Chapter 9: Troubleshooting
AT-SBx81CFC400 Controller Fabric Card
The consequences of a controller card failure on the operations of the Ethernet line cards depends on the number of controller cards in the chassis. If the chassis has one controller card and the card fails, all network operations stop. The Ethernet line cards stop forwarding all network traffic until the controller card is replaced.
If the chassis has two controller cards and one fails, the Ethernet line cards continue to forward traffic, but the traffic bandwidth across the backplane is reduced from 80 to 40 Gbps for each line card slot, which, depending on the number of Ethernet line cards present and the amount of traffic traversing the backplane, may result in slower network operations.
If the chassis has one controller card, examine the M/S LED on the card. The LED should be solid green. If the LED is flashing amber, the card is initializing its management software. Wait one or two minutes for the card to complete the process and check the LED again. If it has not changed to solid green, the card cannot complete the initialization process. Try moving the controller card to the other controller card slot, slot 5 or 6, to see if it works in a different slot. You might also try connecting a terminal or PC with a terminal emulator program to the Console RS232 port to watch for any error messages.
If the chassis has two controller cards, check the M/S LEDs on both cards. The LEDs should be solid green on one card and solid or flashing amber on the other card. If the LEDs are both flashing amber, they are initializing their management software. Wait one or two minutes for the cards to complete the process and check the LEDs again. If both LEDs are still flashing amber, the cards cannot complete the initialization process. Try replacing the cards.
The controller card has an onboard battery to maintain the date and time when the chassis is powered off or reset. If you manually set the date and time but the card loses the information after you power off or reset the unit, you may have forgotten to remove the battery insulator when you installed the card in the chassis. The insulator is shown in Figure 67 on page 112. The only way to remedy the problem is to remove the controller card from the chassis and remove the battery insulator. If the chassis has only one controller card, removing the card causes the Ethernet line cards to stop forwarding traffic.
