We have a few of our GB interfaces on a Cisco 4006 that continually incrememt the input error counter. The other counters stay at 0. The speed/duplex settings on both sides (some of these ports are connected to servers, the other connected to a router) are all set to AUTO so they match. We've tried swapping cables and ports.
I'm trying to find the best way to troubleshoot this but after i confirmed speed/duplex, cabling and ports didn't help i'm not sure where to turn to next. This could have been happening for a long time but since I've started I may be the first to notice. There are easily 200+ input errors and sometimes much more in a one hour period. Any help on what counters to look at or what tools to help analyze this problem would be very much appreciated. I can provide anything else needed as well, please just ask.
I'd suggest setting each interface to a manual setting (not auto), just to make sure that there is no bizzare mis-match. Change back to auto after you've completed your tests.
Which counters are being incremented? Have you tried capturing the data on the interfaces involved with (say) wireshark? Does it show up errors?
Thank you both for your response. I have set both sides manually as well, same general problem although not constant so why i suggested maybe high traffic times (backups). show interface int gix/xx counters errors - all error counters here are 0. sh int gix/xx and the only counter incrementing is "input errors" which probably doesn't tell us much does it?
using wireshark i've done before (not this problem) but to troubleshoot a local computer since it analyzes that NIC and traffic passed. what is the best way to analyze a port on the switch using that tool? Do i plug my laptop into another port on the switch, obviously i can't plug into that port directly because it is the connection out to our bridge router (seperating LAN and WAN routing). Any suggestions on the best way to analyze this? This is a cisco 4006 so it does not support Net Flow, I wish it did because i'm comfortable with that tool. Any other options, hopefully free, i'm all ears.
this is an interesting clip from the article from_exp sent me. this is a port on a L2 device (although it does some L3, cisco cat 4006) that has an L3 router connected to it, maybe this description applies here?
Cisco Catalyst 6000 Series Switches Troubleshooting Switch Port and Interface Problems
Downloads Troubleshooting Switch Port and Interface Problems
Contents Introduction Prerequisites Requirements Components Used Conventions Physical Layer Troubleshooting Using the LEDs to Troubleshoot Check the Cable and Both Sides of the Connection Ethernet Copper and Fiber Cables Gigabit Ethernet Troubleshooting Connected vs Notconnected Most Common Port and Interface Troubleshooting Commands for CatOS and Cisco IOS Understanding Specific Port and Interface Counter Output for CatOS and Cisco IOS Show Port for CatOS and Show Interfaces for Cisco IOS Show Mac for CatOS and Show Interfaces Counters for Cisco IOS Show Counters for CatOS and Show Counters Interface for Cisco IOS Show Controller Ethernet-Controller for Cisco IOS Show Top for CatOS Common System Error Messages Error Messages on WS-X6348 Modules %PAGP-5-PORTTO / FROMSTP and %ETHC-5-PORTTO / FROMSTP %SPANTREE-3-PORTDEL_FAILNOTFOUND %SYS-4-PORT_GBICBADEEPROM: / %SYS-4-PORT_GBICNOTSUPP Command Rejected: [Interface] not a Switching Port Common Port and Interface Problems Port or Interface Status is Disable or Shutdown Port or Interface Status is errDisable Port or Interface Status is Inactive Uplink Port or Interface Status is Inactive Deferred Counter on the Catalyst Switch Interface Starts Incrementing Intermittent Failure to set timer [value] from vlan [vlan no] Trunking Mode Mismatch Jumbos, Giants, and Baby Giants Cannot Ping End Device Using Set Port Host or Switchport Host to Fix Startup Delays Speed/Duplex, Autonegotiation, or NIC Issues Spanning Tree Loops UDLD: One-Way Link Deferred Frames (Out-Lost or Out-Discard) Software Problems Hardware Problems Input Errors on a Layer 3 Interface Connected to a Layer 2 Switchport Rapidly Incrementing Rx-No-Pkt-Buff Counter and Input Errors Trunking between a Switch and a Router Connectivity Issues due to Oversubscription NetPro Discussion Forums - Featured Conversations Related Information
Introduction This document is intended to help determine why a port or interface experiences problems. This document applies to Catalyst switches that run CatOS Software on the Supervisor or Cisco IOS® System Software on the Supervisor.
Prerequisites Requirements There are no specific requirements for this document.
Components Used This document is not restricted to specific software and hardware versions.
Conventions Refer to Cisco Technical Tips Conventions for more information on document conventions.
Physical Layer Troubleshooting Using the LEDs to Troubleshoot If you have physical access to the switch, it can save time to look at the port LEDs which give you the link status or can indicate an error condition (if red or orange). The table describes the LED status indicators for Ethernet modules or fixed-configuration switches:
Platform URL
Catalyst 6000 Series Switches Ethernet Module LEDs
Catalyst 5000 Series Switches Ethernet Module LEDs
Catalyst 4000 Series Switches Ethernet Module LEDs
Catalyst 3750 Series Switches Front Panel LEDs
Catalyst 3550 Series Switches Front Panel LEDs
Catalyst 2950/2955 Series Switches Front Panel LEDs
Catalyst 2900/3500XL Series Switches Front Panel LEDs
Catalyst 1900 and 2820 Series Switches Front Panel LEDs
Catalyst G-L3 Series Switches Front Panel LEDs
Ensure that both sides have a link. A single broken wire or one shutdown port can cause the problem where one side has a link light, but the other side does not.
A link light does not guarantee that the cable is fully functional. The cable can have encountered physical stress that causes it to be functional at a marginal level. Normally you can identify this situation if the port has many packet errors, or the port constantly flaps (loses and regains link).
Check the Cable and Both Sides of the Connection If the link light for the port does not come on, you can consider these possibilities:
Possible Cause Corrective Action
No cable connected Connect cable from switch to a known good device.
Wrong Port Make sure that both ends of the cable are plugged into the correct ports.
Device has no power Ensure that both devices have power.
Wrong cable type Verify the cable selection. Refer to the Catalyst Switch Cable Guide.
Bad cable Swap suspect cable with known good cable. Look for broken or missing pins on connectors.
Loose connections Check for loose connections. Sometimes a cable appears to be seated in the jack, but is not. Unplug the cable and reinsert it.
Patch Panels Eliminate faulty patch panel connections. Bypass the patch panel if possible to rule it out.
Media Convertors Eliminate faulty media convertors: fiber-to-copper, etc. Bypass the media convertor if possible to rule it out.
Bad or wrong Gigabit Interface Convertor (GBIC) Swap suspect GBIC with known good GBIC.
Verify Hw and Sw support for this type of GBIC. See the Gigabit Ethernet Troubleshooting section of this document.
Bad Port or Module
Port or Interface or Module not enabled Move the cable to a known good port to troubleshoot a suspect port or module.
Use the show port command for CatOS or the show interface command for Cisco IOS to look for errdisable, disable or shutdown status.
The show module command can indicate faulty, which can indicate a hardware problem. See the Common Port and Interface Problems section of this document for more information.
Ethernet Copper and Fiber Cables Make sure you have the correct cable for the type of connection you are making. Category 3 copper cable can be used for 10 Mbps unshielded twisted pair (UTP) connections, but must never be used for 10/100 or 10/100/1000Mbps UTP connections. Always use either Category 5, Category 5e, or Category 6 UTP for 10/100 or 10/100/1000Mbps connections.
Warning: Category 5e and Category 6 cables can store high levels of static electricity because of the dielectric properties of the materials used in their construction. Always ground the cables (especially in new cable runs) to a suitable and safe earth ground before you connect them to the module.
For fiber, make sure you have the correct cable for the distances involved and the type of fiber ports that are used. The two options are singlemode fiber (SMF) or multimode fiber (MMF). Make sure the ports on the devices that are connected together are both SMF, or both are MMF ports.
Note: For fiber connections, make sure the transmit lead of one port is connected to the receive lead of the other port. Connections for transmit-to-transmit and receive-to-receive do not work.
Ethernet and Fast Ethernet Maximum Transmission Distances
Transceiver Speed Cable Type Duplex Mode Maximum Distance Between Stations
10 Mbps Category 3 UTP Full and half 328 ft (100 m)
10 Mbps MMF Full and half 1.2 mi (2 km)
100 Mbps Category 5 UTP Category 5e UTP Full and half 328 ft (100 m)
100 Mbps Category 6 UTP Full and half 328 ft (100 m)
100 Mbps MMF Half 1312 ft (400 m)
Full 1.2 mi (2 km)
100 Mbps SMF Half 1312 ft (400 m)
Full 6.2 mi (10 km)
For more details on the different types of cables/connectors, cabling requirements, optical requirements (distance, type, patch cables, etc.), how to connect the different cables, and which cables are used by most Cisco switches and modules, refer to Catalyst Switch Cable Guide.
Gigabit Ethernet Troubleshooting If you have device A connected to device B over a Gigabit link, and the link does not come up, perform this procedure.
Step-by-Step Procedure
Verify device A and B use the same GBIC, short wavelength (SX), long wavelength (LX), long haul (LH), extended wavelength (ZX), or copper UTP (TX). Both devices must use the same type of GBIC to establish link. An SX GBIC needs to connect with an SX GBIC. An SX GBIC does not link with an LX GBIC. Refer to Mode-Conditioning Patch Cord Installation Note for more information.
Verify distance and cable used per GBIC as defined in this table.
1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-X Port Cabling Specifications
WS-G5483 1000Base - T (copper) Category 5 UTP Category
5e UTP Category
6 UTP 328 ft (100 m)
WS-G5484 1000BASE-SX3 850 MMF 62.5
62.5
50.0
50.0 160
200
400
500 722 ft (220 m)
902 ft (275 m)
1640 ft (500 m)
1804 ft (550 m)
WS-G5486 1000BASE-LX/LH 1310 MMF4
SMF 62.5
50.0
50.0
8.3/9/10 500
400
500
- 1804 ft (550 m)
1804 ft (550 m)
1804 ft (550 m)
6.2 miles (10 km)
WS-G5487 1000BASE-ZX5 1550 MMF
SMF6 8.3/9/10
8.3/9/10 43.5 miles (70 km)7
62.1 miles (100 km)
The numbers given for multimode fiber-optic cable refer to the core diameter. For single-mode fiber-optic cable, 8.3 microns refers to the core diameter. The 9-micron and 10-micron values refer to the mode-field diameter (MFD), which is the diameter of the light-carrying portion of the fiber. This area consists of the fiber core plus a small portion of the surrounding cladding. The MFD is a function of the core diameter, the wavelength of the laser, and the refractive index difference between the core and the cladding.
Distances are based on fiber loss. Multiple splices and substandard fiber-optic cable reduce cabling distances.
Use with MMF only.
When you use an LX/LH GBIC with 62.5-micron diameter MMF, you must install a mode-conditioning patch cord (CAB-GELX-625 or equivalent) between the GBIC and the MMF cable on both the transmit and receive ends of the link. The mode-conditioning patch cord is required for link distances less than 328 feet (100 m) or greater than 984 feet (300 m). The mode-conditioning patch cord prevents overdriving the receiver for short lengths of MMF and reduces differential mode delay for long lengths of MMF. Refer to Mode-Conditioning Patch Cord Installation Note for more information.
Use with SMF only.
Dispersion-shifted single-mode fiber-optic cable.
The minimum link distance for ZX GBICs is 6.2 miles (10 km) with an 8-dB attenuator installed at each end of the link. Without attenuators, the minimum link distance is 24.9 miles (40 km).
If either device has multiple Gigabit ports, connect the ports to each other. This tests each device and verifies that the Gigabit interface functions correctly. For example, you have a switch that has two Gigabit ports. Wire Gigabit port one to Gigabit port two. Does the link come up? If so, the port is good. STP blocks on the port and prevents any loops (port one receive (RX) goes to port two transmit (TX), and port one TX goes to port two RX).
If single connection or Step 3 fails with SC connectors, loop the port back to itself (port one RX goes to port one TX). Does the port come up? If not, contact the TAC, as this can be a faulty port.
If steps 3 and 4 are successful, but a connection between device A and B cannot be established, loop ports with the cable that adjoins the two devices. Verify that there is not a faulty cable.
Verify that each device supports 802.3z specification for Gigabit auto-negotiation. Gigabit Ethernet has an auto-negotiation procedure that is more extensive than the one used for 10/100 Ethernet (Gigabit auto-negotiation spec: IEEE Std 802.3z-1998). When you enable link negotiation, the system auto-negotiates flow control, duplex mode, and remote fault information. You must either enable or disable link negotiation on both ends of the link. Both ends of the link must be set to the same value or the link cannot connect. Problems have been seen when you connect to devices manufactured before the IEEE 802.3z standard was ratified. If either device does not support Gigabit auto-negotiation, disable the Gigabit auto-negotiation, and it forces the link up.
Warning: Disabling auto-negotiation hides link drops or physical layer problems. Disabling auto-negotiation is only required if end-devices such as older Gigabit NICs are used which cannot support IEEE 802.3z. Do not disable auto-negotiation between switches unless absolutely required to do so, as physical layer problems can go undetected, which results in STP loops. The alternative is to contact the vendor for software/hardware upgrade for IEEE 802.3z Gigabit auto-negotiation support.
In order to troubleshoot the error message: %SYS-4-PORT_GBICBADEEPROM: / %SYS-4-PORT_GBICNOTSUPP, refer to Common CatOS Error Messages on Catalyst 6000/6500 Series Switches.
For GigabitEthernet system requirements as well as Gigabit Interface Converters (GBICs), Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM), and Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) system requirements, refer to these:
System Requirements to Implement Gigabit Ethernet on Catalyst Switches
For general configuration and troubleshooting information, refer to Configuring and Troubleshooting Ethernet 10/100/1000 MB Half/Full Duplex Auto-Negotiation.
Connected vs Notconnected Most Cisco switches default to having a port in the notconnect state. This means it is currently not connected to anything, but it will connect if it has a good connection to another operational device. If you connect a good cable to two switch ports in the notconnect state, the link light must become green for both ports, and the port status must indicate connected. This means that the port is up as far as Layer 1 (L1) is concerned.
For CatOS, you can use the show port command to verify whether the port has a connected or notconnect status, or whether it is another state that would cause connectivity to fail, like disabled or errdisable.
Switch> (enable) sh port status 3/1 Port Name Status Vlan Duplex Speed Type ----- -------------------- ---------- ---------- ------ ----- ------------ 3/1 disabled 1 auto auto 10/100BaseTX !--- The show port status {mod/port} command show the port is disabled. !--- Use the set port enable {mod/port}command to try and re-enable it. For Cisco IOS, you can use the show interfaces command to verify whether the interface is "up, line protocol is up (connected)". The first "up" refers to the physical layer status of the interface. The "line protocol up" message shows the data link layer status of the interface and says that the interface can send and receive keepalives.
Router#show interfaces fastEthernet 6/1 FastEthernet6/1 is down, line protocol is down (notconnect) !--- The interface is down and line protocol is down. !--- Reasons: In this case, !--- 1) A cable is not properly connected or not connected at all to this port. !--- 2) The connected cable is faulty. !--- 3) Other end of the cable is not connected to an active port or device.
!--- Note: For gigabit connections, GBICs need to be matched on each !--- side of the connection. !--- There are different types of GBICs, depending on the cable and !--- distances involved: short wavelength (SX), !--- long-wavelength/long-haul (LX/LH) and extended distance (ZX). !--- An SX GBIC needs to connect with an SX GBIC; !--- an SX GBIC does not link with an LX GBIC. Also, some gigabit !--- connections require conditioning cables, !--- depending on the lengths involved.
Router#show interfaces fastEthernet 6/1 FastEthernet6/1 is up, line protocol is down (notconnect) !--- The interface is up (or not in a shutdown state), but line protocol down. !--- Reason: In this case, the device on the other side of the wire is a !--- CatOS switch with its port disabled.
Router#sh interfaces fas 6/1 status Port Name Status Vlan Duplex Speed Type Fa6/1 notconnect 1 auto auto 10/100BaseTX !--- The show interfaces card-type [slot/port] status command is the equivalent !--- of show port status for CatOS. If show port shows connected or show interfaces shows up/ line protocol up (connected) but you see errors incrementing in the output of either command, refer to the Understanding Specfic Port and Interface Counter Output for CatOS or Cisco IOS or Common Port and Interface Problems sections of this document for troubleshooting advice.
Most Common Port and Interface Troubleshooting Commands for CatOS and Cisco IOS This table shows the most common commands used for troubleshooting port or interface problems on switches that run CatOS Software on the Supervisor or Cisco IOS System Software on the Supervisor.
Note: Choose a command in the left hand column to go to documentation for that command. The right hand column gives a brief description of what the command does and lists any exceptions to it's use per platform.
These commands are supported by the Output Interpreter tool for CatOS and can be used to assist in troubleshooting switch port or problems: show version, show module, show port, show counters, or show mac.
If you have the output of the supported commands from your Cisco device, you can use to display potential issues and fixes. In order to use Output Interpreter, you must be a registered user, be logged in, and have JavaScript enabled.
CatOS Commands Cisco IOS Commands Description
show version show version For switches that run CatOS, this command displays software and hardware version info per module and system memory sizes.
For switches that run Cisco IOS, this command displays output similar to a Cisco router, like software image name and version information and system memory sizes.
Helpful in searching for software/hardware incompatibilities (with the Release Notes or Software Advisor) and bugs (with the Software Bug Toolkit).
For more information on the show version command, see the Software Problems section of this document
show module show module For Catalyst 6000, 5000, 4000 and other modular switches that run CatOS or Cisco IOS, this command displays what cards are present in the switch, the version of software they are that run, and what state the modules are in: ok, faulty, etc.
Helpful in diagnosing a hardware problem on a module or port.
For more information on troubleshooting hardware problems with the show module command, see the Port or Interface Status is disabled or shutdown or the Hardware Problems sections of this document.
show config show that run-config For CatOS, this command displays the non-default configuration settings of the switch (all changes made to the default configuration). All changes to the config in CatOS are saved automatically.
For Cisco IOS, this command displays the current configuration file of the switch. Changes are saved to the config in Cisco IOS with the write memory command.
Helpful in determining whether a misconfiguration of the mod/port or interface, can cause a problem.
show port show interfaces For CatOS, the show port command displays whether the port is connected, what VLAN it is in, what speed/duplex it is that run at, channel information, errors, etc.
For Cisco IOS, the show interfaces command displays the administrative and operational status of a switching port, input and output packets, buffer failures, errors, etc.
The output of these two commands is discussed in more detail in the Understanding Port and Interface Counter Output for CatOS and Cisco IOS section of this document.
clear counters clear counters For CatOS and Cisco IOS use the clear counters command to zero the traffic and error counters so that you can see if the problem is only temporary, or if the counters continue to increment.
Note: The Catalyst 6500/6000 series switches do not clear the bit counters of an interface with the clear counters command. The only way to clear the bit counters in these switches is to reload.
show port counters show interfaces counters For CatOS, the show port <mod/port> command displays port error counters like FCS, alignments, collisions, etc.
For Cisco IOS on the Catalyst 6000, 4000, 3550, 2950, and and 3750 series, the equivalent command is show interfaces card-type x/y counters errors.
The output of these two commands is discussed in more detail in the Understanding Port and Interface Counter Output for CatOS and Cisco IOS section of this document.
show counters show counters interface
show controllers ethernet-controller For CatOS, the show counters command displays the 64-bit and 32-bit hardware counters for a given mod/port or interface. Counters vary dependent upon the module type and platform.
For Cisco IOS, the show counters interface command was introduced in software version 12.1(13)E for the Catalyst 6000 series only and is the equivalent of the show counters command for CatOS which displays 32-bit and 64-bit error counters.
For Cisco IOS on 2900/3500XL, 2950/2955, 3550, 2970 and 3750 series switches, the show controllers Ethernet-controller command is similar to the show counters command on CatOS platforms. Displays discarded frames, deferred frames, alignment errors, collisions, etc.
show mac show interfaces counters For CatOS, the show mac command displays the MAC counters for traffic passing through each port such as, received frames, transmit frames, out-lost, in-lost, etc. (This command does not list the MAC addresses learned on a port by the bridging software. Use the command show cam dynamic for that information.)
For Cisco IOS, the show interfaces card-type x/y counters command is similar to show mac for CatOS platforms.
The output of these two commands is discussed in more detail in the Understanding Port and Interface Counter Output for CatOS and Cisco IOS section of this document.
show test show diagnostic(s)
show post For CatOS, the show test command displays any hardware errors encountered on startup.
For Cisco IOS, the equivalent command is show diagnostic which was introduced in 12.1(11b)E for the Catalyst 6000 series and show diagnostics(with an s) which was introduced in for the Catalyst 4000 Series. Both commands display Power-On Self Test (POST) results.
For Cisco IOS on the 2900/3500XL, 2950/2955, 3550, 2970 and 3750 series switches, the equivalent command is show post which displays the results of the switch POST.
For more information on troubleshooting hardware related errors on Catalyst switches, see the Hardware Problems section of this document.
Understanding Specific Port and Interface Counter Output for CatOS and Cisco IOS Most switches have some way to track the packets and errors that occur on a port or interface. The common commands used to find this type of information are described in the Most Common Port and Interface Troubleshooting Commands for CatOS and Cisco IOS section of this document.
Note: There can be differences in the implementation of the counters across various platforms and releases. Although the values of the counters are largely accurate, they are not very precise by design. In order to pull the exact statistics of the traffic, it is suggested that you use a sniffer to monitor the necessary ingress and egress interfaces.
Excessive errors for certain counters usually indicate a problem. When you operate at half-duplex setting, some data link errors incrementing in Frame Check Sequence (FCS), alignment, runts, and collision counters are normal. Generally, a one percent ratio of errors to total traffic is acceptable for half-duplex connections. If the ratio of errors to input packets is greater than two or three percent, performance degradation can be noticed.
In half-duplex environments, it is possible for both the switch and the connected device to sense the wire and transmit at exactly the same time and result in a collision. Collisions can cause runts, FCS, and alignment errors due to the frame not being completely copied to the wire, which results in fragmented frames.
When you operate at full-duplex, errors in FCS, Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC), alignment, and runt counters must be minimal. If the link operates at full-duplex, the collision counter is not active. If the FCS, CRC, alignment, or runt counters increment, check for a duplex mismatch. Duplex mismatch is a situation where the switch operates at full-duplex and the connected device operates at half-duplex, or vice versa. The results of a duplex mismatch are extremely slow performance, intermittent connectivity, and loss of connection. Other possible causes of data link errors at full-duplex are bad cables, faulty switch ports, or NIC software/hardware issues. See the Common Port and Interface Problems section of this document for more information.
Show Port for CatOS and Show Interfaces for Cisco IOS The show port {mod/port} command is used when that run CatOS on the Supervisor. An alternative to this command is the show port counters {mod/port} which only displays the port error counters. Refer to Table 1 for explanations of the error counter output.
Port Single-Col Multi-Coll Late-Coll Excess-Col Carri-Sen Runts Giants ----- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- --------- --------- --------- 3/1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0The show interfaces card-type {slot/port} command is the equivalent command for Cisco IOS on the Supervisor. An alternative to this command (for Catalyst 6000, 4000, 3550, 2970 2950/2955, and 3750 series switches) is the show interfaces card-type {slot/port} counters errors command which only displays the interface error counters.
Note: For 2900/3500XL Series switches use the show interfaces card-type {slot/port} command with the show controllers Ethernet-controller command.
Router#sh interfaces fastEthernet 6/1 FastEthernet6/1 is up, line protocol is up (connected) Hardware is C6k 100Mb 802.3, address is 0009.11f3.8848 (bia 0009.11f3.8848) MTU 1500 bytes, BW 100000 Kbit, DLY 100 usec, reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255 Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set Full-duplex, 100Mb/s input flow-control is off, output flow-control is off ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00 Last input 00:00:14, output 00:00:36, output hang never Last clearing of "show interface" counters never Input queue: 0/2000/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0 Queueing strategy: fifo Output queue :0/40 (size/max) 5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec 5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/secThe show interfaces command output up to this point is explained here (in order) :
up, line protocol is up (connected) - The first "up" refers to the physical layer status of the interface. The "line protocol up" message shows the data link layer status of the interface and says that the interface can send and receive keepalives.
MTU - The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is 1500 bytes for Ethernet by default (for the max data portion of the frame).
Full-duplex, 100Mb/s - Full-duplex and 100Mbps is the current speed and duplex setting of the interface. This does not tell you whether autoneg was used to achieve this. Use the show interfaces fas 6/1 status command to display this:
Router#sh interfaces fas 6/1 status
Port Name Status Vlan Duplex Speed Type Fa6/1 connected 1 a-full a-100 10/100BaseTX !--- Autonegotiation was used to achieve full-duplex and 100Mbps. Last input, output - The number of hours, minutes, and seconds since the last packet was successfully received or transmitted by the interface. This is usefulto know when a dead interface failed.
Last clearing of "show interface" counters - The last time the clear counters command was issued since the last time the switch was rebooted. The clear counters command is used to reset interface statistics.
Note: Variables that can affect routing (for example, load and reliability) are not cleared when the counters are cleared.
Input queue - The number of packets in the input queue. Size/max/drops = the current number of frames in the queue / the max number of frames the queue can hold before it must start dropping frames / the actual number of frames dropped because the max queue size was exceeded. Flushes is used to count Selective Packet Discard (SPD) drops on the the Catalyst 6000 Series that run Cisco IOS. (The flushes counter can be used but never increments on the Catalyst 4000 Series that run Cisco IOS.) SPD is a mechanism that quickly drops low priority packets when the CPU is overloaded in order to save some processing capacity for high priority packets. The flushes counter in the show interface command output increments as part of selective packet discard (SPD), which implements a selective packet drop policy on the IP process queue of the router. Therefore, it applies to only process switched traffic.
The purpose of SPD is to ensure that important control packets, such as routing updates and keepalives, are not dropped when the IP input queue is full. When the size of the IP input queue is between the minimum and maximum thresholds, normal IP packets are dropped based on a certain drop probability. These random drops are called SPD flushes.
Total output drops - The number of packets dropped because the output queue is full. A common cause of this might be traffic from a high bandwidth link being switched to a lower bandwidth link or traffic from multiple inbound links being switched to a single outbound link. For example, if a large amount of bursty traffic comes in on a gigabit interface and is switched out to a 100Mbps interface, this might cause output drops to increment on the 100Mbps interface. This is because the output queue on that interface is overwhelmed by the excess traffic due to the speed mismatch between the inbound and outbound bandwidths.
Output queue - The number of packets in the output queue. Size/max means the current number of frames in the queue/the max number of frames the queue can hold before it is full and must start dropping frames.
5 minute input/output rate - The average input and output rate seen by the interface in the last five minutes. In order to get a more accurate reading by specifying a shorter period of time (to better detect traffic bursts for example), issue the load-interval <seconds> interface command.
The rest of the show interfaces command displays error counter output which is similar or equivalent to CatOS error counter output. See Table 1 for explanations of the error counter output.
!--- ...show interfaces command output continues. 1117058 packets input, 78283238 bytes, 0 no buffer Received 1117035 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles 0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored 0 watchdog, 0 multicast, 0 pause input 0 input packets with dribble condition detected 285811 packets output, 27449284 bytes, 0 underruns 0 output errors, 0 collisions, 2 interface resets 0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred 0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier 0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out The show interfaces card-type {slot/port} counters errors command is the equivalent Cisco IOS command to show port counters for CatOS. See Table 1 for explanations of the error counter output.
CatOS error counter output for show port or show port counters for the Catalyst 6000, 5000 and 4000 Series. Cisco IOS error counter output for show interfaces or show interfaces card-type x/y counters errors for the Catalyst 6000 and 4000 Series.
Counters (in alphabetical order) Description and Common Causes of Incrementing Error Counters
Align-Err Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces counters errors. Alignment errors are a count of the number of frames received that don't end with an even number of octets and have a bad Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC).
Common Causes: These are usually the result of a duplex mismatch or a physical problem (such as cabling, a bad port, or a bad NIC). When the cable is first connected to the port, some of these errors can occur. Also, if there is a hub connected to the port, collisions between other devices on the hub can cause these errors.
Platform Exceptions: Alignment errors are not counted on the Catalyst 4000 Series Supervisor I (WS-X4012) or Supervisor II (WS-X4013).
babbles Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. CatOS counter indicating that the transmit jabber timer expired. A jabber is a frame longer than 1518 octets (which exclude framing bits, but include FCS octets), which does not end with an even number of octets (alignment error) or has a bad FCS error.
Carri-Sen Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces counters errors. The Carri-Sen (carrier sense) counter increments every time an Ethernet controller wants to send data on a half duplex connection. The controller senses the wire and checks if it is not busy before transmitting.
Common Causes: This is normal on an half duplex Ethernet segment.
collisions Descriptions: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The number of times a collision occurred before the interface transmitted a frame to the media successfully.
Common Causes: Collisions are normal for interfaces configured as half duplex but must not be seen on full duplex interfaces. If collisions increase dramatically, this points to a highly utilized link or possibly a duplex mismatch with the attached device.
CRC Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. This increments when the CRC generated by the originating LAN station or far-end device does not match the checksum calculated from the data received.
Common Causes: This usually indicates noise or transmission problems on the LAN interface or the LAN itself. A high number of CRCs is usually the result of collisions but can also indicate a physical issue (such as cabling, bad interface or NIC) or a duplex mismatch.
deferred Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The number of frames that have been transmitted successfully after they wait because the media was busy.
Common Causes: This is usually seen in half duplex environments where the carrier is already in use when it tries to transmit a frame.
pause input Description: Cisco IOS show interfaces counter. An increment in pause input counter means that the connected device requests for a traffic pause when its receive buffer is almost full.
Common Causes: This counter is incremented for informational purposes, since the switch accepts the frame. The pause packets stop when the connected device is able to receive the traffic.
input packetswith dribble condition Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. A dribble bit error indicates that a frame is slightly too long.
Common Causes: This frame error counter is incremented for informational purposes, since the switch accepts the frame.
Excess-Col Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces counters errors. A count of frames for which transmission on a particular interface fails due to excessive collisions. An excessive collision happens when a packet has a collision 16 times in a row. The packet is then dropped.
Common Causes: Excessive collisions are typically an indication that the load on the segment needs to be split across multiple segments but can also point to a duplex mismatch with the attached device. Collisions must not be seen on interfaces configured as full duplex.
FCS-Err Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces counters errors. The number of valid size frames with Frame Check Sequence (FCS) errors but no framing errors.
Common Causes: This is typically a physical issue (such as cabling, a bad port, or a bad Network Interface Card (NIC)) but can also indicate a duplex mismatch.
frame Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The number of packets received incorrectly that has a CRC error and a non-integer number of octets (alignment error).
Common Causes: This is usually the result of collisions or a physical problem (such as cabling, bad port or NIC) but can also indicate a duplex mismatch.
Giants Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces and sh interfaces counters errors. Frames received that exceed the maximum IEEE 802.3 frame size (1518 bytes for non-jumbo Ethernet) and have a bad Frame Check Sequence (FCS).
Common Causes: In many cases, this is the result of a bad NIC. Try to find the offending device and remove it from the network.
Platform Exceptions: Catalyst Cat4000 Series that run Cisco IOS Previous to software Version 12.1(19)EW, the giants counter incremented for a frame > 1518bytes. After 12.1(19)EW, a giant in show interfaces increments only when a frame is received >1518bytes with a bad FCS.
ignored Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The number of received packets ignored by the interface because the interface hardware ran low on internal buffers.
Common Causes: Broadcast storms and bursts of noise can cause the ignored count to be increased.
Input errors Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter.
Common Causes: This includes runts, giants, no buffer, CRC, frame, overrun, and ignored counts. Other input-related errors can also cause the input errors count to be increased, and some datagrams can have more than one error. Therefore, this sum cannot balance with the sum of enumerated input error counts.
Also refer to the section Input Errors on a Layer 3 Interface Connected to a Layer 2 Switchport.
Late-Col Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces and sh interfaces counters errors. The number of times a collision is detected on a particular interface late in the transmission process. For a 10 Mbit/s port this is later than 512 bit-times into the transmission of a packet. Five hundred and twelve bit-times corresponds to 51.2 microseconds on a 10 Mbit/s system.
Common Causes: This error can indicate a duplex mismatch among other things. For the duplex mismatch scenario, the late collision is seen on the half duplex side. As the half duplex side is transmitting, the full duplex side does not wait its turn and transmits simultaneously which causes a late collision. Late collisions can also indicate an Ethernet cable or segment that is too long. Collisions must not be seen on interfaces configured as full duplex.
lost carrier Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The number of times the carrier was lost in transmission.
Common Causes: Check for a bad cable. Check the physical connection on both sides.
Multi-Col Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces counters errors.
The number of times multiple collisions occurred before the interface transmitted a frame to the media successfully.
Common Causes: Collisions are normal for interfaces configured as half duplex but must not be seen on full duplex interfaces. If collisions increase dramatically, this points to a highly utilized link or possibly a duplex mismatch with the attached device.
no buffer Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The number of received packets discarded because there is no buffer space.
Common Causes: Compare with ignored count. Broadcast storms can often be responsible for these events.
no carrier Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The number of times the carrier was not present in the transmission.
Common Causes: Check for a bad cable. Check the physical connection on both sides.
Out-Discard Description: The number of outbound packets chosen to be discarded even though no errors have been detected.
Common Causes: One possible reason to discard such a packet can be to free up buffer space.
output buffer failuresoutput buffers swapped out Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The number of failed buffers and the number of buffers swapped out.
Common Causes: A port buffers the packets to the Tx buffer when the rate of traffic switched to the port is high and it cannot handle the amount of traffic. The port starts to drop the packets when the Tx buffer is full and thus increases the underruns and the output buffer failure counters. The increase in the output buffer failure counters can be a sign that the ports are run at an inferior speed and/or duplex, or there is too much traffic that goes through the port.
As an example, consider a scenario where a 1gig multicast stream is forwarded to 24 100 Mbps ports. If an egress interface is over-subscribed, it is normal to see output buffer failures that increment along with Out-Discards.
For troubleshooting information, see the Deferred Frames (Out-Lost or Out-Discard) section of this document.
output errors Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The sum of all errors that prevented the final transmission of datagrams out of the interface.
Common Cause: This issue is due to the low Output Queue size.
overrun Description: The number of times the receiver hardware was unable to hand received data to a hardware buffer.
Common Cause: The input rate of traffic exceeded the ability of the receiver to handle the data.
packets input/output Description: Cisco IOS sh interfaces counter. The total error free packets received and transmitted on the interface. Monitoring these counters for increments is useful to determine whether traffic flows properly through the interface. The bytes counter includes both the data and MAC encapsulation in the error free packets received and transmitted by the system.
Rcv-Err Description: CatOS show port or show port counters and Cisco IOS (for the Catalyst 6000 Series only) sh interfaces counters error.
Common Causes: See Platform Exceptions.
Platform Exceptions: Catalyst 5000 Series rcv-err = receive buffer failures. For example, a runt, giant, or an FCS-Err does not increment the rcv-err counter. The rcv-err counter on a 5K only increments as a result of excessive traffic.
On Catalyst 4000 Series rcv-err = the sum of all receive errors, which means, in contrast to the Catalyst 5000, that the rcv-err counter increments when the interface receives an error like a runt, giant or FCS-Err.
Runts Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces and sh interfaces counters errors. The frames received that are smaller than the minimum IEEE 802.3 frame size (64 bytes for Ethernet), and with a bad CRC.
Common Causes: This can be caused by a duplex mismatch and physical problems, such as a bad cable, port, or NIC on the attached device.
Platform Exceptions: Catalyst 4000 Series that run Cisco IOS Previous to software Version 12.1(19)EW, a runt = undersize. Undersize = frame < 64bytes. The runt counter only incremented when a frame less than 64 bytes was received. After 12.1(19EW, a runt = a fragment. A fragment is a frame < 64 bytes but with a bad CRC. The result is the runt counter now increments in show interfaces, along with the fragments counter in show interfaces counters errors when a frame <64 bytes with a bad CRC is received.
Single-Col Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces counters errors.
The number of times one collision occurred before the interface transmitted a frame to the media successfully.
Common Causes: Collisions are normal for interfaces configured as half duplex but must not be seen on full duplex interfaces. If collisions increase dramatically, this points to a highly utilized link or possibly a duplex mismatch with the attached device.
underruns Description: The number of times that the transmitter has been that run faster than the switch can handle.
Common Causes: This can occur in a high throughput situation where an interface is hit with a high volume of bursty traffic from many other interfaces all at once. Interface resets can occur along with the underruns.
Undersize Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces counters errors .
The frames received that are smaller than the minimum IEEE 802.3 frame size of 64 bytes (which excludes framing bits, but includes FCS octets) that are otherwise well formed.
Common Causes: Check the device that sends out these frames.
Xmit-Err Description: CatOS sh port and Cisco IOS sh interfaces counters errors.
This is an indication that the internal send (Tx) buffer is full.
Common Causes: A common cause of Xmit-Err can be traffic from a high bandwidth link that is switched to a lower bandwidth link, or traffic from multiple inbound links that are switched to a single outbound link. For example, if a large amount of bursty traffic comes in on a gigabit interface and is switched out to a 100Mbps interface, this can cause Xmit-Err to increment on the 100Mbps interface. This is because the output buffer of the interface is overwhelmed by the excess traffic due to the speed mismatch between the inbound and outbound bandwidths.
Show Mac for CatOS and Show Interfaces Counters for Cisco IOS The show mac {mod/port}command is useful when that run CatOS on the supervisor to monitor inbound and outbound traffic on the port as displayed by the receive (Rcv) and transmit (Xmit) counters for unicast, multicast, and broadcast traffic. This output is from a Catalyst 6000 that run CatOS:
Port Last-Time-Cleared ----- -------------------------- 3/1 Sun Jun 1 2003, 12:22:47 This command also has these error counters: Dely-Exced, MTU-Exced, In-Discard and Out-Discard.
Dely-Exced - The number of frames discarded by this port due to an excessive transmit delay through the switch. This counter must never go up unless the port is under very high utilization.
MTU Exceed - This is an indication that one of the devices on that port or segment transmits more than the allowed frame size (1518 bytes for non-jumbo Ethernet).
In-Discard - The result of inbound valid frames that were discarded because the frame did not need to be switched. This can be normal if a hub is connected to a port and two devices on that hub exchange data. The switch port still sees the data but does not have to switch it (since the CAM table shows the MAC address of both devices associated with the same port), and so it is discarded. This counter can also increment on a port configured as a trunk if that trunk blocks for some VLANs, or on a port that is the only member of a VLAN.
Out-Discard - The number of outbound packets chosen to be discarded even though no packet errors have been detected. One possible reason to discard such a packet can be to free up buffer space.
Catalyst 4000 and 5000 series switches that run CatOS have two additional error counters in the show mac command. These are the In-Lost and Out-Lost counters:
MAC Dely-Exced MTU-Exced In-Discard Lrn-Discrd In-Lost Out-Lost -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 5/1 0 0 0 0 0 0In-Lost - On the Catalyst 4000, this counter is the sum of all error packets received on the port. The In-Lost counter on the Catalyst 5000, on the other hand, tracks the sum of all receive buffer failures.
Out-Lost - On the Catalyst 4000 and 5000, these are outbound frames that were lost before they were forwarded (due to insufficient buffer space). This is commonly caused by oversubscribing the port.
The show interfaces card-type {slot/port} counters command is used when you run Cisco IOS on the Supervisor.
Note: There are no equivalent counters to the CatOS show mac error counters: Dely-Exced, MTU-Exced and In-Discard in this command There is, however, an Out-Discard counter in the Cisco IOS show interfaces counters errors command which is explained in Table 1.
Router#sh interfaces fas 6/1 counters
Port InOctets InUcastPkts InMcastPkts InBcastPkts Fa6/1 47856076 23 673028 149
Port OutOctets OutUcastPkts OutMcastPkts OutBcastPkts Fa6/1 22103793 17 255877 3280 Router# !--- Cisco IOS counters used to monitor inbound and outbound unicast, multicast !--- and broadcast packets on the interface. Show Counters for CatOS and Show Counters Interface for Cisco IOS The show counters [mod/port] command offers even more detailed statistics for ports and interfaces. This command is available for CatOS and the equivalent show counters interface card-type {slot/port} command was introduced in Cisco IOS software version 12.1(13)E for the Catalyst 6000 series only. These commands display the 32-bit and 64-bit error counters per port or interface. Refer to the CatOS command documentation for show counters for more information.
Note: Counter stats for Catalyst 6000 series switches that run Cisco IOS are in Hex.
Console> (enable) sh counters 3/1 64 bit counters 0 rxHCTotalPkts = 260555 1 txHCTotalPkts = 687411 2 rxHCUnicastPkts = 177 3 txHCUnicastPkts = 30 4 rxHCMulticastPkts = 256684 5 txHCMulticastPkts = 687228 6 rxHCBroadcastPkts = 3694 7 txHCBroadcastPkts = 153 8 rxHCOctets = 22386167 9 txHCOctets = 48850817 10 rxTxHCPkts64Octets = 228929 11 rxTxHCPkts65to127Octets = 701493 12 rxTxHCPkts128to255Octets = 285 13 rxTxHCPkts256to511Octets = 17090 14 rxTxHCpkts512to1023Octets = 168 15 rxTxHCpkts1024to1518Octets = 1 16 txHCTrunkFrames = 395217 17 rxHCTrunkFrames = 236459 18 rxHCDropEvents = 0 32 bit counters 0 rxCRCAlignErrors = 0 1 rxUndersizedPkts = 0 2 rxOversizedPkts = 0 3 rxFragmentPkts = 0 4 rxJabbers = 0 5 txCollisions = 0 6 ifInErrors = 0 7 ifOutErrors = 0 8 ifInDiscards = 233043 9 ifInUnknownProtos = 2 10 ifOutDiscards = 17 !--- Output suppressed. Show Controller Ethernet-Controller for Cisco IOS For Catalyst 3750, 3550, 2970, 2950/2955, 2940, and 2900/3500XL switches use the command show controller ethernet-controller to display traffic counter and error counter output that is similar to the sh port, sh interface, sh mac and show counters output for Catalyst 6000, 5000 and 4000 series switches.
3550-1#sh controller ethernet-controller fastEthernet 0/1 !--- Output from a Catalyst 3550.
3550-1# !--- See table for additional counter output for 2900/3500XL Series switches.
Counter Description Possible Causes
Transmitted Frames
Discarded frames The total number of frames whose transmission attempt is abandoned due to insufficient resources. This total includes frames of all destination types. The traffic load on the interface is excessive and causes the frames to be discarded. Reduce the traffic load on the interface if you see an increasing number of packets in this field.
Too old frames Number of frames that took longer than two seconds to travel through the switch. For this reason, they were discarded by the switch. This only happens under extreme, high stress conditions. The traffic load for this switch is excessive and causes the frames to be discarded. Reduce the switch load if you see an increasing number of packets in this field. You can need to modify your network topology to reduce the traffic load for this switch.
Deferred frames The total number of frames whose first transmission attempt was delayed, due to traffic on the network media. This total includes only those frames that are subsequently transmitted without error and without experiencing a collision. The traffic load destined for this switch is excessive and causes the frames to be discarded. Reduce the switch load if you see an increasing number of packets in this field. You can need to modify your network topology to reduce the traffic load for this switch.
Collision frames The collision frames counters are the number of times a packet was attempted to be transmitted but was not successful, but was successful on its next attempt. This means that if the 2 collision frames counter incremented, the switch attempted to send the packet twice and failed but was successful on its third attempt. The traffic load on the interface is excessive and causes the frames to be discarded. Reduce the traffic load on the interface if you see an increasing number of packets in these fields.
Excessive collisions The excessive collisions counter increases after 16 consecutive late collisions have occurred in a row. After 16 attempts have been made to send the packet the packet is dropped, and the counter increments. If this counter increments, it is an indication of a wiring problem, an excessively loaded network, or a duplex mismatch. An excessively loaded network can be caused by too many devices on a shared Ethernet.
Late collisions A late collision occurs when two devices transmit at the same time, and neither side of the connection detects a collision. The reason for this occurrence is because the time to propagate the signal from one end of the network to another is longer than the time to put the entire packet on the network. The two devices that cause the late collision never see that the other is sending until after it puts the entire packet on the network. Late collisions are not detected by the transmitter until after the first 64 byte slot time. This is because they are only detected in transmissions of packets longer than 64 bytes. Late collisions are a result of incorrect cabling or a non-compliant number of hubs in the network. Bad NICs can also cause late collisions.
Good (1 coll) frames The total number of frames which experience exactly one collision and are then successfully transmitted. Collisions in a half-duplex environment are normal expected behavior.
Good (>1 coll) frames The total number of frames which expe