DEFINITY Enterprise Communications Server Release 7
Maintenance for R7r
555-230-126
Issue 4
June 1999
Maintenance Architecture
1-11Alarm and Error Reporting
1
distinguished with an address that defines its physical location in the system.
These addresses are described in
Chapter 8, ‘‘Maintenance Commands’’
. Repair
instructions and a description of each MO appear alphabetically in
Chapter 9,
‘‘Maintenance Object Repair Procedures’’.
Alarm and Error Reporting
During normal operations, software, hardware, or firmware may detect error
conditions related to specific MOs. The system attempts to fix or circumvent
these problems automatically, but if a hardware component incurs too many
errors, an alarm is raised.
Alarm and Error Logs
The system keeps a record of every alarm detected in the system. This record,
the alarm log, and the error log can be displayed locally on the management
terminal or remotely by Initialization and Administration System (INADS)
personnel. An alarm is classified as MAJOR, MINOR, or WARNING, depending
on its effect on system operation. Alarms are also classified as ON-BOARD or
OFF-BOARD.
■ MAJOR alarms identify failures that cause critical degradation of service
and require immediate attention. On high and critical reliability systems,
MAJOR alarms can occur on standby components without affecting
service since their active counterparts continue to function.
■ MINOR alarms identify failures that cause some service degradation but
do not render a crucial portion of the system inoperable. The condition
requires attention, but typically a a MINOR alarm affects only a few trunks
or stations or a single feature.
■ WARNING alarms identify failures that cause no significant degradation of
service or failures of equipment external to the system. These are not
reported to INADS or the attendant console.
■ ON-BOARD problems originate in circuitry on the alarmed circuit pack.
■ OFF-BOARD problems originate in a process or component external to the
circuit pack.
Multiple alarms against a given MO can change the level of a given alarm as it
appears in the alarm log. If there is an active error against an MO that causes a
MINOR alarm and an active error that causes a MAJOR alarm, then the alarm log
would show two MAJOR alarms. If the MINOR alarm problem is resolved first, the
error is still marked as alarmed until the MAJOR alarm problem is resolved, and
the alarm log would still show two MAJOR alarms. If the MAJOR alarm problem is
resolved first, the error is still marked as alarmed until the MINOR alarm problem
is resolved, and the alarm log would now show two MINOR alarms. Similarly, the
presence of an ON-BOARD alarm will cause all alarms against that MO to report
as ON-BOARD.
