Description

This article explains the major difference between "show chassis alarms" and "show system alarms" .

Solution

show chassis alarms

  • These alarms are related to hardware parts of the device and their status. For example FPC, Fan tray, PEM, Routing-Engine, etc. 
  • Chassis alarms are preset. You cannot modify them.
  • You cannot clear the alarms for chassis components. Instead, you must remedy the cause of the alarm. When a chassis alarm LED is lit, it indicates that you are running the router or switch in a manner that we do not recommend.
  • On routers, you can manually silence external devices connected to the alarm relay contacts by pressing the alarm cutoff button, located on the craft interface. Silencing the device does not remove the alarm messages from the display (if present on the router) or extinguish the alarm LEDs. In addition, new alarms that occur after you silence an external device reactivate the external device.

Sample output: 

user@host> show chassis alarms

7 alarms currently active
Alarm time               Class  Description
2012-08-07 00:46:06 PDT  Major  Fan Tray 2 Failure
2012-08-06 18:24:36 PDT  Minor  Redundant feed missing for PSM 6
2012-08-06 07:41:04 PDT  Minor  Redundant feed missing for PSM 8
2012-08-04 02:42:06 PDT  Minor  Redundant feed missing for PSM 5
2012-08-03 21:14:24 PDT  Minor  Loss of communication with Backup RE
2012-08-03 12:26:03 PDT  Minor  Redundant feed missing for PSM 4
2012-08-03 10:40:18 PDT  Minor  Redundant feed missing for PSM 7​

 

show system alarms
  • These alarms are generally software or operating system related alarms. For example, they include a configuration alarm that appears when no rescue configuration alarm is set and a license alarm that appears when a software feature is configured, and no valid license is configured for the feature.
  • System alarms are preset. You cannot modify them, although you can configure them to appear automatically in the J-Web user interface or CLI. They include a  configuration  alarm that appears when no rescue configuration alarm is set and a license alarm that appears when a software feature is configured and no valid license is configured for the feature. You can also determine when a license will expire from syslog messages that appear starting from four weeks before the expiry of the license​
Sample output: 
user@host> show system alarms

2 alarms currently active
Alarm time                    Class     Description
2005-02-24 17:29:34 UTC       Minor     IPsec VPN tunneling usage requires a license
2005-02-24 17:29:34 UTC       Minor     Rescue configuration is not sent

For details on how to configure  ​​'show system alarms' automatically when an admin user logs in to the router or switch, refer to the following technical documentation:

In case you see active alarms on the device, please contact JTAC f or further investigation.

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