CHAPTER6 Any problem in your switch can affect a large proportion of your users. Implementing a preventive approach to switch monitoring helps you to detect problems early and to avoid potential problems. With switch monitoring, you can gain visibility into the status and availability of the switch ports. You can actively monitor the switch and its ports and quickly notify users if a switch port or the switch fails. Read this chapter to understand the switch monitoring features that are available through the device manager to evaluate the status and the performance of the switch. The tasks in this chapter are independent, unless otherwise noted, and are listed in no particular order. We strongly recommend that you download the Cisco Configuration Assistant from Cisco.com and use the enhanced set of tools to monitor the switch and your network. You can download it from this Cisco.com site: http://www.cisco.com/go/configassist Before You Begin: The monitoring features described in this chapter are available if the switch has an IP address. Make sure that the switch has been set up as described in Chapter 2, Setting Up the Switch. Chapter Topics: Review the Front Panel View and the LEDs, page 6-2 Review the Dashboard, page 6-6 Review the Port Status, page 6-7 6-1
Review the Front Panel View and the LEDs Chapter 6 Review the Port Statistics, page 6-7 Review the Alert Log, page 6-8 When You Are Done, page 6-9 Review the Front Panel View and the LEDs The Front Panel view (Figure 6-1) is a graphical display of the switch front panel, and it is always visible during the device manager session. The switch components on the Front Panel view are color coded by status. The colors help you to quickly see if a fault or an error condition exists. Figure 6-1 Front Panel View The LEDs on the Front Panel view and on the physical switch match. Table 6-1 describes the system-level LEDs. Table 6-2 describes the port LEDs. You can change the port LED behavior by selecting a port mode from the View list on the Front Panel view. 6-2
Chapter 6 Review the Front Panel View and the LEDs Table 6-1 System-Level LEDS LED SYSTEM ALERT PoE RPS Explanation The SYSTEM LED shows the status of the switch (system). Switch is healthy. Blinking green Switch is running power-on self-test (POST). Solid amber Switch is faulty, is rebooting, or is in recovery. The ALERT LED shows the presence of a switch problem. When the switch detects a problem on one or more ports, the Alert LED turns amber. Move the pointer over the Alert LED to display a description of the most recent problem detected, the port on which the problem exists, and the time that it was detected. The Alert LED stays amber until the Alert Log is cleared. Use the link to the Alert Log to see more details about the problem. For more information, see the Review the Alert Log section on page 6-8. No switch problem is detected. Solid amber A switch problem is detected. The PoE LED shows the status of PoE being provided to the ports. This LED is available on switches that have PoE ports. PoE to the ports is off. One or more ports is receiving PoE. Blinking amber One or more ports is not receiving PoE because of a fault. The RPS LED shows the status of a connected redundant power system (RPS). This LED is available on switches that have an RPS connector. RPS is off or is not properly connected. RPS is connected and is ready to provide back-up power. Blinking green RPS is connected but is unavailable because it is providing power to another device. Solid amber RPS is in standby mode or is in a fault condition. Blinking amber Switch internal power supply has failed, and the RPS is providing power to the switch. 6-3
Review the Front Panel View and the LEDs Chapter 6 Table 6-1 LED ADMIN Explanation System-Level LEDS (continued) The ADMIN LED shows the management mode in which the switch is operating. The ADMIN button on the Front Panel view is not active from the device manager. Switch is configured with an IP address. Blinking green Switch is in the initial setup mode, or the switch is in direct managed mode. For information about this mode, see the Device Manager Is Not Accessible Through the Network section on page 7-4. Table 6-2 Port Mode Status Port LEDs Explanation In this mode, the port LEDs show port status, port duplex mode, port speed, and PoE status. By default, the port LEDs show port status. Use the Cisco Configuration Assistant to change and to monitor the port settings. Note To display the port duplex mode, the port speed, and the PoE status from the port LEDs, you must use the View list. See the device manager online help for information about the View list. No link. Link is up, but there is no activity on the link. Blinking green Link has activity. During direct managed mode, the port with the blinking green LED is the selected management port to which to connect your PC or laptop. Solid brown Port is administratively disabled. This status is available through the device manager Front Panel view. Blinking green and Link is faulty. amber Blinking amber Port has a Smartports configuration mismatch. Solid amber Port is faulty or is disabled due to an error condition. 6-4
Chapter 6 Review the Front Panel View and the LEDs Table 6-2 Port LEDs (continued) Port Mode Duplex Speed PoE Smartports Explanation In this mode, the port LEDs show the duplex mode (full duplex or half duplex) of the ports. Note: The 10/100/1000 ports operate only in full-duplex mode. No link. Solid light blue Port is in half-duplex mode. Port is in full-duplex mode. In this mode, the port LEDs show the operating speed (10, 100, or 1000 Mb/s) of the ports. No link. Solid light blue 10 Mb/s. 100 Mb/s. Blinking green 1000 Mb/s. In this mode, the port LEDs show the status of the Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports. No power is allocated. Power is allocated. Blinking green and amber Blinking amber Power is denied to the port because providing power to the attached device would exceed the switch power capacity. Port is disabled due to a fault condition. In this mode, each port image shows the applied port role. For information about Smartports, see the Cisco Configuration Assistant online help. 6-5
Review the Dashboard Chapter 6 Review the Dashboard The Dashboard (Figure 6-2) on the device manager provides information about the switch and is the main window for monitoring the switch status and its performance. It is the default window and appears each time that you display the device manager. See the device manager online help for additional information and procedures. Figure 6-2 Switch Dashboard 6-6
Chapter 6 Review the Port Status Review the Port Status If the switch has link problems, such as traffic that is not being received on a switch port, check the port status, and verify that the port settings are correct. You should also verify the settings of switch port before connecting a device to it. You can view these port settings through the Port Status window on the device manager: Port status VLAN status Current speed Duplex mode PoE status Auto-MDIX status See the device manager online help for additional information and procedures. Review the Port Statistics The Port Statistics window displays the statistics for data sent and received by the switch ports since the switch was last powered on, was restarted, or since the statistics were last cleared. The types of port statistics collected and displayed are grouped under these tabs on the Port Statistics window on the device manager: Overview tab Use this tab to display the specific numbers of error packets received on and sent from the port, which is a level of detail that is not available from the Dashboard graphs. The number of error packets can mean a duplex mismatch, incompatibilities with the port and its attached device, or faulty cables or attached devices. Any of these problems can cause slow network performance, data loss, or lack of connectivity. Transmit Detail tab Use this tab to troubleshoot unusual changes in network traffic. If a port is sending an unusually high amount of traffic (such as multicast or broadcast packets), monitor the connected device to see if this traffic pattern is normal or if it could mean a problem. 6-7
Review the Alert Log Chapter 6 Receive Detail tab Use this tab to troubleshoot unusual changes in network traffic. If a port is receiving an unusually high amount of traffic (such as multicast or broadcast packets), monitor the connected device to see if this traffic pattern is normal for the connected device or if it could mean a problem. See the device manager online help for additional information and procedures. Review the Alert Log The Alert Log (Figure 6-3) displays switch problems that happened since the log was last cleared. The problems should be or have already been solved. When the switch detects a problem, the Alert LED turns amber. Move the pointer over the Alert LED to display a pop-up description of the most recent problem detected, the port on which the problem exists, and the time that it was detected. The pop-up includes a link to the Alert Log. The Alert LED stays amber until the Alert Log is cleared. See the device manager online help for additional information and procedures. Figure 6-3 Sample Alert Log 6-8
Chapter 6 When You Are Done When You Are Done If needed, see Chapter 5, Changing the Switch Network Settings, to change or to verify settings, or see Chapter 7, Troubleshooting the Switch, to identify and resolve problems. We strongly recommend that you download the Cisco Configuration Assistant from Cisco.com and use the enhanced set of tools to monitor and troubleshoot the switch and your network. You can download it from this Cisco.com site: http://www.cisco.com/go/configassist 6-9
When You Are Done Chapter 6 6-10