Affordable SAN Monitoring Solutions for Brocade FC Switches
Asked by
CuriousCat88
Hi everyone! I'm looking for a cost-effective way to monitor my SAN without spending a fortune each year. I've set up Observium which provides port statistics, but it unfortunately misses out on CRC stats, which seem pretty critical to me. Does anyone know a way to get CRC data into Observium, or can you recommend a better alternative? Previously, we used Brocade SAN Health, which offered great graphical environmental plots, but it's no longer available. All the commercial options I've encountered are either too expensive or lack the functionality we need.
Answers
You might want to check out a tool called the Fabric OS exporter, which gathers data over SSH. Another solid option is the snmp_exporter. If you understand the MIBs available for your devices, you can easily create a mapping for them. There's some great documentation available if you search for Broadcom's MIB RM.
Reply to this answer
It could also be worth asking over in networking communities for more suggestions or insights. Just a thought!
Reply to this answer
The problem isn’t just that Observium is missing features; it's part of a larger issue with SAN monitoring. Many open-source tools only skim the surface because deep MIB parsing and vendor-specific OIDs are needed to track CRC frame loss and port errors. Since Brocade SAN Health is out of the picture, your best bet may be to create a custom solution with SNMP traps for CRC stats and display that data using Grafana. It's more hands-on but much cheaper than commercial products and offers better insights, although it may lack some polish.
Reply to this answer
Add your answer
Answers are reviewed before publication.
Related Discussions