Information center configuration· 1

Information center overview·· 1

Introduction to information center 1

Classification of system information· 2

System information levels 2

System information channels and output destinations 3

Outputting system information by source module· 4

Default output rules of system information· 4

System information format 5

Configuring information center 8

Information center configuration task list 8

Outputting system information to the console· 8

Outputting system information to a monitor terminal 9

Outputting system information to a log host 10

Outputting system information to the trap buffer 11

Outputting system information to the log buffer 12

Outputting system information to the SNMP module· 12

Outputting system information to the web interface· 13

Saving system information to a log file· 14

Configuring synchronous information output 15

Disabling a port from generating link up/down logging information· 16

Displaying and maintaining information center 16

Information center configuration examples 17

Outputting log information to a UNIX log host 17

Outputting log information to a Linux log host 19

Outputting log information to the console· 20

 

This chapter includes these sections:

·          Information center configuration

·          Configuring information center

·          Displaying and maintaining information center

·          Information center configuration examples

 

 

Information center overview

Introduction to information center

The information center classifies and manages system information, offering powerful support for network administrators and developers to monitor network performance and troubleshoot network problems.

The following describes the working process of information center:

·          Receives the log, trap, and debugging information generated by each module.

·          Outputs the above information to different information channels according to user-defined output rules.

·          Outputs information to different destinations based on the information channel-to-destination associations.

To sum up, information center assigns the log, trap and debugging information to the 10 information channels according to the eight severity levels and then outputs the information to different destinations. The following describes the working process in detail.

Figure 1 Information center diagram

 

 

Classification of system information

The system information of the information center falls into three types:

·          Log information

·          Trap information

·          Debugging information

System information levels

The information is classified into eight levels by severity. The severity levels, in descending order are emergency, alert, critical, error, warning, notice, informational and debug. When system information is output by level, information with severity level higher than or equal to the specified level is output. For example, in the output rule, if you configure to output information with severity level being informational, the information with severity level being emergency through informational will be output.

Table 1 Severity description

 

System information channels and output destinations

Table 2 shows the supported information channels and output destinations.

The system supports ten channels. By default, channels 0 through 6, and channel 9 are configured with channel names, output rules, and are associated with output destinations. The channel names, output rules and the associations between the channels and output destinations can be changed through commands. Besides, you can configure channels 7, and 8 without changing the default configuration of the eight channels.

Table 2 Information channels and output destinations

 

 

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.

Default output rules of system information

The default output rules define the source modules allowed to output information on each output destination, the output information type, and the output information level as shown in Table 3, which indicates that by default and in terms of all modules:

·          All log information is allowed to be output to the web interface and log file. Log information with severity level equal to or higher than informational is allowed to be output to the log host. Log information with severity level equal to or higher than informational is allowed to be output to the console, monitor terminal, and log buffer. Log information is not allowed to be output to the trap buffer and the SNMP module.

·          All trap information is allowed to be output to the console, monitor terminal, log host, web interface, and log file. Trap information with severity level equal to or higher than informational is allowed to be output to the trap buffer and SNMP module. Trap information is not allowed to be output to the log buffer.

·          All debugging information is allowed to be output to the console and monitor terminal. Debugging information is not allowed to be output to the log host, trap buffer, log buffer, the SNMP module, web interface, and log file.

Table 3 Default output rules for different output destinations

 

System information format

The format of system information varies with the output destinations.

1.        If the output destination is not the log host (such as console, monitor terminal, logbuffer, trapbuffer, SNMP, or log file), the system information is in the following format:

timestamp sysname module/level/digest:content

For example, a monitor terminal connects to the device. When a terminal logs in to the device, the log information in the following format is displayed on the monitor terminal:

%Jun 26 17:08:35:809 2008 Sysname SHELL/4/LOGIN: VTY login from 1.1.1.1

2.        If the output destination is the log host, the system information is in one of the following formats:

·          H3C format

<PRI>timestamp sysname %%vvmodule/level/digest: source content

For example, if a log host is connected to the device, when a terminal logs in to the device, the following log information is displayed on the log host:

<189>Oct 9 14:59:04 2009 MyDevice %%10SHELL/5/SHELL_LOGIN(l):VTY logged in from 192.168.1.21.

·          UNICOM format

<PRI>timestamp sysname vvmodule/level/serial_number: content

 

 

What follows is a detailed explanation of the fields involved:

PRI (priority)

The priority is calculated using the following formula: facility*8+severity, in which facility represents the logging facility name and can be configured when you set the log host parameters. The facility ranges from local0 to local7 (16 to 23 in decimal integers) and defaults to local7. The facility is mainly used to mark different log sources on the log host, query and filter the logs of the corresponding log source. Severity ranges from 0 to 7. Table 1 details the value and meaning associated with each severity.

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

timestamp

Times tamp records the time when system information is generated to allow users to check and identify system events. The time stamp of the system information sent from the information center to the log host is with a precision of milliseconds. The time stamp format of the system information sent to the log host is configured with the info-center timestamp loghost command, and that of the system information sent to the other destinations is configured with the info-center timestamp command. For the detailed description of the time stamp parameters, see the following table:

Table 4 Description on the time stamp parameters

 

Sysname (host name or host IP address)

·          If the system information is sent to a log host in the format of UNICOM, and the info-center loghost source command is configured, the field is displayed as the IP address of the device that generates the system information.

·          In other cases (when the system information is sent to a log host in the format of H3C, or sent to other destinations), the field is displayed as the name of the device that generates the system information, namely, the system name of the device. You can use the sysname command to modify the system name. For more information, see the Fundamentals Command Reference.

%% (vendor ID)

This field indicates that the information is generated by an H3C device. It is displayed only when the system information is sent to a log host in the format of H3C.

vv

This field is a version identifier of syslog, with a value of 10. It is displayed only when the output destination is log host.

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.

level (severity)

System information can be divided into eight levels based on its severity, from 0 to 7. See Table 1 for definition and description of these severity levels. The levels of system information generated by modules are predefined by developers, and you cannot change the system information levels. However, with the info-center source command, you can configure to output information of the specified level and not to output information lower than the specified level.

digest

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

For system information destined to the log host:

·          If the character string ends with (l), the information is log information

·          If the character string ends with (t), the information is trap information

·          If the character string ends with (d), the information is debugging information

For system information destined to other destinations:

·          If the time stamp starts with a %, the information is log information

·          If the time stamp starts with a #, the information is trap information

·          If the time stamp starts with a *, the information is debugging information

serial number

This field indicates the serial number of the device that generates the system information. It is displayed only when the system information is sent to a log host in the format of UNICOM.

source

This field indicates the source of the information. It is optional and is displayed only when the system information is sent to a log host in the format of H3C.

content

This field provides the content of the system information.

Configuring information center

Information center configuration task list

Complete the following tasks to configure information center:

 

Outputting system information to the console

Outputting system information to the console

 

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:

 

Outputting 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 VTY user interface.

Outputting system information to a monitor terminal

 

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:

 

Outputting system information to a log host

 

Outputting system information to the trap buffer

 

 

 

Outputting system information to the log buffer

 

 

 

Outputting system information to the SNMP module

 

 

To monitor the device running status, trap information is usually sent to the SNMP network management station (NMS). In this case, you need to configure to send traps to the SNMP module, and then set the trap sending parameters for the SNMP module to further process traps. For more information, see the chapter “SNMP configuration.”

Follow these steps to configure to output system information to the SNMP module:

 

Outputting system information to the web interface

This feature allows you to control whether to output system information to the web interface and which system information can be output to the web interface. The web interface provides abundant search and sorting functions; therefore, if you configure to output the system information to the web interface, you can view system information by clicking corresponding tabs after logging in to the device through the web interface.

Follow these steps to set to output system information to the web interface:

 

 

Saving system information to a log file

This feature enables the device to save generated log information to a specified directory at a specified interval.

Logs are saved into the log file buffer. The system writes the logs from the log file buffer to the log file at the specified interval, which is usually set to 24 hours. You can also manually save the logs when the device is not busy. After the logs in the log file buffer are saved into the log file successfully, the system clears the log file buffer.

On devices that support a single log file: The log file has a specific capacity. When the capacity is reached, the system will delete the earliest messages and write new messages into the log file. Typically, the log file is saved in the directory /logfile/logfile.log.

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

 

 

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 debugging 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:

 

 

Disabling a port from generating link up/down logging information

By default, all the ports of the device generate link up/down logging information when the port state changes. You may want to disable specific ports from generating such information in some cases, for example:

·          You are only concerned with the states of some ports. In this case, you can use this function to disable other ports from generating link up/down logging information.

·          A port is unstable, and continuously outputs logging information. In this case, you can disable the port from generating link up/down logging information.

Follow these steps to disable a port from generating link up/down logging information:

 

 

Displaying and maintaining information center

Information center configuration examples

Outputting log information to a UNIX log host

Network requirements

·          Send log information to a UNIX log host with an IP address of 1.2.0.1/16;

·          Log information with severity higher than or equal to informational will be output to the log host;

·          The source modules are ARP and IP.

Figure 2 Network diagram for outputting log information to a UNIX log host

 

Configuration procedure

Before the configuration, make sure that there is a route between Device and PC.

1.        Configure the device

# Enable information center.

<Sysname> system-view

[Sysname] info-center enable

# Specify the host with IP address 1.2.0.1/16 as the log host, use channel loghost to output log information (optional, loghost by default), and use local4 as the logging facility.

[Sysname] info-center loghost 1.2.0.1 channel loghost facility local4

# Disable the output of log, trap, and debugging information of all modules on channel loghost.

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

 

 

# Configure the information output rule: allow log information of ARP and IP modules with severity equal to or higher than informational to be output to the log host.

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

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

2.        Configure 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: Log in to the log host as a root user.

Step 2: Create a subdirectory named Device under directory /var/log/, and create file info.log under the Device directory to save logs of Device.

# mkdir /var/log/Device

# touch /var/log/Device/info.log

Step 3: Edit file /etc/syslog.conf and add the following contents.

# Device configuration messages

local4.info    /var/log/Device/info.log

In the above configuration, local4 is the name of the logging facility used by the log host to receive logs. info is the information level. The UNIX system will record the log information with severity level equal to or higher than informational to file /var/log/Device/info.log.

 

 

Step 4: After log file info.log is created and file /etc/syslog.conf is modified, you need to issue the following commands to display the process ID of syslogd, kill the syslogd process and then restart syslogd using the –r option to make the modified configuration take effect.

# ps -ae | grep syslogd

147

# kill -HUP 147

# syslogd -r &

After the above configurations, the system will be able to record log information into the log file.

Outputting log information to a Linux log host

Network requirements

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

·          Log information with severity equal to or higher than informational will be output to the log host;

·          All modules can output log information.

Figure 3 Network diagram for outputting log information to a Linux log host

 

Configuration procedure

Before the configuration, make sure that there is a route between Device and PC.

1.        Configure the device

# Enable information center.

<Sysname> system-view

[Sysname] info-center enable

# Specify the host with IP address 1.2.0.1/16 as the log host, use channel loghost to output log information (optional, loghost by default), and use local5 as the logging facility.

[Sysname] info-center loghost 1.2.0.1 channel loghost facility local5

# Disable the output of log, trap, and debugging information of all modules on channel loghost.

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

 

 

# Configure the information output rule: allow log information of all modules with severity equal to or higher than informational to be output to the log host.

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

2.        Configure the log host

Step 1: Log in to the log host as a root user.

Step 2: Create a subdirectory named Device under directory /var/log/, and create file info.log under the Device directory to save logs of Device.

# mkdir /var/log/Device

# touch /var/log/Device/info.log

Step 3: Edit file /etc/syslog.conf and add the following contents.

# Device configuration messages

local5.info    /var/log/Device/info.log

In the above configuration, local5 is the name of the logging facility used by the log host to receive logs. info is the information level. The Linux system will record the log information with severity level equal to or higher than informational to file /var/log/Device/info.log.

 

 

Step 4: After log file info.log is created and file /etc/syslog.conf is modified, you need to issue the following commands to display the process ID of syslogd, kill the syslogd process, and restart syslogd using the -r option to make the modified configuration take effect.

# ps -ae | grep syslogd

147

# kill -9 147

# syslogd -r &

 

 

After the above configurations, the system will be able to record log information into the log file.

Outputting log information to the console

Network requirements

·          Log information with a severity equal to or higher than informational will be output to the console;

·          The source modules are ARP and IP.

Figure 4 Network diagram for sending log information to the console

 

Configuration procedure

# Enable information center.

<Sysname> system-view

[Sysname] info-center enable

# Use channel console 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 on channel console.

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

 

 

# Configure the information output rule: allow log information of ARP and IP modules with severity equal to or higher than informational to be output to the console.

[Sysname] info-center source arp channel console log level informational state on

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

[Sysname] quit

# Enable the display of log information on a terminal. (Optional, this function is enabled by default.)

<Sysname> terminal monitor

Info: Current terminal monitor is on.

<Sysname> terminal logging

Info: 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 displays the information.