Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Information Center Configuration. 1-1

1.1 Information Center Overview. 1-1

1.1.1 Introduction to Information Center 1-1

1.1.2 System Information Format 1-3

1.2 Configuring Information Center 1-5

1.2.1 Setting to Output System Information to the Console. 1-5

1.2.2 Setting to Output System Information to a Monitor Terminal 1-7

1.2.3 Setting to Output System Information to a Log Host 1-9

1.2.4 Setting to Output System Information to the Trap Buffer 1-9

1.2.5 Setting to Output System Information to the Log Buffer 1-10

1.2.6 Setting to Output System Information to the SNMP NMS. 1-11

1.2.7 Setting to Save System Information to a Log File. 1-12

1.2.8 Configuring Synchronous Information Output 1-13

1.3 Displaying and Maintaining Information Center 1-14

1.4 Information Center Configuration Examples. 1-15

1.4.1 Outputting Log Information to a Unix Log Host 1-15

1.4.2 Outputting Log Information to a Linux Log Host 1-17

1.4.3 Outputting Log Information to the Console. 1-19

 

Chapter 1  Information Center Configuration

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

l           Information Center Overview

l           Configuring Information Center

l           Displaying and Maintaining Information Center

l           Information Center Configuration Examples

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 functionality, 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 system 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. The more emergent the information, the smaller the severity level.

Table 1-1 Severity description

Severity	Severity value	Description
emergencies	0	The system is unavailable.
alerts	1	Information that demands prompt reaction
critical	2	Critical information
errors	3	Error information
warnings	4	Warnings
notifications	5	Normal errors with important information
informational	6	Informational information to be recorded
debugging	7	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 0, only information with the severity being emergencies will be output;

l           If the threshold is set to 7, information of all severities will be output.

III. Ten channels and seven output destinations of system information

The system supports seven information output destinations, including the Console, console terminal (monitor), logbuffer, loghost, trapbuffer, SNMP and logfile.

The system can support ten channels. The channels 0 through 5, and channel 9 have their default channel names and are associated with seven output destinations by default. Both the names of the routers and the associations between the channels and output destinations can be changed through commands.

Table 1-2 Information channels and output destinations

Information channel number	Default channel name	Default output destination
0	console	Console (Receives log, trap and debug information)
1	monitor	Monitor terminal (Receives log, trap and debug information, facilitating remote maintenance)
2	loghost	Log host (Receives log, trap and debug information and information will be stored in files for future retrieval.)
3	trapbuffer	Trap buffer (Receives trap information, a buffer inside the router for recording information.)
4	logbuffer	Log buffer (Receives log information, a buffer inside the router for recording information.)
5	snmpagent	SNMP NMS (Receives trap information)
6	Not specified	Not specified (Receives log, trap, and debugging information)
7	Not specified	Not specified (Receives log, trap, and debugging information)
8	Not specified	Not specified (Receives log, trap, and debugging information)
9	channel9	Log file (Receives log, trap, and debugging information)

 

 

IV. Outputting system information by source module

The system is composed of a variety of protocol modules, board drivers, and configuration modules. The system information can be classified, filtered, and output according to source modules. You can use the info-center source ? command to view the supported information source 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 ten information channels to the seven output destinations.

1.1.2  System Information Format

System information has the following format:

<priority>timestamp sysname module/level/digest:content

 

 

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

% <188>Sep 28 15:33:46:235 2005 H3C SHELL/5/LOGIN: Console login from con0

What follows is a detailed explanation of the fields involved:

I. Priority

The priority is calculated using the following formula: facility*8+severity, in which facility is local7 by default and the range of severity is 0 to 7. Table 1-1 details the value and meaning associated with each severity.

Note that there is no space between the priority and timestamp fields and that the priority takes effect 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 timestamp is in the format of Mmm dd hh:mm:ss yyyy, where

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” is the local time, where “hh” is in the 24-hour format, ranging from 00 to 23, and both “mm” and ”ss” range from 00 to 59.

l           “yyyy” is the year.

III. Sysname

Sysname is the system name of the current host. You can use the sysname command to modify the sysname. (Refer to Basic System Configuration Commands in the System Volume for details)

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

IV. 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.

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

V. Level (Severity)

System information can be divided into eight levels based on its severity, from 0 to 7. Refer to Table 1-1 for definition and description of these severity levels. Note that there is a forward slash between the levels (severity) and digest fields.

VI. 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.

VII. Content

This field provides the content of the system information.

1.2  Configuring Information Center

1.2.1  Setting to Output System Information to the Console

I. Setting to output system information to the console

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enter system view	system-view	—
Enable information center	info-center enable	Optional Enabled by default
Name the channel with a specified channel number	info-center channel channel-number name channel-name	Optional
Configure the channel through which system information can be output to the console	info-center console channel { channel-number | channel-name }	Optional System information is output to the console by default, with channel 0 as the default channel.
Configure the information source for an information channel.	info-center source { module-name | default } channel { channel-number | channel-name } [ debug { level severity | state state } * | log { level severity | state state } * | trap { level severity | state state } * ] *	Required Refer to Table 1-3 for the default output rules of system information.
Configure the format of the time stamp	info-center timestamp { log | trap | debugging } { boot | date | none }	Optional The time stamp format for log, trap and debugging information is date by default.

 

Table 1-3 Default output rules for different output destinations

Output destination	Modules allowed	LOG		TRAP		DEBUG
		Enabled/disabled	Severity	Enabled/disabled	Severity	Enabled/disabled	Severity
Console	default (all modules)	Enabled	warnings	Enabled	debugging	Enabled	debugging
Monitoring terminal	default (all modules)	Enabled	warnings	Enabled	debugging	Enabled	debugging
Log host	default (all modules)	Enabled	informational	Enabled	debugging	Disabled	debugging
Trap buffer	default (all modules)	Disabled	informational	Enabled	warnings	Disabled	debugging
Log buffer	default (all modules)	Enabled	warnings	Disabled	debugging	Disabled	debugging
SNMP NMS	default (all modules)	Disabled	debugging	Enabled	warnings	Disabled	debugging
Log file	default (all modules)	Enabled	debugging	Enabled	debugging	Disabled	debugging

 

II. Enabling the display of system information on the console

After setting to output system information to the console, you need to enable the associated display function to display the output information on the console.

Follow these steps in user view to enable the display of system information on the console:

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enable the monitoring of system information on the console	terminal monitor	Optional Enabled on the console and disabled on the monitor terminal by default.
Enable the display of debugging information on the console	terminal debugging	Required Disabled by default
Enable the display of log information on the console	terminal logging	Optional Enabled by default
Enable the display of trap information on the console	terminal trapping	Optional Enabled by default

 

1.2.2  Setting to Output System Information to a Monitor Terminal

System information can also be output to a monitor terminal, which is a user terminal that has login connections through the AUX, VTY, or TTY user interface.

I. Setting to output system information to a monitor terminal

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enter system view	system-view	—
Enable information center	info-center enable	Optional Enabled by default
Name the channel with a specified channel number	info-center channel channel-number name channel-name	Optional Refer to Table 1-2 for default channel names.
Configure the channel through which system information can be output to a monitor terminal	info-center monitor channel { channel-number | channel-name }	Optional System information is output to the monitor terminal by default with channel 1 as the default channel.
Configure the information source for an information channel	info-center source { module-name | default } channel { channel-number | channel-name } [ debug { level severity | state state } * | log { level severity | state state } * | trap { level severity | state state } * ] *	Required
Configure the format of the time stamp	info-center timestamp { log | trap | debugging } { boot | date | none }	Optional By default, the time stamp format for log, trap and debugging information is date.

 

II. Enabling the display of system information on a monitor terminal

After setting to output system information to a monitor terminal, you need to enable the associated display function in order to display the output information on the monitor terminal.

Follow these steps to enable the display of system information on a monitor terminal:

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enable the monitoring of system information on a monitor terminal	terminal monitor	Required Enabled on the console and disabled on the monitor terminal by default.
Enable the display of debugging information on a monitor terminal	terminal debugging	Required Disabled by default
Enable the display of log information on a monitor terminal	terminal logging	Optional Enabled by default
Enable the display of trap information on a monitor terminal	terminal trapping	Optional Enabled by default

 

1.2.3  Setting to Output System Information to a Log Host

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enter system view	system-view	—
Enable information center	info-center enable	Optional Enabled by default
Name the channel with a specified channel number	info-center channel channel-number name channel-name	Optional Refer to Table 1-2 for default channel names.
Specify a log host and configure the parameters when system information is output to the log host	info-center loghost host-ip [ channel { channel-number | channel-name } | facility local-number ] *	Required By default, the system does not output information to a log host. If you specify to output system information to a log host, the system uses channel 2 (loghost) by default.
Configure the source interface through which log information can be output to a log host	info-center loghost source interface-type interface-number	Optional No source interface is configured by default, and the system selects an interface as the source interface.
Configure the information source for an information channel	info-center source { module-name | default } channel { channel-number | channel-name } [ debug { level severity | state state } * | log { level severity | state state } * | trap { level severity | state state } * ] *	Required
Configure the format of the time stamp for log information	info-center timestamp loghost { date | no-year-date | none }	Optional date by default.

 

1.2.4  Setting to Output System Information to the Trap Buffer

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enter system view	system-view	—
Enable information center	info-center enable	Optional Enabled by default
Name the channel with a specified channel number	info-center channel channel-number name channel-name	Optional Refer to Table 1-2 for default channel names.
Configure the channel through which system information can be output to the trap buffer and specify the buffer size	info-center trapbuffer [ channel { channel-number | channel-name } | size buffersize ] *	Optional System information is output to the trap buffer by default with a default channel of channel 3 (known as trapbuffer) and a default buffer size of 256.
Configure the information source for an information channel	info-center source { module-name | default } channel { channel-number | channel-name } [ debug { level severity | state state } * | log { level severity | state state } * | trap { level severity | state state } * ] *	Required
Configure the format of the time stamp	info-center timestamp { log | trap | debugging } { boot | date | none }	Optional The time stamp format for log, trap and debugging information is date by default.

 

1.2.5  Setting to Output System Information to the Log Buffer

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enter system view	system-view	—
Enable information center	info-center enable	Optional Enabled by default.
Name the channel with a specified channel number	info-center channel channel-number name channel-name	Optional Refer to Table 1-2 for default channel names.
Configure the channel through which system information can be output to the log buffer and specify the buffer size	info-center logbuffer [ channel { channel-number | channel-name } | size buffersize ] *	Optional System information is output to the log buffer by default with a default channel of channel 4 (known as logbuffer) and a default buffer size of 512.
Configure the information source for an information channel	info-center source { module-name | default } channel { channel-number | channel-name } [ debug { level severity | state state } * | log { level severity | state state } * | trap { level severity | state state } * ] *	Required
Configure the format of the timestamp	info-center timestamp { log | trap | debugging } { boot | date | none }	Optional The time stamp format for log, trap and debugging information is date by default.

 

1.2.6  Setting to Output System Information to the SNMP NMS

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enter system view	system-view	—
Enable information center	info-center enable	Optional Enabled by default
Name the channel with a specified channel number	info-center channel channel-number name channel-name	Optional Refer to Table 1-2 for default channel names.
Configure the channel through which system information can be output to the SNMP NMS	info-center snmp channel { channel-number | channel-name }	Optional System information is output to the SNMP NMS by default with channel 5 (known as snmpagent) as the default channel.
Configure the information source for an information channel	info-center source { module-name | default } channel { channel-number | channel-name } [ debug { level severity | state state } * | log { level severity | state state } * | trap { level severity | state state } * ] *	Required
Configure the format of the timestamp	info-center timestamp { log | trap | debugging } { boot | date | none }	Optional The time stamp format for log, trap and debugging information is date by default.

 

 

1.2.7  Setting to Save System Information to a Log File

With the log file feature enabled, the log information generated by system can be saved to a specified directory with a predefined frequency. This allows you to check the operation history at any time to ensure that the device functions properly.

Follow these steps to set to save system information to a log file:

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Enter system view	system-view	—
Enable the log file feature	info-center logfile enable	Optional Enabled by default
Configure the frequency with which the log file is saved	info-center logfile frequency freq-sec	Optional The default value varies with devices.
Configure the maximum storage space reserved for a log file	info-center logfile size-quota size	Optional
Configure the directory to save the log file	info-center logfile switch-directory dir-name	Optional By default, it is the logfile directory under the root directory of the memory device, which varies with devices.
Manually save the log buffer content to the log file	logfile save	Optional Available in any view By default, the system saves the log file with the frequency defined by the info-center logfile frequency command.

 

 

1.2.8  Configuring Synchronous Information Output

Synchronous information output refers to the feature that if the user’s input is interrupted by system output such as log, trap, or debug information, then after the completion of system output the system will display a command line prompt (a prompt in command editing mode, or a [Y/N] string in interaction mode) and your input so far.

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

Follow these steps to enable 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

 

 

1.3  Displaying and Maintaining Information Center

To do…	Use the command…	Remarks
Display channel information for a specified channel	display channel [ channel-number | channel-name ]	Available in any view
Display the configurations for all information channels except channel 6 to 8	display info-center	Available in any view
Display the state of the log buffer and the log information recorded	display logbuffer [ level severity | size buffersize | slot slot number ] * [ | { begin | exclude | include } text ]	Available in any view
Display a summary of the log buffer	display logbuffer summary [ level severity | slot slotnum ] *	Available in any view
Display the content of the log file buffer	display logfile buffer	Available in any view
Display the configuration of the log file	display logfile summary	Available in any view
Display the state of the trap buffer and the trap information recorded	display trapbuffer [ size buffersize ]	Available in any view
Reset the log buffer	reset logbuffer	Available in user view
Reset the trap buffer	reset trapbuffer	Available in user view

 

1.4  Information Center Configuration Examples

1.4.1  Outputting Log Information to a Unix Log Host

I. Network requirements

l           Send log information to a Unix log host with an IP address of 1.2.0.1/16;

l           Log information with severity higher than informational will be output to the log host;

l           The source modules are ARP and IP.

II. Network diagram

Figure 1-1 Network diagram for outputting log information to a Unix log host

III. Configuration procedure

1)         Configuring the device

# Enable information center.

<Sysname> system-view

[Sysname] info-center enable

# Specify the channel to output log information to the log host (loghost by default, optional).

[Sysname] info-center loghost 1.2.0.1 channel loghost

# Disable the output of log, trap, and debugging information of all modules to the log host.

[Sysname] info-center source default channel loghost debug state off log state off trap state off

 

 

# Set the host with an IP address of 1.2.0.1/16 to be the log host, set the severity to informational and the source modules to ARP and IP. (Note that the source modules vary with devices.).

[Sysname] info-center loghost 1.2.0.1 facility local4

[Sysname] info-center source arp channel loghost log level informational

[Sysname] info-center source ip channel loghost log level informational

2)         Configuring the log host

The following configurations were performed on SunOS 4.0 which has similar configurations to the Unix operating systems implemented by other vendors.

Step 1: issue the following commands as a root user.

# mkdir /var/log/H3C

# touch /var/log/H3C/information

Step 2: Edit the file /etc/syslog.conf as a root user and add the following selector/action pair.

# H3C configuration messages

local4.info    /var/log/H3C/information

 

 

Step three: after the log file information has been created and the configuration file /etc/syslog.conf has been modified, ensure that the configuration file /etc/syslog.conf is reread:

# ps -ae | grep syslogd

147

# kill -HUP 147

After the above configurations, the system will be able to keep log information in the related file.

1.4.2  Outputting Log Information to a Linux Log Host

I. Network requirements

l           Send log information to a Linux log host with an IP address of 1.2.0.1/16;

l           Log information with severity higher than informational will be output to the log host;

l           All modules can output log information.

II. Network diagram

Figure 1-2 Network diagram for outputting log information to a Linux log host

III. Configuration procedure

1)         Configuring the device

# Enable information center.

<Sysname> system-view

[Sysname] info-center enable

# Specify the channel to output log information to the log host (optional, loghost by default).

[Sysname] info-center loghost 1.2.0.1 channel loghost

# Disable the output of log, trap, and debugging information of all modules to the log host.

[Sysname] info-center source default channel loghost debug state off log state off trap state off

 

 

# Set the host with an IP address of 1.2.0.1/16 to be the log host, set the severity to informational and the source modules to be all modules.

[Sysname] info-center loghost 1.2.0.1 facility local7

[Sysname] info-center source default channel loghost log level informational

2)         Configuring the log host

Step 1: issue the following commands as a root user.

# mkdir /var/log/H3C

# touch /var/log/H3C/information

Step 2: Edit the file /etc/syslog.conf as a root user and add the following selector/action pair.

# H3C configuration messages

local7.info    /var/log/H3C/information

 

 

Step three: after the log file information has been created and the /etc/syslog.conf file has been modified, issue the following commands to display the process ID of syslogd, terminate a syslogd process, and restart syslogd using the -r option.

# ps -ae | grep syslogd

147

# kill -9 147

# syslogd -r &

 

 

After the above configurations, the system will be able to keep log information in the related file.

1.4.3  Outputting Log Information to the Console

I. Network requirements

l           Log information with a severity higher than informational will be output to the console;

l           The source modules are ARP and IP.

II. Network diagram

Figure 1-3 Network diagram for sending log information to the console

III. Configuration procedure

# Enable information center.

<Sysname> system-view

[Sysname] info-center enable

# Specify the channel to output log information to the console (optional, Console by default).

[Sysname] info-center console channel console

# Disable the output of log, trap, and debugging information of all modules to the log host.

[Sysname] info-center source default channel console debug state off log state off trap state off

 

 

# Enable system information output for the ARP and IP modules, with information severity ranging from emergencies to informational.

[Sysname] info-center source ARP channel console log level informational

[Sysname] info-center source ip channel console log level informational

[Sysname] quit

# Enable the display of log information on a monitor terminal.

<Sysname> terminal monitor

% Current terminal monitor is on

<Sysname> terminal logging

% Current terminal logging is on

After the above configuration takes effect, if the specified module generates log information, the information center automatically sends the log information to the console, which then displays the information.