Chassis Fanpack Test

The IBM BladeCenter Chassis comes with four hot-swappable fan modules (fan packs). The fan modules are designed to provide cooling airflow to the chassis and other modules. Each fan module contains two fans. These fan modules ensure that the temperature of the target chassis is within a permissible level. If any of the fan modules are not working properly or become unavailable suddenly, then the temperature of the chassis cannot be automatically regulated. This may cause the internal temperature of the chassis to rise uncontrollably, resulting in considerable damage to the modules in the chassis. This is why, the availability of the fan modules should be verified time and again, and abnormalities (if any) should be escalated to administrators. This is exactly what the Chassis Fanpack test does!

This test auto-discovers the fan modules of the target chassis and reports the availability and current status of each fan module. In addition, the test also checks the number of fans in each fan module and the average speed of the fan modules. This way, it turns the spotlight on those fan modules that are not operating within the permissible range.

Target of the test : An IBM BladeCenter Chassis

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each fan module in the BladeCenter chassis being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the host for which this test is to be configured.

Port

The port at which the device listens. By default, this will be NULL.

SNMPPort

The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; The default value is 161.

SNMPVersion

By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

SNMPCommunity

The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the target host. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.

UserName

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter. 

Context

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box.  By default, this parameter is set to none.

AuthPass

Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned UserName. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.

Confirm Password

Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.

AuthType

This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

  • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm
  • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm
  • SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit
  • SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit
  • SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit
  • SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit

EncryptFlag

This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option. 

EncryptType

If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

  • DES - Data Encryption Standard
  • 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard
  • AES - Advanced Encryption Standard
  • AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit
  • AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit
  • AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit

EncryptPassword

Specify the encryption password here.

Confirm Password

Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.

Timeout

Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.

Data Over TCP

By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

Engine ID

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Is exist?

Indicates whether this fan module exists or not.

 

The values that this measure can report and the numeric values they indicate have been listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Yes 1
No 0

Note:

By default, this measure can report the Measure Values mentioned above indicating whether each fan module exists or not. However, the graph of this measure is indicated using the numeric equivalents.

State

Indicates the current status of this fan module.

 

The values that this measure can report and the numeric values they indicate have been listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Unknown 0
Good 1
Warning 2
Bad 3

Note:

By default, this measure can report the Measure Values mentioned above while indicating the current status of each fan module. However, the graph of this measure is indicated using the numeric equivalents.

Controller state

Indicates the current status of controller of this fan module.

  

The values that this measure can report and the numeric values they indicate have been listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Operational 0
Flashing 1
Not present 2
Communication error 3
Unknown 255

Note:

By default, this measure can report the Measure Values mentioned above while indicating the current status of the controller of each fan module. However, the graph of this measure is indicated using the numeric equivalents.

Fan Count

Indicates the number of fans in this fan module.

Number

  

Average speed

Indicates the average speed that this fan module can operate.

Rpm

The value of this measure should be within the permissible range. It is a cause for concern if the permissible range is violated for any reason.