C H A P T E R 5

Checking Port Status and Connectivity

This chapter describes how to check switch port status and connectivity on the Catalyst 4500 series
switch.
This chapter includes the following major sections:
• Checking Module Status, page 5-1
• Checking Interfaces Status, page 5-2
• Checking MAC Addresses, page 5-3
• Using Telnet, page 5-3
• Changing the Logout Timer, page 5-4
• Monitoring User Sessions, page 5-4
• Using Ping, page 5-5
• Using IP Traceroute, page 5-7
• Using Layer 2 Traceroute, page 5-8
• Configuring ICMP, page 5-10

Note For complete syntax and usage information for the switch commands used in this chapter, look at the
Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switch Command Reference and related publications at this location:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps4324/index.html

If the command is not found in the Catalyst 4500 Command Reference, it is located in the larger Cisco
IOS library. Refer to the Catalyst 4500 Series Switch Cisco IOS Command Reference and related
publications at this location:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6350/index.html

Checking Module Status

The Catalyst 4500 series switch is a multimodule system. You can see which modules are installed, as
well as the MAC address ranges and version numbers for each module, by using the show module
command. You can use the [mod_num] argument to specify a particular module number to see detailed
information on that module.

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Checking Interfaces Status

This example shows how to check module status for all modules on your switch:
Switch# show module all

Mod Ports Card Type Model Serial No.

----+-----+--------------------------------------+-----------------+-----------
1 2 1000BaseX (GBIC) Supervisor Module WS-X4014 JAB012345AB
5 24 10/100/1000BaseTX (RJ45) WS-X4424-GB-RJ45 JAB045304EY
6 48 10/100BaseTX (RJ45) WS-X4148 JAB023402QK

M MAC addresses Hw Fw Sw Stat

--+--------------------------------+---+-----------------+---------------+-----
1 0004.dd46.9f00 to 0004.dd46.a2ff 0.0 12.1(10r)EW(1.21) 12.1(10)EW(1) Ok
5 0050.3e7e.1d70 to 0050.3e7e.1d87 0.0 Ok
6 0050.0f10.2370 to 0050.0f10.239f 1.0 Ok
Switch#

Checking Interfaces Status

You can view summary or detailed information on the switch ports using the show interfaces status
command. To see summary information on all of the ports on the switch, enter the show interfaces
status command with no arguments. Specify a particular module number to see information on the ports
on that module only. Enter both the module number and the port number to see detailed information
about the specified port.
To apply configuration commands to a particular port, you must specify the appropriate logical module.
For more information, see the “Checking Module Status” section on page 5-1.
This example shows how to display the status of all interfaces on a Catalyst 4500 series switch:
Switch#show interfaces status

Port Name Status Vlan Duplex Speed Type

Gi1/1 notconnect 1 auto auto No Gbic
Gi1/2 notconnect 1 auto auto No Gbic
Gi5/1 notconnect 1 auto auto 10/100/1000-TX
Gi5/2 notconnect 1 auto auto 10/100/1000-TX
Gi5/3 notconnect 1 auto auto 10/100/1000-TX
Gi5/4 notconnect 1 auto auto 10/100/1000-TX
Fa6/1 connected 1 a-full a-100 10/100BaseTX
Fa6/2 connected 2 a-full a-100 10/100BaseTX
Fa6/3 notconnect 1 auto auto 10/100BaseTX
Fa6/4 notconnect 1 auto auto 10/100BaseTX

Switch#

This example shows how to display the status of interfaces in error-disabled state:
Switch# show interfaces status err-disabled
Port Name Status Reason
Fa9/4 err-disabled link-flap
informational error message when the timer expires on a cause
--------------------------------------------------------------
5d04h:%PM-SP-4-ERR_RECOVER:Attempting to recover from link-flap err-disable state on Fa9/4
Switch#

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Checking MAC Addresses

Checking MAC Addresses

In addition to displaying the MAC address range for a module using the show module command, you
can display the MAC address table information of a specific MAC address or a specific interface in the
switch using the show mac-address-table address and show mac-address-table interface commands.
This example shows how to display MAC address table information for a specific MAC address:
Switch# show mac-address-table address 0050.3e8d.6400
vlan mac address type protocol qos ports
-----+---------------+--------+---------+---+--------------------------------
200 0050.3e8d.6400 static assigned -- Switch
100 0050.3e8d.6400 static assigned -- Switch
5 0050.3e8d.6400 static assigned -- Switch
4 0050.3e8d.6400 static ipx -- Switch
1 0050.3e8d.6400 static ipx -- Switch
1 0050.3e8d.6400 static assigned -- Switch
4 0050.3e8d.6400 static assigned -- Switch
5 0050.3e8d.6400 static ipx -- Switch
100 0050.3e8d.6400 static ipx -- Switch
200 0050.3e8d.6400 static ipx -- Switch
100 0050.3e8d.6400 static other -- Switch
200 0050.3e8d.6400 static other -- Switch
5 0050.3e8d.6400 static other -- Switch
4 0050.3e8d.6400 static ip -- Switch
1 0050.3e8d.6400 static ip -- Route
1 0050.3e8d.6400 static other -- Switch
4 0050.3e8d.6400 static other -- Switch
5 0050.3e8d.6400 static ip -- Switch
200 0050.3e8d.6400 static ip -- Switch
100 0050.3e8d.6400 static ip -- Switch
Switch#

This example shows how to display MAC address table information for a specific interface:
Switch# show mac-address-table interface gigabit 1/1
Multicast Entries
vlan mac address type ports
-------+---------------+-------+-------------------------------------------
1 ffff.ffff.ffff system Switch,Gi6/1,Gi6/2,Gi6/9,Gi1/1
Switch#

Using Telnet
You can access the switch command-line interface (CLI) using Telnet. In addition, you can use Telnet
from the switch to access other devices in the network. You can have up to eight simultaneous Telnet
sessions.
Before you can open a Telnet session to the switch, you must first set the IP address (and in some cases
the default gateway) for the switch. For information about setting the IP address and default gateway,
see Chapter 3, “Configuring the Switch for the First Time.”

Note To establish a Telnet connection to a host by using the hostname, configure and enable DNS.

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Changing the Logout Timer

To establish a Telnet connection to another device on the network from the switch, perform this task:

Command Purpose
Switch# telnet host [port] Opens a Telnet session to a remote host.

This example shows how to establish a Telnet connection from the switch to the remote host named
labsparc:
Switch# telnet labsparc
Trying 172.16.10.3...
Connected to labsparc.
Escape character is '^]'.

UNIX(r) System V Release 4.0 (labsparc)

login:

Changing the Logout Timer

The logout timer automatically disconnects a user from the switch when the user is idle for longer than
the specified time. To set the logout timer, perform this task:

Command Purpose
Switch# logoutwarning number Changes the logout timer value (a timeout value of 0 prevents idle
sessions from being disconnected automatically).
Use the no keyword to return to the default value.

Monitoring User Sessions

You can display the currently active user sessions on the switch using the show users command. The
command output lists all active console port and Telnet sessions on the switch.
To display the active user sessions on the switch, perform this task in privileged EXEC mode:

Command Purpose
Switch# show users [all] Displays the currently active user sessions on the
switch.

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Using Ping

This example shows the output of the show users command when local authentication is enabled for
console and Telnet sessions (the asterisk [*] indicates the current session):
Switch#show users
Line User Host(s) Idle Location
* 0 con 0 idle 00:00:00

Interface User Mode Idle Peer Address

Switch#show users all

Line User Host(s) Idle Location
* 0 con 0 idle 00:00:00
1 vty 0 00:00:00
2 vty 1 00:00:00
3 vty 2 00:00:00
4 vty 3 00:00:00
5 vty 4 00:00:00

Interface User Mode Idle Peer Address

Switch#

To disconnect an active user session, perform this task:

Command Purpose
Switch# disconnect {console | ip_addr} Disconnects an active user session on the switch.

This example shows how to disconnect an active console port session and an active Telnet session:
Switch> disconnect console
Console session disconnected.
Console> (enable) disconnect tim-nt.bigcorp.com
Telnet session from tim-nt.bigcorp.com disconnected. (1)
Switch# show users
Session User Location
-------- ---------------- -------------------------
telnet jake jake-mac.bigcorp.com
* telnet suzy suzy-pc.bigcorp.com
Switch#

Using Ping
These sections describe how to use IP ping:
• Understanding How Ping Works, page 5-5
• Running Ping, page 5-6

Understanding How Ping Works

You can use the ping command to verify connectivity to remote hosts. If you attempt to ping a host in a
different IP subnetwork, you must define a static route to the network or configure a router to route
between those subnets.

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Using Ping

The ping command is configurable from normal executive and privileged EXEC mode. Ping returns one
of the following responses:
• Normal response—The normal response (hostname is alive) occurs in 1 to 10 seconds, depending
on network traffic.
• Destination does not respond—If the host does not respond, a No Answer message is returned.
• Unknown host—If the host does not exist, an Unknown Host message is returned.
• Destination unreachable—If the default gateway cannot reach the specified network, a Destination
Unreachable message is returned.
• Network or host unreachable—If there is no entry in the route table for the host or network, a
Network or Host Unreachable message is returned.
To stop a ping in progress, press Ctrl-C.

Running Ping
To ping another device on the network from the switch, perform this task:

Command Purpose
Switch# ping host Checks connectivity to a remote host.

This example shows how to ping a remote host from normal executive mode:
Switch# ping labsparc
labsparc is alive
Switch> ping 72.16.10.3
12.16.10.3 is alive
Switch#

This example shows how to enter a ping command in privileged EXEC mode specifying the number of
packets, the packet size, and the timeout period:
Switch# ping
Target IP Address []: 12.20.5.19
Number of Packets [5]: 10
Datagram Size [56]: 100
Timeout in seconds [2]: 10
Source IP Address [12.20.2.18]: 12.20.2.18
!!!!!!!!!!

----12.20.2.19 PING Statistics----

10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 1/1/1
Switch

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Using IP Traceroute

Using IP Traceroute
These sections describe how to use IP traceroute feature:
• Understanding How IP Traceroute Works, page 5-7
• Running IP Traceroute, page 5-7

Understanding How IP Traceroute Works

You can use IP traceroute to identify the path that packets take through the network on a hop-by-hop
basis. The command output displays all network layer (Layer 3) devices, such as routers, that the traffic
passes through on the way to the destination.
Layer 2 switches can participate as the source or destination of the trace command but will not appear
as a hop in the trace command output.
The trace command uses the Time To Live (TTL) field in the IP header to cause routers and servers to
generate specific return messages. Traceroute starts by sending a User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
datagram to the destination host with the TTL field set to 1. If a router finds a TTL value of 1 or 0, it
drops the datagram and sends back an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Time-Exceeded
message to the sender. Traceroute determines the address of the first hop by examining the source
address field of the ICMP Time-Exceeded message.
To identify the next hop, traceroute sends a UDP packet with a TTL value of 2. The first router
decrements the TTL field by 1 and sends the datagram to the next router. The second router sees a TTL
value of 1, discards the datagram, and returns the Time-Exceeded message to the source. This process
continues until the TTL is incremented to a value large enough for the datagram to reach the destination
host or until the maximum TTL is reached.
To determine when a datagram reaches its destination, traceroute sets the UDP destination port in the
datagram to a very large value that the destination host is unlikely to be using. When a host receives a
datagram with an unrecognized port number, it sends an ICMP Port Unreachable error message to the
source. The Port Unreachable error message indicates to traceroute that the destination has been reached.

Running IP Traceroute
To trace the path that packets take through the network, perform this task in EXEC or privileged EXEC
mode:

Command Purpose
Switch# trace [protocol] [destination] Runs IP traceroute to trace the path that packets
take through the network.

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Using Layer 2 Traceroute

This example shows use the trace command to display the route a packet takes through the network to
reach its destination:
Switch# trace ip ABA.NYC.mil

Type escape sequence to abort.

Tracing the route to ABA.NYC.mil (26.0.0.73)
1 DEBRIS.CISCO.COM (192.180.1.6) 1000 msec 8 msec 4 msec
2 BARRNET-GW.CISCO.COM (192.180.16.2) 8 msec 8 msec 8 msec
3 EXTERNAL-A-GATEWAY.STANFORD.EDU (192.42.110.225) 8 msec 4 msec 4 msec
4 BB2.SU.BARRNET.NET (192.200.254.6) 8 msec 8 msec 8 msec
5 SU.ARC.BARRNET.NET (192.200.3.8) 12 msec 12 msec 8 msec
6 MOFFETT-FLD-MB.in.MIL (192.52.195.1) 216 msec 120 msec 132 msec
7 ABA.NYC.mil (26.0.0.73) 412 msec 628 msec 664 msec
Switch#

Using Layer 2 Traceroute

These sections describe how to use the Layer 2 traceroute feature:
• Understanding Layer 2 Traceroute, page 5-8
• Layer 2 Traceroute Usage Guidelines, page 5-8
• Running Layer 2 Traceroute, page 5-9

Understanding Layer 2 Traceroute

The Layer 2 traceroute feature allows the switch to identify the physical path that a packet takes from a
source device to a destination device. Layer 2 traceroute supports only unicast source and destination
MAC addresses. It determines the path by using the MAC address tables of the switches in the path.
When the switch detects a device in the path that does not support Layer 2 traceroute, the switch
continues to send Layer 2 trace queries and lets them time out.
If you want the switch to trace the path from a host on a source device to a host on a destination device,
the switch can identify only the path from the source device to the destination device. It cannot identify
the path that a packet takes from source host to the source device or from the destination device to the
destination host.

Layer 2 Traceroute Usage Guidelines

These are the Layer 2 traceroute usage guidelines:
• CDP must be enabled on all the devices in the network. For Layer 2 traceroute to functional properly,
do not disable CDP.
If any devices in the physical path are transparent to CDP, the switch cannot identify the path
through these devices.

Note For more information about enabling CDP, see Chapter 19, “Understanding and Configuring
CDP.”

• All switches in the physical path must have IP connectivity. When a switch is reachable from another
switch, you can test connectivity by using the ping command in privileged EXEC mode.

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Using Layer 2 Traceroute

• The maximum number of hops identified in the path is ten.

• You can enter the traceroute mac or the traceroute mac ip command in privileged EXEC mode on
a switch that is not in the physical path from the source device to the destination device. All switches
in the path must be reachable from this switch.
• The traceroute mac command output shows the Layer 2 path only when the specified source and
destination MAC addresses belong to the same VLAN. If you specify source and destination MAC
addresses that belong to different VLANs, the Layer 2 path is not identified, and an error message
appears.
• If you specify a multicast source or destination MAC address, the path is not identified, and an error
message appears.
• If the source or destination MAC address belongs to multiple VLANs, you must specify the VLAN
to which both the source and destination MAC addresses belong. If the VLAN is not specified, the
path is not identified, and an error message appears.
• The traceroute mac ip command output shows the Layer 2 path when the specified source and
destination IP addresses belong to the same subnet. When you specify the IP addresses, the switch
uses Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to associate the IP address with the corresponding MAC
address and the VLAN ID.
– If an ARP entry exists for the specified IP address, the switch uses the associated MAC address
and identifies the physical path.
– If an ARP entry does not exist, the switch sends an ARP query and tries to resolve the IP
address. If the IP address is not resolved, the path is not identified, and an error message
appears.
• When multiple devices are attached to one port through hubs (for example, multiple CDP neighbors
are detected on a port), the Layer 2 traceroute feature is not supported. When more than one CDP
neighbor is detected on a port, the Layer 2 path is not identified, and an error message appears.
• This feature is not supported in Token Ring VLANs.

Running Layer 2 Traceroute

To display the physical path that a packet takes from a source device to a destination device, perform
either one of these tasks in privileged EXEC mode:

Command Purpose
Switch# traceroute mac {source-mac-address} Runs Layer 2 traceroute to trace the path that
{destination-mac-address} packets take through the network.

or

Command Purpose
Switch# traceroute mac ip {source-mac-address} Runs IP traceroute to trace the path that
{destination-mac-address} packets take through the network.

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Configuring ICMP

These examples show how to use the traceroute mac and traceroute mac ip commands to display the
physical path a packet takes through the network to reach its destination:
Switch# traceroute mac 0000.0201.0601 0000.0201.0201

Source 0000.0201.0601 found on con6[WS-C2950G-24-EI] (2.2.6.6)

con6 (2.2.6.6) :Fa0/1 => Fa0/3
con5 (2.2.5.5 ) : Fa0/3 => Gi0/1
con1 (2.2.1.1 ) : Gi0/1 => Gi0/2
con2 (2.2.2.2 ) : Gi0/2 => Fa0/1
Destination 0000.0201.0201 found on con2[WS-C3550-24] (2.2.2.2)
Layer 2 trace completed
Switch#

Switch# traceroute mac ip 2.2.66.66 2.2.22.22 detail

Translating IP to mac .....
2.2.66.66 => 0000.0201.0601
2.2.22.22 => 0000.0201.0201

Source 0000.0201.0601 found on con6[WS-C2950G-24-EI] (2.2.6.6)

con6 / WS-C2950G-24-EI / 2.2.6.6 :
Fa0/1 [auto, auto] => Fa0/3 [auto, auto]
con5 / WS-C2950G-24-EI / 2.2.5.5 :
Fa0/3 [auto, auto] => Gi0/1 [auto, auto]
con1 / WS-C3550-12G / 2.2.1.1 :
Gi0/1 [auto, auto] => Gi0/2 [auto, auto]
con2 / WS-C3550-24 / 2.2.2.2 :
Gi0/2 [auto, auto] => Fa0/1 [auto, auto]
Destination 0000.0201.0201 found on con2[WS-C3550-24] (2.2.2.2)
Layer 2 trace completed.
Switch#

Configuring ICMP
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) provides many services that control and manage IP
connections. ICMP messages are sent by routers or access servers to hosts or other routers when a
problem is discovered with the Internet header. For detailed information on ICMP, refer to RFC 792.

Enabling ICMP Protocol Unreachable Messages

If the Cisco IOS software receives a nonbroadcast packet that uses an unknown protocol, it sends an
ICMP Protocol Unreachable message back to the source.
Similarly, if the software receives a packet that it is unable to deliver to the ultimate destination because
it knows of no route to the destination address, it sends an ICMP Host Unreachable message to the
source. This feature is enabled by default.
To enable the generation of ICMP Protocol Unreachable and Host Unreachable messages, enter the
following command in interface configuration mode:

Command Purpose
Switch (config-if)# [no] ip unreachables Enables ICMP destination unreachable messages.
Use the no keyword to disable the ICMP destination
unreachable messages.

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Configuring ICMP

To limit the rate that Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) destination unreachable messages are
generated, perform this task:

Command Purpose
Switch (config)# [no] ip icmp rate-limit Limits the rate that ICMP destination messages are
unreachable [df] milliseconds generated.
Use the no keyword to remove the rate limit and
reduce the CPU usage.

Enabling ICMP Redirect Messages

Data routes are sometimes less than optimal. For example, it is possible for the router to be forced to
resend a packet through the same interface on which it was received. If this occurs, the Cisco IOS
software sends an ICMP Redirect message to the originator of the packet telling the originator that the
router is on a subnet directly connected to the receiving device, and that it must forward the packet to
another system on the same subnet. The software sends an ICMP Redirect message to the packet's
originator because the originating host presumably could have sent that packet to the next hop without
involving this device at all. The Redirect message instructs the sender to remove the receiving device
from the route and substitute a specified device representing a more direct path. This feature is enabled
by default.
However, when Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) is configured on an interface, ICMP Redirect
messages are disabled (by default) for the interface. For more information on HSRP, refer to the
following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/software/ios121/121cgcr/ip_c/ipcprt1/1cdip.htm
To enable the sending of ICMP Redirect messages if the Cisco IOS software is forced to resend a packet
through the same interface on which it was received, enter the following command in interface
configuration mode:

Command Purpose
Switch (config-if)# [no] ip redirects Enables ICMP Redirect messages.
Use the no keyword to disable the ICMP Redirect
messages and reduce CPU usage.

Enabling ICMP Mask Reply Messages

Occasionally, network devices must know the subnet mask for a particular subnetwork in the
internetwork. To obtain this information, devices can send ICMP Mask Request messages. These
messages are responded to by ICMP Mask Reply messages from devices that have the requested
information. The Cisco IOS software can respond to ICMP Mask Request messages if the ICMP Mask
Reply function is enabled.

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Configuring ICMP

To have the Cisco IOS software respond to ICMP mask requests by sending ICMP Mask Reply
messages, perform this task:

Command Purpose
Switch (config-if)# [no] ip mask-reply Enables response to ICMP destination mask requests.
Use the no keyword to disable this functionality.

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