Brocade SAN Switches

[Louann Duchemin]

Can you explain the meaning of what encoding error outside of frames is?

[Volker Halle]

Louann,

from http://www.hp-store.com/PD_01323--003.aspx (SAN Switch Fabric Operating System Management Guide):

er_enc_out Receive link: The number of 8b/10b encoding errors recorded outside frame
boundaries. This number can become nonzero during link initialization but
indicates a problem if it increments faster than the allowed link-bit error rate
(approximately once every 20 minutes).


Volker.

[Louann Duchemin]

Thank you for the information.

Can you tell me what would be possible causes?

[gabbar]

Everytime the switch is rebooted or LIP happens or you disable/re-enable enc_out errors will come up. They are expected more if the port speed is set to Auto-Negotiation. All the data you see for enc_out error is historical. So no judgement can be made. Its important to find if there is any increment in it which can be done my comparing them after few hours. If they do increase then you could suspect the cabling. SFPs can be suspected as well but we will have to look into some other factors as well.

[Gilbert Plouffe]

If the total amount of encoding errors is over 5-10% of the total amount of frame RX and TX i suggest that you start investagating. I would start to clean the FC cable end and make sure that they are correctly inserted. Clear the error with portstatsclear [slot/port] or [port] and monitor it. Next step is to verify the FC signal or start changing cable, sfp.

goog luck