffic to a file and look at it later with another GUI (ethereal) if you like.

You can also use a SPAN port to monitor all traffic on a specific port. Perhaps this is what you are referring to as "FC Analyzer". Typically you would use a PAA to capture the traffic using ethereal or maybe a hardware protocol analyzer. ($$$!)

So, to answer your question - No, they are not the same thing (if my assumption about your description is correct).

Josh

[tarun.pahuja]

Folks,

Talking about FC Analyser, how does the system create a file, i mean where is it created. The documentation talks about remote demon which is always active. But, i could not understand where the txt file is created and how is it moved to an external application like ethereal?

Thanks

[tblancha]

If you were to redirect the fcanalyzer trace to a file, it would create the text file on volatile:

switch(config)# fcanalyzer local (options) >>file

Then on volatile: there would be a text file called file that could be (t)ftp'd off. One of the fcanalyzer options is the write option. With the write option, you can write the trace in ethereal format to either volatile: or bootflash: to be (t)ftp'd off the switch.

The command would look like this to create a ethereal trace on volatile:

switch(config)# fcanalyzer local write volatile:trace.cap