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Using SPAN to capture traffics distined to MSFC and Supversion Engine CPU

meichuanping
Level 1
Level 1

Lots of packet drop/flushes on our Cat6500 GE interfaces. We want to use sniffer to capture all the frames/packets which are forwarded by MSFC or Supervior engine 720 CPU.

We are informed to use "internal interface" 1/3 and 1/4 in SPAN configuration to capture traffics destined to MSFC and Supvisor Engine CPU, but I cannot find more detail from Cisco's configuration guide...

Is there more explanation or reference on "internal interface" 1/3 and 1/4, and how to configure

We use IOS 12.2(17a)SX3, Sup720

2 Replies 2

Prashanth Krishnappa
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

If you are seeing drops and flushes on a physical interface, sniff the VLAN in which you have the interface or the interface itself. If you are seeing drops/flushes on the VLAN interfaces, you will need to sniff the MSFC internal port. However, unlike Sup2/MSFC2, in a Native IOS Sup720, you cannot SPAN the MSFC3 internal port but there is a way to capture the packets hitting the CPU using built in Packet buffer tool(This feature is like having an internal packet sniffer built into the switch. It allows you to save to memory a copy of the packets contained in an asic’s buffer so that they can be analyzed). Here is how you do it.

1) Enable “service internal” mode

switch# config t

switch(config)#service internal

switch(config)#exit

2) Set up the what you want to monitor. Say the Sup720 is in slot 5.

switch# show platform capture buffer asic pinnacle slot 5 port 4 direction out priority lo

switch# show platform capture buffer asic <---- used to verify the config

3) Start capturing traffic. In this example we will capture for the next 10 seconds:

switch# show platform capture buffer collect for 10

switch# show platform capture buffer status <---- used to verify the config

4) After waiting 10 seconds use the next 2 commands to view the packets saved to memory:

switch# show platform capture buffer data filtered  <----- gives a one line summary for each packet saved

switch# show platform capture buffer data sample [sample#] <------ gives the detail (vlan, mac & IP addresses, etc) of each sample packet

After you are done, disable service internal

switch# config t

switch(config)#no service internal

switch(config)#exit

Hope this helps

Hi, Prashanth,

We will proceed to do it soon. Thank you for your great help.

May I check with you whether all the commands above can be used on our current IOS (Version 12.2(14r)S9) ?

Thanks

Michael

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