[rancid] cisco-nx and debug: filesystem

[Piegorsch, Weylin William]

Hello,

I’ll put the details below, but basically: for the Nexus 9k, the debug: filesystem is constantly filling with information, and there’s no way to turn it off. I can manually alter my cisco-nx output (or create a special-purpose 9k variant) to remove the “dir debug:” and do something about “dir logflash:” output, but I’d prefer to avoid that if I can. What other options do I have, except “live with it”?

weylin

I noticed every time rancid grabbed an archive of my Nexus 9k (specifically a 9372PX-E in NX-OS mode), I would get output similar to:

Index: configs/Nexus-9k
===================================================================
retrieving revision 1.6
diff -U 4 -r1.6 Nexus-9k
@@ -140,26 +140,26 @@
!Flash: bootflash: 1736 MB used
!Flash: bootflash: 47763 MB free
!Flash: bootflash: 49500 MB total
!
- !Flash: debug: 32782 Dec 27 14:29:15 2016 bootvar_debug.log
- !Flash: debug: 5 Dec 27 14:29:15 2016 bootvar_debug.meta
+ !Flash: debug: 32971 Dec 28 02:29:12 2016 bootvar_debug.log
+ !Flash: debug: 5 Dec 28 02:29:12 2016 bootvar_debug.meta
!Flash: debug: Usage for debug://sup-local
!Flash: debug: 0 MB used
!Flash: debug: 4 MB free
!Flash: debug: 5 MB total
!
!Flash: logflash: 4096 Aug 20 00:52:52 2016 ISSU_debug_logs/
!Flash: logflash: 4096 May 15 16:59:01 2016 core/
!Flash: logflash: 4096 Feb 20 15:08:00 2016 debug/
- !Flash: logflash: 2449408 Dec 28 02:01:06 2016 debug_logs/
+ !Flash: logflash: 2449408 Dec 28 13:06:36 2016 debug_logs/
!Flash: logflash: 4096 Feb 20 15:08:00 2016 generic/
!Flash: logflash: 4096 log/
!Flash: logflash: 16384 Feb 20 15:07:57 2016 lost+found/
!Flash: logflash: 4096 Aug 29 23:21:18 2016 vdc_1/
!Flash: logflash: Usage for logflash://sup-local
- !Flash: logflash: 660 MB used
- !Flash: logflash: 7403 MB free
+ !Flash: logflash: 665 MB used
+ !Flash: logflash: 7398 MB free
!Flash: logflash: 8063 MB total
!
!Flash: volatile: 40 Aug 20 02:07:39 2016 virtual-instance/
!Flash: volatile: Usage for volatile://sup-local

I opened a TAC case about, I’m copying the email thread here (with modifications to email to protect spam harvesters).

From: "William Chong (wilchong)" <wilchong at cisco dot com>
Date: Wednesday, December 28, 2016 at 01:50
To: Weylin Piegorsch < weylin at bu dot edu >
Cc: "***@cisco.com" <***@cisco.com>
Subject: RE: SR 681520039 : Increasing Log Size

Hi Weylin,

This isn’t documented externally, however, these communications can be treated as official documentation if required.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks!
William

William Chong
Customer Support Engineer
Asia Pacific TAC - Sydney

Cisco Systems
Direct: [phone]
Aust: [phone]
USA: [phone]

Shift Schedule:
Mon – Fri 1200-1800 AEDT (+11GMT/UTC)

Email: wilchong at cisco dot com

Global TAC Contacts:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/support/tsd_cisco_worldwide_contacts.html

From: Piegorsch, Weylin William [mailto: weylin at bu dot edu]
Sent: Wednesday, 28 December 2016 5:29 PM
To: William Chong (wilchong) < wilchong at cisco dot com >
Cc: ***@cisco.com
Subject: Re: SR 681520039 : Increasing Log Size

Thanks William. Is this documented anywhere?
weylin

From: "William Chong (wilchong)" < wilchong at cisco dot com >
Date: Tuesday, December 27, 2016 at 00:46
To: Weylin Piegorsch <weylin at bu dot edu>
Cc: "***@cisco.com<mailto:***@cisco.com>" <***@cisco.com<mailto:***@cisco.com>>
Subject: SR 681520039 : Increasing Log Size

Hi Weylin,

This is William Chong from Cisco TAC – LAN Switching Team and I have ownership of this case. It is my understanding that you are seeing an increase in file size of the debug logs on your Nexus 9k.


Answers to your questions below:

If this is expected behaviour:
The switch will update the bootvar_debug.log file as part of its normal operation. This data is intended for Cisco engineering and TAC.

What I would need to do to disable it
Preventing these logs from updating is not an option as it is part of the switch’s normal operation.

If I need to be worried about exhausting storage capacity.
The debug directory will have a dedicated amount of flash storage for the file, as such, it will not have an impact on the other functions of the switch. You will not need to be worried about exhausting the capacity.

Please let know if you have any further questions.

Thanks!
William

William Chong
Customer Support Engineer
Asia Pacific TAC - Sydney

Cisco Systems
Direct: [phone]
Aust: [phone]
USA: [phone]

Shift Schedule:
Mon – Fri 1200-1800 AEDT (+11GMT/UTC)

Email: wilchong at cisco dot com

Global TAC Contacts:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/support/tsd_cisco_worldwide_contacts.html