On PTX10016 Series devices, when performing graceful Routing Engine switchover (GRES), users may observe certain syslog messages for SPMB and chassis type during the GRES process. This article explains what the "sysctl hw.re.type not supported" and "chassis_type = 0xe40b" messages mean in particular.

The following messages may be seen on syslog:

<163>1 2021-01-05T07:29:50.523Z RTR-ptx10016- - - - spmb1 sysctl hw.re.type not supported      <<<<
<163>1 2021-01-05T07:29:50.523Z RTR-ptx10016- - - - spmb1 chassis_type = 0xe40b                <<<<<
....
<163>1 2021-01-05T07:30:12.574Z RTR-ptx10016- - - - spmb0 CMLC: Master closed connection (errno=0)  <<<<
<160>1 2021-01-05T07:30:12.574Z RTR-ptx10016- - - - spmb0 CMLC: Going disconnected; Routing engine chassis socket closed abruptly
<163>1 2021-01-05T07:30:12.680Z RTR-ptx10016- - - - spmb0 Sending message to master while disconnected.
<163>1 2021-01-05T07:30:12.680Z RTR-ptx10016- - - - last message repeated 5 times

This sysctl attribute ( hw.re.type ) is generally available in many Routing Engine types that run Junos OS. However, for REs that are Linux based for PTX10016, this attribute type is not available.

The SPMB process on PTX10016 devices runs on Linux. When some modules in this process read the attribute and do not find it during SPMB process restart, the above message is generated. This log can be safely ignored.

After the first message, the "spmb1 chassis_type = 0xe40b" message is also seen. This message indicates that the "midplane i2cid" is "0x0be4," which is correct for PTX100016. It comes from "localttp_init" when the SPMB process is launched after the GRES process is completed.