Re: Port status "notConnected" in MDS 9124

cmartinvalle · ‎04-17-2013

Hi all,

in one of our MDS 9124, a port status appears as "notConnected" and the rest are "up" or "sfpAbsent". We have been making some troubleshooting in order to get that port up and running but it has been impossible. We don't know the reason why it has this status and why it cannot be modified. Does anyone know what can we do?

Here is the output of the sh int bri command:

switch# sh int br

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interface Vsan Admin Admin Status SFP Oper Oper Port

Mode Trunk Mode Speed Channel

Mode (Gbps)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

fc1/1 1 auto off up swl F 4 --

fc1/2 1 auto off up swl F 4 --

fc1/3 1 auto off up swl F 4 --

fc1/4 1 auto on up swl F 4 --

fc1/5 1 auto on up swl F 4 --

fc1/6 1 auto off up swl F 4 --

fc1/7 1 auto off up swl F 4 --

fc1/8 1 auto off up swl F 4 --

fc1/9 1 auto off up swl F 2 --

fc1/10 1 auto on up swl F 4 --

fc1/11 1 auto on up swl F 4 --

fc1/12 1 auto on up swl F 4 --

fc1/13 1 auto on up swl F 4 --

fc1/14 1 auto on up swl F 4 --

fc1/15 1 auto on notConnected swl -- --

fc1/16 1 auto on up swl F 4 --

fc1/17 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --

fc1/18 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --

fc1/19 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --

fc1/20 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --

fc1/21 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --

fc1/22 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --

fc1/23 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --

fc1/24 1 auto on sfpAbsent -- -- --

and the output of the sh int fc1/15 command:

switch# sh interface fc1/15

fc1/15 is down (Link failure or not-connected)

Hardware is Fibre Channel, SFP is short wave laser w/o OFC (SN)

Port WWN is 20:0f:00:0d:ec:ae:bc:c0

Admin port mode is auto, trunk mode is on

snmp link state traps are enabled

Port vsan is 1

Receive data field Size is 2112

Beacon is turned off

5 minutes input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 bytes/sec, 0 frames/sec

5 minutes output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 bytes/sec, 0 frames/sec

1 frames input, 188 bytes

0 discards, 0 errors

0 CRC, 0 unknown class

0 too long, 0 too short

1 frames output, 188 bytes

0 discards, 0 errors

0 input OLS, 0 LRR, 0 NOS, 0 loop inits

0 output OLS, 0 LRR, 0 NOS, 0 loop inits

switch#

In any other port the output is like this:

switch# sh interface fc1/16

fc1/16 is up

Hardware is Fibre Channel, SFP is short wave laser w/o OFC (SN)

Port WWN is 20:10:00:0d:ec:ae:bc:c0

Admin port mode is auto, trunk mode is on

snmp link state traps are enabled

Port mode is F, FCID is 0x1f1400

Port vsan is 1

Speed is 4 Gbps

Rate mode is dedicated

Transmit B2B Credit is 20

Receive B2B Credit is 16

Receive data field Size is 2112

Beacon is turned off

5 minutes input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 bytes/sec, 0 frames/sec

5 minutes output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 bytes/sec, 0 frames/sec

15418 frames input, 627728 bytes

0 discards, 0 errors

0 CRC, 0 unknown class

0 too long, 0 too short

1130 frames output, 48616 bytes

0 discards, 0 errors

13 input OLS, 13 LRR, 2 NOS, 120 loop inits

17 output OLS, 4 LRR, 11 NOS, 25 loop inits

16 receive B2B credit remaining

20 transmit B2B credit remaining

20 low priority transmit B2B credit remaining

Interface last changed at Wed Apr 17 07:20:54 2013

switch#

vsathiam · ‎04-17-2013

Looks like you have inserted a SFP into port fc1/15, but you have not run a fc link from fc1/15 on MDS to another switch.

If you remove the SFP, "show int bri" would show status of port as "sfpAbsent", and "show interface fc1/15" will show up as "SFP not present"

cmartinvalle · ‎04-17-2013

Thanks for your reply. But sorry, I haven't understood, what would be the solution?

vsathiam · ‎04-17-2013

Do you have a SFP transceiver inserted in Port FC1/15 ?

Do you have any FC link inserted in SFP (Port FC1/15) and is it connected to another switch ?

If you do not have any FC link and you only have the SFP transceiver inserted, remove the SFP transceiver.

This will change the port status to sfpAbsent

To see the port status as 'up', you need to run a FC link from FC1/15 to another switch and configure the port.

If you have FC link, and it is connected to SFP, it is possible that you may have a faulty transceiver. Also it is possible that you have a faulty link. Replace transceiver/FC link and see if it helps.

HTH,

Vignesh

cmartinvalle · ‎04-18-2013

Thanks, we did all those checkings: we replaced the cable, the SFP, changed the ports, etc, etc but still with the same result.

I think the problem is related with the NPIV feature, that we need to enable, because these MDS switches are connected to Dell blades. I've seen this information through this link: http://i.dell.com/sites/content/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/connecting-dell-blades-to-cisco-final-10-4-10.pdf

dynamoxxx · ‎04-21-2013

how's Dell blades connect to this 9124 ? Is there an internal switch in the blade chasis ?

@dynamoxxx

cmartinvalle · ‎04-22-2013

Yes, there is an internal switch.

dynamoxxx · ‎04-22-2013

do you know what vendor/model ?

@dynamoxxx

cmartinvalle · ‎04-22-2013

The chassis is a Dell M1000E, so the internal switch should be a Dell PowerConnect.

dynamoxxx · ‎04-22-2013

probably some sort of Brocade switch rebranded by Dell. Do you know if that switch is running in AG (access gateway) mode ?

switchBrocade:admin> ag --modeshow

Access Gateway mode is enabled.

@dynamoxxx

cmartinvalle · ‎04-22-2013

I think it's running in AG mode. What would change it change if running in that mode or not?

dynamoxxx · ‎04-22-2013

if it's running in AG mode, you have to make sure you have NPIV enabled on your MDS switch.

@dynamoxxx

cmartinvalle · ‎04-22-2013

OK, I understand... I'll tell the customer in order to doubled check it.

Thank you very much!