ACI Technical Support and TAC Request Output Collection Guide

APIC UI ACI Show Tech

This section details how to collect tech support data using the APIC (Application Policy Infrastructure Controller) graphical user interface.

Important Note: Do not specify a TechSupport Time Range unless explicitly requested by TAC. Excessive log variations can lead to log loss, impacting TAC's ability to provide timely RCA (Root Cause Analysis). If a time range is provided, logs are trimmed based on the 'last file modification' timestamp, not the log file's internal timestamp.

Steps typically involve navigating to Admin > Import/Export > Export Policies > On-demand TechSupport, creating an on-demand tech support policy, selecting controllers and nodes, and submitting the policy.

Example commands/paths:

• Admin > Import/Export > Export Policies > On-demand TechSupport
• TechSupport Policy Creation: Create On-demand TechSupport, Export to Controller, GUI Operational, Include All Controllers in TechSupport, APIC Source Nodes.
• Submit: On-Demand Techsupport Policy.

Exporting to Controller:

• Export Destination: Remote Location
• Protocol options: http, https, sftp
• Example path: APIC "/data/techsupport/"
• Example file: "files/2/techsupport.tgz"

APIC CLI Show Tech

This section outlines collecting tech support data via the APIC Command Line Interface (CLI).

Commands include:

• bash -c "techsupport local" (Note: This command is deprecated; use NXOS-style equivalents.)
• Collecting core files from specific nodes (e.g., APIC, Leaf, Spine).
• Example: scp [node-name]:/data/techsupport/[ts_filename] /data/techsupport
• Example URL for download: https://[aci.apic.ip.ad]/files/[apic#]/techsupport/[ts_filename]

Note on Deprecation: The bash -c "techsupport local" command is being deprecated. Users should use NXOS-style equivalent commands.

ACI Switch Techsupport

Instructions for collecting tech support from ACI switches.

Commands include:

• ACI SSH APIC "admin"
• techsupport local

Example output path: /data/techsupport/local_fab5-leaf1_2018-05-29T08-16.tgz

Collecting TAC Data for Specific Issues

This section lists the type of data to collect based on the problem:

Show Tech for AVE (ACI Virtual Edge)

Instructions for collecting tech support data from AVE.

Commands:

• AVE CLI .show tech /tmp .SCP
• Example file: /tmp/dbgexp_ave_sw-dvs-60_10.48.16.46_2019-0226-1408_logs.tgz

The content of the archive includes various log files such as cisco-vemlog.txt, cisco-vem-support.txt, cisco-top.txt, and log directories.

Collecting Data via API Calls (CLI Script Example)

This section provides a script example using icurl to collect data from API endpoints.

Example commands:

• mkdir /tmp/tac-outputs
• cd /tmp/tac-outputs
• icurl 'http://localhost:7777/api/class/firmwareARunning.xml' > /tmp/tac-outputs/firmwareARunning.xml
• ... (many other icurl commands for various API classes like fabricNode.xml, faultInfo.xml, faultRecord.xml, eventRecord.xml)
• tar zcvf tac-outputs.tgz tac-outputs
• cp tac-outputs.tgz /data/techsupport

Important Note: When retrieving a large number of records (e.g., 100,000), you might encounter issues. Verify that files like faultRecord, eventRecord, and aaaModLR are not empty (a 2-byte file might be empty). If so, try a smaller page size (e.g., 20k).

Downloaded files can be accessed via GUI using URLs like: https://x.x.x.x/files/y/techsupport/tac-outputs.tgz, where x.x.x.x is the APIC IP and y is the APIC ID.

Core File Collection from Crashed ACI Leaf

Instructions for collecting core files from a crashed ACI leaf.

This involves copying specific commands into the crashed ACI leaf.

Example commands:

• bash -c ' ... '
• Setting leaf name: leaf="$(hostname)""_data"
• Collecting data: mkdir /data/techsupport/$leaf, cd /data/techsupport/$leaf
• show system reset-reason > show_sys_rr.log
• Various vsh -c "show ..." commands to collect logs (e.g., show_logg_onb_internal_rr.log, show_logg_onb_stack-trace.log, show_process_log_detail.log).
• Collecting system files: df -h > df.log, cp /var/log/dmesg ./, copying from /mnt/ifc/log/last_run/, /bootflash/, /mnt/pss/, /mnt/pstore/.
• Compressing and combining files: tar -zcvf ./$zipfile ./$leaf/*
• Final instruction: echo " ///// Please collect /data/techsupport/"$zipfile" and upload to SR ///////"

vCenter Integration Example (Screenshot)

The document includes a screenshot showing how to export system logs from vCenter Server, which might be relevant for troubleshooting environments that integrate with ACI.

The screenshot shows a vCenter interface with options like "Export System Logs..." and "Assign License...". It also displays a list of hosts and their status, and an "Audit Logs" section.

The "Audit Logs" section shows entries like:

• Apr 11, 2018 10:50 AM Created Backup BackupRD_20180411085033 was created
• Apr 11, 2018 10:48 AM Logged In Authentication User admin has successfully logged in
• Apr 11, 2018 10:08 AM Deployed Schema Site Template Pod35-only was deployed on POD35
• Apr 11, 2018 10:08 AM Deployed Schema Site Template Pod35-only was deployed on POD36
• Apr 11, 2018 10:08 AM Updated Schema Schema DC-Schema was updated
• Apr 11, 2018 10:06 AM Updated Template Template Pod35-only was updated
• Apr 11, 2018 10:06 AM Created EPG EPG test was created

Troubleshooting Report Generation

The document shows an interface for generating a "Troubleshooting Report" within a system (likely related to vCenter or a similar management tool).

Users can select logs to include, such as:

• Sites
• Tenants
• Schemas
• Users
• Infra Logs

A "DOWNLOAD" button is available to generate the report.