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37-Information Center Operation


Chapter 1  Information Center

When configuring information center, go to these sections for information you are interested in:

l           Information Center Overview

l           Information Center Configuration

l           Displaying and Maintaining Information Center

l           Information Center Configuration Examples

 

&  Note:

The information center now supports to add the UTC time zone in the time stamp of the output information. See Timestamp for details.

 

1.1  Information Center Overview

1.1.1  Introduction to Information Center

Acting as the system information hub, information center classifies and manages system information. Together with the debugging function (the debugging command), information center offers a powerful support for network administrators and developers in monitoring network performance and diagnosing network problems.

The information center of the system has the following features:

I. Classification of system information

The system is available with three types of information:

l           Log information

l           Trap information

l           Debugging information

II. Eight levels of system information

The information is classified into eight levels by severity and can be filtered by level. More emergent information has a smaller severity level.

Table 1-1 Severity description

Severity

Severity value

Description

emergencies

1

The system is unavailable.

alerts

2

Information that demands prompt reaction

critical

3

Critical information

errors

4

Error information

warnings

5

Warnings

notifications

6

Normal information that needs to be noticed

informational

7

Informational information to be recorded

debugging

8

Information generated during debugging

 

Information filtering by severity works this way: information with the severity value greater than the configured threshold is not output during the filtering.

l           If the threshold is set to 1, only information with the severity being emergencies will be output;

l           If the threshold is set to 8, information of all severities will be output.

III. Ten channels and six output directions of system information

The system supports six information output directions, including the Console, Monitor terminal (monitor), logbuffer, loghost, trapbuffer and SNMP.

The system supports ten channels. The channels 0 through 5 have their default channel names and are associated with six output directions by default. Both the channel names and the associations between the channels and output directions can be changed through commands.

Table 1-2 Information channels and output directions

Information channel number

Default channel name

Default output direction

0

console

Console (Receives log, trap and debugging information.)

1

monitor

Monitor terminal (Receives log, trap and debugging information, facilitating remote maintenance.)

2

loghost

Log host (Receives log, trap and debugging information and information will be stored in files for future retrieval.)

3

trapbuffer

Trap buffer (Receives trap information, a buffer inside the device for recording information.)

4

logbuffer

Log buffer (Receives log information, a buffer inside the device for recording information.)

5

snmpagent

SNMP NMS (Receives trap information.)

6

channel6

Not specified (Receives log, trap, and debugging information.)

7

channel7

Not specified (Receives log, trap, and debugging information.)

8

channel8

Not specified (Receives log, trap, and debugging information.)

9

channel9

Not specified (Receives log, trap, and debugging information.)

 

&  Note:

Configurations for the six output directions function independently and take effect only after the information center is enabled.

 

IV. Outputting system information by source module

The system information can be classified by source module and then filtered. Some module names and description are shown in Table 1-3.

Table 1-3 Source module name list

Module name

Description

8021X

802.1X module

ACL

Access control list module

ADBM

Address base module

AM

Access management module

ARP

Address resolution protocol module

CMD

Command line module

DEV

Device management module

DHCP

Dynamic host configuration protocol module

DNS

Domain name system module

ETH

Ethernet module

FIB

Forwarding module

FTM

Fabric topology management module

FTMCMD

Fabric topology management command module

FTPS

FTP server module

HA

High availability module

HABP

Huawei authentication bypass protocol module

HTTPD

HTTP server module

HWCM

Huawei Configuration Management private MIB module

IFNET

Interface management module

IGSP

IGMP snooping module

IP

Internet protocol module

LAGG

Link aggregation module

LINE

Terminal line module

MSTP

Multiple spanning tree protocol module

MTRACE

Multicast traceroute query module

NAT

Network address translation module

NDP

Neighbor discovery protocol module

NTDP

Network topology discovery protocol module

NTP

Network time protocol module

OSPF

Open shortest path first module

PKI

Public key infrastructure module

RDS

Radius module

RMON

Remote monitor module

RSA

Revest, Shamir and Adleman encryption module

SHELL

User interface module

SNMP

Simple network management protocol module

SOCKET

Socket module

SSH

Secure shell module

SYSMIB

System MIB module

TAC

HWTACACS module

TELNET

Telnet module

TFTPC

TFTP client module

VLAN

Virtual local area network module

VRRP

Virtual router redundancy protocol module

VTY

Virtual type terminal module

XM

XModem module

default

Default settings for all the modules

 

To sum up, the major task of the information center is to output the three types of information of the modules onto the ten channels in terms of the eight severity levels and according to the user’s settings, and then redirect the system information from the ten channels to the six output directions.

1.1.2  System Information Format

The format of system information varies with the output destinations.

l           If the output destination is console, monitor terminal, logbuffer, trapbuffer, or SNMP, the system information is in the following format:

timestamp sysname module/level/digest: - unitid –content

 

&  Note:

l      The space, the forward slash /, and the colon are all required in the above format.

l      Before <timestamp> may have %, “#, or * followed with a space, indicating log, alarm, or debugging information respectively.

 

Below is an example of the format of log information to be output to a monitor terminal:

%Dec  6 10:44:55:283 2006 Sysname NTP/5/NTP_LOG:- 1 - NTP service enable

(“-1-“ indicates that the unit number of the device is 1.)

l           If the output destination is loghost, the switch and the log host use the syslog protocol. The system information is in the following format according to RFC 3164 (The BSD Syslog Protocol):

<Int_16>timestamp sysname %%nnmodule/level/digest: source content

&  Note:

l      If the address of the log host is specified in the information center of the switch, when logs are generated, the switch sends the logs to the log host in the above format. For detailed information, refer to Setting to Output System Information to a Log Host.

l      There is the syslog process on the Unix or Linux platform, you can start the process to receive the logs sent from the switch; in the Windows platform, you need to install the specific software, and it will operate as the syslog host.

l      Some log host software will resolve the received information as well as its format, so that the log format displayed on the log host is different from the one described in this manual.

 

What follows is a detailed explanation of the information fields involved:

I. Int_16 (Priority)

The priority is calculated using the following formula: facility*8+severity-1, in which

l           facility (the device name) defaults to local7 with the value being 23 (the value of local6 is 22, that of local5 is 21, and so on).

l           severity (the information level) ranges from 1 to 8. Table 1-1 details the value and meaning associated with each severity.

Note that the priority field appears only when the information has been sent to the log host.

II. Timestamp

Timestamp records the time when system information is generated to allow users to check and identify system events.

Note that there is a space between the timestamp and sysname (host name) fields.

The time stamp has the following two formats.

1)         Without the universal time coordinated (UTC) time zone, the time stamp is in the format of “Mmm dd hh:mm:ss:ms yyyy”.

2)         With the UTC time zone, the time stamp is in the format of “Mmm dd hh:mm:ss:ms yyyy [GMT +|- hh:mm:ss]”.

Each field is described as follows:

l           “Mmm” represents the month, and the available values are: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, and Dec.

l           “dd” is the date, which shall follow a space if less than 10, for example, “ 7”.

l           “hh:mm:ss:ms” is the local time, where “hh” is in the 24-hour format, ranging from 00 to 23, both “mm” and ”ss” range from 00 to 59, “ms” ranges from 000 to 999. (Note that: the time stamp of the system information sent from the information center to the log host is with a precision of seconds, while that of the system information sent from the system center to the Console, monitor terminal, logbuffer, trapbuffer and the SNMP is with a precision of milliseconds.)

l           “yyyy” is the year.

l           “[GMT +|- hh:mm:ss]” is the UTC time zone, which represents the time difference with the Greenwich standard time.

Because switches in a network may distribute in different time zones, when the time displayed in the time stamps of output information is the local time on each switch, it is not so convenient for you to locate and solve problems globally. In this case, you can configure the information center to add UTC time zone to the time stamp of the output information, so that you can know the standard time when the information center processing each piece of information. That is, you can know the Greenwich standard time of each switch in the network based on the UTC record in the time stamp.

To add UTC time zone to the time stamp in the information center output information, you must:

l           Set the local time zone

l           Set the time stamp format in the output destination of the information center to date

l           Configure to add UTC time zone to the output information

After the above configuration, the UTC time zone will be displayed in the output information, like the following:

%Dec  8 10:12:21:708 2006 [GMT+08:00:00] Sysname SHELL/5/LOGIN:- 1 - VTY(1.1.0.2) in unit1 login

III. Sysname

Sysname is the system name of the local switch and defaults to “H3C”.

You can use the sysname command to modify the system name. Refer to the System Maintenance and Debugging part of this manual for details)

Note that there is a space between the sysname and module fields.

IV. %%

This field is a preamble used to identify a vendor. It is displayed only when the output destination is log host.

V. nn

This field is a version identifier of syslog. It is displayed only when the output destination is log host.

VI. Module

The module field represents the name of the module that generates system information. You can enter the info-center source ? command in system view to view the module list. Refer to Table 1-3 for module name and description.

Between “module” and “level” is a “/”.

VII. Level (Severity)

System information can be divided into eight levels based on its severity, from 1 to 8. Refer to Table 1-1 for definition and description of these severity levels. Note that there is a forward slash “/” between the level (severity) and digest fields.

VIII. Digest

The digest field is a string of up to 32 characters, outlining the system information.

Note that there is a colon between the digest and content fields.

For system information destined to the log host,

l           If the character string ends with (l), it indicates the log information

l           If the character string ends with (t), it indicates the trap information

l           If the character string ends with (d), it indicates the debugging information

IX. Source

This field indicates the source of the information, such as the source IP address of the log sender. This field is optional and is displayed only when the output destination is the log host.

X. Context

This field provides the content of the system information.

1.2  Information Center Configuration

1.2.1  Information Center Configuration Task List

Complete the following tasks to configure information center:

Task

Remarks

Configuring Synchronous Information Output

Optional

Configuring to Display the Time Stamp with the UTC Time Zone

Optional

Setting to Output System Information to the Console

Optional

Setting to Output System Information to a Monitor Terminal

Optional

Setting to Output System Information to a Log Host

Optional

Setting to Output System Information to the Trap Buffer

Optional

Setting to Output System Information to the Log Buffer

Optional

Setting to Output System Information to the SNMP NMS

Optional

 

1.2.2  Configuring Synchronous Information Output

Synchronous information output refers to the feature that if the system information such as log, trap, or debugging information is output when the user is inputting commands, the command line prompt (in command editing mode a prompt, or a [Y/N] string in interaction mode) and the input information are echoed after the output.

This feature is used in the case that your input is interrupted by a large amount of system output. With this feature enabled, the system echoes your previous input and you can continue your operations from where you were stopped.

Follow these steps to configure synchronous information output:

To do…

Use the command…

Remarks

Enter system view

system-view

Enable synchronous information output

info-center synchronous

Required

Disabled by default

 

&  Note:

l      If the system information is output before you input any information following the current command line prompt, the system does not echo any command line prompt after the system information output.

l      In the interaction mode, you are prompted for some information input. If the input is interrupted by system output, no system prompt (except the Y/N string) will be echoed after the output, but your input will be displayed in a new line.

 

1.2.3  Configuring to Display the Time Stamp with the UTC Time Zone

To add UTC time zone to the time stamp in the information center output information, you must:

l           Set the local time zone

l           Set the time stamp format in the output direction of the information center to date

l           Configure to add the UTC time zone to the output information

Follow these steps to configure to display time stamp with the UTC time zone:

To do…

Use the command…

Remarks

Set the time zone for the system

clock timezone zone-name { add | minus } time

Required

By default, UTC time zone is set for the system.

Enter system view

system-view

Set the time stamp format in the output direction of the information center to date

Log host direction

info-center timestamp loghost date

Required

Use either command

Non log host direction

info-center timestamp { log | trap | debugging } date

Set to display the UTC time zone in the output information of the information center

info-center timestamp utc

Required

By default, no UTC time zone is displayed in the output information

 

1.2.4  Setting to Output System Information to the Console

I. Setting to output system information to the console

Follow these steps to set to output system information to the console:

To do…

Use the command…

Remarks

Enter system view

system-view

Enable the information center

info-center enable

Optional

Enabled by default.

Enable system information output to the console

info-center console channel { channel-number | channel-name }

Optional

By default, the switch uses information channel 0 to output log/debugging/trap information to the console.

Configure the output rules of system information

info-center source { modu-name | default } channel { channel-number | channel-name } [ { log | trap | debug } { level severity | state state } ]*

Optional

Refer to Table 1-4 for the default output rules of system information.

Set the format of time stamp in the output information

info-center timestamp { log | trap | debugging } { boot | date | none }

Optional

By default, the time stamp format of the log and trap output information is date, and that of the debugging output information is boot.

 

&  Note:

To view the debugging information of some modules on the switch, you need to set the type of the output information to debug when configuring the system information output rules, and use the debugging command to enable debugging for the corresponding modules.

 

Table 1-4 Default output rules for different output directions

Output direction

Modules allowed