Viewing the Event Log

Related Topics

Use the Event Log Viewer to display a detailed list of events that occur in a storage subsystem. The event log is stored on reserved areas on the storage subsystem's disks and records configuration events and storage subsystem component failures.

Important: It can take up to several minutes for an event to be logged and become visible in the Event Log Viewer.

Event Log Window Views

There are two possible event views in the window:

When the View Details check box is selected, the window divides into two views. To resize the panes, select the splitter bar between the two views and move it up or down.

How to Display Events

Note: When you open the Event Log Window, only critical events are displayed. The default number of critical events displayed is 50.

1

From the Subsystem Management Window, select the View >> View Event Log pull-down menu option.

Result: The Event Log dialog is displayed.

2

Specify or type the number of events to retrieve in the Retrieve most recent events spinner box (numbers increment by 25).

Note: When only critical events are selected, the label on this toggle will be Retrieve most recent critical events and the toggle will increase or decrease in increments of five.

3

Toggle between all events or critical events only by selecting the View only critical events check box.

4

Select Update to retrieve new events from the storage subsystem for display.

The Update button:

  • Refreshes the window to display the most recent events
  • Retrieves a new number of events if the Display most recent events box is changed
  • Resorts the data back to the original order (by sequence number)

5

Select Clear All to delete all entries in the Event Log.

Important: If you want to save the current Event Log entries, be sure to save a copy of the log before clearing it.

How to Interpret Event Summary Data

The Event Summary table has five columns:

Column

Description

Date/Time

The date and time stamp of the event, according to the controller clock.

Note: The Event Log initially sorts events based on sequence number (shown in the event details). Normally, this will correspond to the date/time. However, the two controller clocks in the storage subsystem could be unsynchronized. In this case, some perceived inconsistencies could be displayed in the Event Log relative to events and the date/time shown. Use the Storage Subsystem >> Set Controller Clocks pull-down menu option to synchronize storage subsystem controller clocks with the clock on your storage management station.

Priority

There are two priority values:

  • Critical - There is a problem with the storage subsystem. However, immediate action by the user may prevent losing access to data. Critical events are used for alert notifications. All critical events are sent to any Network Management Station (through SNMP traps) or email recipient you configured with the Edit >> Alert option in the Enterprise Management Window. For critical event codes, see Critical Event Descriptions.
  • Information - Non-critical information related to the storage subsystem.

Component Type

The component affected by the event. The component could be hardware, such as a drive or a controller, or it could be software, such as a logical drive or controller firmware.

Component Location

The physical location of the component in the storage subsystem.

Description

A description of the event.

Example: Drive write failure - retries exhausted

How to Interpret Event Details

Use the View Details check box to show event details of a single selected Summary event. When you have enabled the View Details check box, click on a single event in the Summary View to show the details about that event in the Event Details View.

Note: Because some of the fields in the Event Details View require no explanation, this table only focuses on those fields which require additional detail.

Column

Description

Date/Time

The date and time stamp of the error, according to the controller clock.

Note: The Event Log initially sorts events based on sequence number (shown in the event details). Normally, this will correspond to the date/time. However, the two controller clocks in the storage subsystem could be unsynchronized. In this case, some perceived inconsistencies could be displayed in the Event Log relative to events and the date/time shown. Use the Storage Subsystem >> Set Controller Clocks pull-down menu option to synchronize storage subsystem controller clocks with the clock on your storage management station.

Category

Category Name

Description

Failure

Some component on the storage subsystem has failed.

Examples: Drive failure, battery failure.

State Change

An element of the storage subsystem has changed state.

Examples: A logical drive transitioned to optimal; a controller transitioned to offline.

Internal

Internal controller operations that do not require user action.

Example: The controller has completed start-of-day.

Command

A command has been issued to the storage subsystem.

Example: A hot spare has been assigned.

Host Entry

Host software has posted the entry into the Event Log.

Error

An error condition has been detected on the storage subsystem.

Examples: A controller is unable to synchronize and purge cache; a redundancy error is detected on the storage subsystem.

General

Any events that do not fit well into any other category.

Description

A description of the event.

Example: Drive write failure - retries exhausted

How to Save Selected Events to a File

To save selected events from the Summary area to a file, do the following:

1

Select the events you want to save to a file in the Summary View.

  • Press Ctrl + click to save multiple events that are not next to each other in the display
  • Press Shift + click to save a range of events, clicking on the first and the last event you wish to save
  • Select Select All to save every displayed event

2

Select Save As.

Result: The Save Events dialog is displayed.

3

Save the selected events by choosing an appropriate directory and file name.

The Save dialog can filter on files with a .log extension. Therefore, you may want to save the file with a .log extension using the file name conventions you used for any previous log files. If no extension is specified, the Save As dialog will append a .log extension by default.

4

Type the file name of your choice in the File Name text box.

Example: Name the file january13.log

5

Select Save.

Result: An ASCII text file containing the selected events, with a .log extension, is saved to the designated directory.

Related Topics

Learn About the Event Log

Setting Storage Subsystem Controller Clocks

Critical Event Descriptions