Message IDs and Dictionary Files

The syslog message agent takes the output of the diagnosis (the list.suspect event) and writes specific messages to the console or /var/adm/messages. Often console messages can be difficult to understand. FMA remedies this problem by providing a defined fault message structure that is generated every time a list.suspect event is delivered to a syslog message.

The syslog agent generates a message identifier (MSG ID). The event registry generates dictionary files (.dict files) that map a list.suspect event to a structured message identifier that should be used to identify and view the associated knowledge article. Message files, (.po files) map the message ID to localized messages for every possible list of suspected faults that the diagnosis engine can generate. The following is an example of a fault message emitted on a test system.

SUNW-MSG-ID: AMD-8000-7U, TYPE: Fault, VER: 1, SEVERITY: Major
EVENT-TIME: Fri Jul 28 04:26:51 PDT 2006
PLATFORM: Sun Fire V40z, CSN: XG051535088, HOSTNAME: parity
SOURCE: eft, REV: 1.16
EVENT-ID: add96f65-5473-69e6-dbe1-8b3d00d5c47b
DESC: The number of errors associated with this CPU has exceeded 
acceptable levels. Refer to http://sun.com/msg/AMD-8000-7U for 
more information.
AUTO-RESPONSE: An attempt will be made to remove this CPU from service.
IMPACT: Performance of this system may be affected.
REC-ACTION: Schedule a repair procedure to replace the affected CPU. 
Use fmdump -v -u <EVENT_ID> to identify the module.