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Cumulus Linux

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Monitoring System Hardware

You monitor system hardware using the following commands and utilities:

  • decode-syseeprom
  • smond
  • sensors
  • Net-SNMP
  • watchdog

Retrieve Hardware Information Using decode-syseeprom

The decode-syseeprom command enables you to retrieve information about the switch’s EEPROM. If the EEPROM is writable, you can set values on the EEPROM.

The following is an example. The command output is different on different switches:

cumulus@switch:~$ decode-syseeprom
TlvInfo Header:
    Id String:    TlvInfo
    Version:      1
    Total Length: 114
TLV Name             Code Len Value
-------------------- ---- --- -----
Product Name         0x21   4 4804
Part Number          0x22  14 R0596-F0009-00
Device Version       0x26   1 2
Serial Number        0x23  19 D1012023918PE000012
Manufacture Date     0x25  19 10/09/2013 20:39:02
Base MAC Address     0x24   6 00:E0:EC:25:7B:D0
MAC Addresses        0x2A   2 53
Vendor Name          0x2D  17 Penguin Computing
Label Revision       0x27   4 4804
Manufacture Country  0x2C   2 CN
CRC-32               0xFE   4 0x96543BC5
(checksum valid)

Edgecore AS5712-54X, AS5812-54T, AS5812-54X, AS6712-32X and AS6812-32X switches support a second source power supply. This second source device presents at a different I2C address than the primary. As a result, whenever decode-syseeprom attempts to read the EEPROM on the PSUs in these systems, both addresses are checked. When the driver reads the location that is not populated, a warning message like the following is logged:

Oct 18 09:54:41 lfc-1ao15 decode-syseeprom: Unable to find eeprom at /sys/bus/i2c/devices/11-0050/eeprom for psu2

This is expected behavior on these platforms.

Command Options

Usage: /usr/cumulus/bin/decode-syseeprom [-a][-r][-s [args]][-t <target>][-e][-m]

Option Description
-h, -help Displays the help message and exits.
-a Prints the base MAC address for switch interfaces.
-r Prints the number of MACs allocated for switch interfaces.
-s Sets the EEPROM content if the EEPROM is writable. args can be supplied in the command line in a comma separated list of the form <field>=<value>. . , and = are illegal characters in field names and values. Fields that are not specified default to their current values. If args are supplied in the command line, they will be written without confirmation. If args is empty, the values will be prompted interactively.
NVIDIA Spectrum switches do not support this option.
-j, --json Displays JSON output.
-t <target> Prints the target EEPROM (board, psu2, psu1) information.

Note: Some systems that use a BMC to manage sensors (such as the Dell Z9264 and EdgeCore Minipack AS8000) do not provide the PSU EEPROM contents. This is because the BMC connects to the PSUs via I2C and the main CPU of the switch has no direct access.
--serial, -e Prints the device serial number.
-m Prints the base MAC address for management interfaces.
--init Clears and initializes the board EEPROM cache.

You can also use the dmidecode command to retrieve hardware configuration information that is populated in the BIOS.

You can use apt-get to install the lshw program on the switch, which also retrieves hardware configuration information.

Monitor System Units Using smond

The smond daemon monitors system units like power supply and fan, updates their corresponding LEDs, and logs the change in the state. Changes in system unit state are detected via the cpld registers. smond utilizes these registers to read all sources, which impacts the health of the system unit, determines the unit’s health, and updates the system LEDs.

Use smonctl to display sensor information for the various system units:

cumulus@switch:~$ sudo smonctl
Board                                             :  OK
Fan                                               :  OK
PSU1                                              :  OK
PSU2                                              :  BAD
Temp1     (Networking ASIC Die Temp Sensor       ):  OK
Temp10    (Right side of the board               ):  OK
Temp2     (Near the CPU (Right)                  ):  OK
Temp3     (Top right corner                      ):  OK
Temp4     (Right side of Networking ASIC         ):  OK
Temp5     (Middle of the board                   ):  OK
Temp6     (P2020 CPU die sensor                  ):  OK
Temp7     (Left side of the board                ):  OK
Temp8     (Left side of the board                ):  OK
Temp9     (Right side of the board               ):  OK

When the switch is not powered on, smonctl shows the PSU status as BAD instead of POWERED OFF or NOT DETECTED. This is a known limitation.

On the Dell S4148 switch, smonctl shows PSU1 and PSU2; however in the sensors output, both PSUs are listed as PSU1.

Some switch models lack the sensor for reading voltage information, so this data is not output from the smonctl command.

For example, the Dell S4048 series has this sensor and displays power and voltage information:

cumulus@dell-s4048-ON:~$ sudo smonctl -v -s PSU2
PSU2:  OK
power:8.5 W   (voltages = ['11.98', '11.87'] V currents = ['0.72'] A)

The Penguin Arctica 3200c does not have this sensor:

cumulus@cel-sea:~/tmp$ sudo smonctl -v -s PSU1
PSU1:  OK

The following table shows the smonctl command options.

Usage: smonctl [OPTION]... [CHIP]...

Option Description
-s <sensor>, --sensor <sensor> Displays data for the specified sensor.
-v, --verbose Displays detailed hardware sensors data.

For more information, read man smond and man smonctl.

You can also run these NCLU commands to show sensor information: net show system sensors, net show system sensors detail, and net show system sensors json.

Monitor Hardware Using sensors

Use the sensors command to monitor the health of your switch hardware, such as power, temperature and fan speeds. This command executes lm-sensors.

Even though you can use the sensors command to monitor the health of your switch hardware, the smond daemon is the recommended method for monitoring hardware health. See Monitor System Units Using smond above.

For example:

cumulus@switch:~$ sensors
tmp75-i2c-6-48
Adapter: i2c-1-mux (chan_id 0)
temp1:        +39.0 C  (high = +75.0 C, hyst = +25.0 C)

tmp75-i2c-6-49
Adapter: i2c-1-mux (chan_id 0)
temp1:        +35.5 C  (high = +75.0 C, hyst = +25.0 C)

ltc4215-i2c-7-40
Adapter: i2c-1-mux (chan_id 1)
in1:         +11.87 V
in2:         +11.98 V
power1:       12.98 W
curr1:        +1.09 A

max6651-i2c-8-48
Adapter: i2c-1-mux (chan_id 2)
fan1:        13320 RPM  (div = 1)
fan2:        13560 RPM

  • Output from the sensors command varies depending upon the switch hardware you use, as each platform ships with a different type and number of sensors.
  • On a Mellanox switch, if only one PSU is plugged in, the fan is at maximum speed.

The following table shows the sensors command options.

Usage: sensors [OPTION]... [CHIP]...

Option Description
-c, --config-file Specify a config file; use - after -c to read the config file from stdin; by default, sensors references the configuration file in /etc/sensors.d/.
-s, --set Executes set statements in the config file (root only); sensors -s is run once at boot time and applies all the settings to the boot drivers.
-f, --fahrenheit Show temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit.
-A, --no-adapter Do not show the adapter for each chip.
--bus-list Generate bus statements for sensors.conf.

If [CHIP] is not specified in the command, all chip information is printed. Example chip names include:

  • lm78-i2c-0-2d *-i2c-0-2d
  • lm78-i2c-0-* *-i2c-0-*
  • lm78-i2c-*-2d *-i2c-*-2d
  • lm78-i2c-*-* *-i2c-*-*
  • lm78-isa-0290 *-isa-0290
  • lm78-isa-* *-isa-*
  • lm78-*

Monitor Switch Hardware Using SNMP

The Net-SNMP documentation is discussed here.

Keep the Switch Alive Using the Hardware Watchdog

Cumulus Linux includes a simplified version of the wd_keepalive(8) daemon from the standard watchdog Debian package. wd_keepalive writes to a file called /dev/watchdog periodically to keep the switch from resetting, at least once per minute. Each write delays the reboot time by another minute. After one minute of inactivity where wd_keepalive doesn’t write to /dev/watchdog, the switch resets itself.

The watchdog is enabled by default on all supported switches, and starts when you boot the switch, before switchd starts.

To disable the watchdog, disable and stop the wd_keepalive service:

cumulus@switch:~$ sudo systemctl disable wd_keepalive ; systemctl stop wd_keepalive

You can modify the settings for the watchdog — like the timeout setting and scheduler priority — in the configuration file, /etc/watchdog.conf. Here is the default configuration file:

cumulus@switch:~$ cat /etc/watchdog.conf

watchdog-device	= /dev/watchdog

# Set the hardware watchdog timeout in seconds
watchdog-timeout = 30

# Kick the hardware watchdog every 'interval' seconds
interval = 5

# Log a status message every (interval * logtick) seconds.  Requires
# --verbose option to enable.
logtick = 240

# Run the daemon using default scheduler SCHED_OTHER with slightly
# elevated process priority.  See man setpriority(2).
realtime = no
priority = -2

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