Troubleshooting Fibre Channel connectivity issue using HBA proc nodes

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to troubleshoot Fibre Channel connectivity issue using HBA proc nodes.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5

Resolution

To troubleshoot the Fibre Channel connectivity issue using HBA proc nodes:

1. Log in to the VMware ESX host as the root user.
2. Navigate to the directory in which the proc node is located.
   
   Notes: The directory can change according to the HBA brand, driver or ESXi version:
    
   • For QLogic: /proc/scsi/qla2xxx/
   • For Emulex: /proc/scsi/lpfc/
   • For ESXi 5.5 and later, you cannot see the native driver in the /proc nodes. To view the native driver, run this command:
     
     /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmgmt_keyval/vmkmgmt_keyval -a | less
      
3. Identify the SCSI device information section.
   
   Note: These sections belong to the HBA installed in your ESXi host. Two lines are provided.
   
   For example:
   
   scsi-qla0-adapter-node=2000001b328xxxxxx:020400:0
   scsi-qla0-adapter-port=2100001b328xsxxxx:020400:0
   
   Notes:
   • The adapter node 2000001b328xxxxx is the WWNN of the HBA.
   • The adapter port 2100001b3283xxxxx is the WWPN of the HBA.
   • The switch domain ID in which the physical HBA is connected to is 02.
   • The port area ID in which the physical HBA is connected to is 04.
      
4. Identify the FC Target-Port List section.
   
   For example:
   
   scsi-qla0-target-0=5000xxxxxxxb2600:020e00:2:Online
   scsi-qla0-target-1=5000xxxxxxxb2600:020700:3:Online
   
   Notes: The preceding information belongs to:
    
   • The array WWPN.
   • The Switch Fabric switch domain ID + Port area ID.
   
   From the preceding information, you can see that the HBA reaches the target on WWPN 5000xxxxxxx2600 using the switch domain ID 02 and the port area ID 0e.
   
   The port area ID is in hexadecimal, so use a converter to decimal in order to find the port ID.
   
   The last two bytes belong to the Arbitrated Loop Physical Address.

 

     5. From "vmkmgmt_keyval -a", a snip of the following physical stats can tell us the fabric health which detected by the HBA firmware. i.e. [LinkFailCount;LossofSync;InvalidTXword, etc]

             Physical Port Statistics....
            Seconds Since Last Reset       3098961xx
            Word1 Bits:                    x20000002
            LinkFailCount                  43
           LossofSyncCount                46
           LossofSignalCount              3
           Primitive Seq Protocol Err Cnt 0
           InvalidTxWordCount             110
           InvalidCRCCount                0