FCIP Troubleshooting and Trace Analysis Workshop

  
  This “hands-on” workshop provides students with a structured approach to troubleshooting Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) problems with an emphasis on trace analysis. The workshop consists of a series of lecture topics with companion exercises.

The lectures introduce a structured approach to problem solving, helps in understanding different types of problems and how to gather information to help in identifying and resolving problems. The lecture also provides an introduction to using an analyzer to gather detailed information and how to analyze captured traces to identify problem behaviors

The exercises provide a series of “hands-on” activities that give the student an opportunity to apply the information provided in the lecture. Students will install trace viewer software and use real world traces designed to illustrate different problem categories and provide an opportunity to analyze a number of problems.  

Course Outline

Introduction and Overview
How to Approach Problem Solving
The Problem Solving Process
Defining the Problem
What You Know, What You Don’t Know
Information Gathering
Brainstorming Potential Causes
Verifying Your Solution
Problem Classifications
Skill Level versus Problem Classes
Finisar Analyzer Module
Installing the Finisar Software
Finisar Traceview
Opening a Trace File
Navigating within a Trace
Filtering and Hiding Information
Finisar Xgig Expert
Finisar Trace Control
Configuring a Capture
Triggering
Filtering Captured Data
Ethernet Essentials
Introduction to Ethernet
Ethernet Frame Format
Ethernet Configurations
Ethernet Physical Link Variants
Ethernet Virtual LANs (VLANs)
Ethernet Example Trace
Internet Protocol (IP) Essentials
Internetworking Concepts

The IP Header
IP Addressing: Networks and Subnets
IP Quality of Service (QoS)
IP Version 6 Overview (IPv6)
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
Introduction to TCP
TCP “Ports”
The TCP Segment Header
Connections and Connection Management
TCP Sequence Numbering
TCP Acknowledgement
TCP Flow Control
Capture and Examine a TCP/IP Trace
TCP Error Detection and Retransmission
TCP/IP Example Trace (with Error)
TCP/IP Performance Considerations
FCIP Essentials
Introduction to FCIP
FCIP Encapsulation Header
Mapping FCIP to TCP Connections
FCIP Encapsulation Example Trace
FC and TCP Flow Control Interaction
FCIP and Fibre Channel Timeouts
FCIP Error Conditions and Handling
Link Keep Alive (LKA)
FCIP High-Availability Considerations
FCIP and Data Compression
FCIP Write Acceleration
FCIP Trace Analysis
FCIP Example Traces with Errors
Who Should Attend: This course is for developers, integrators, test and support personnel who need to be able to identify and solve Fibre Channel over iP problems.
 
Prerequisites: This is an advanced course that requires an understanding of the Fibre Channel technology. It is recommended that the student complete the In-Depth Fibre Channel course before taking this course.
Note: Students are required to have access to a computer running Windows 2000 or Windows XP with 100 MB of free disk space available to install the trace viewer software and sample traces.
Course Length:

4 days