Orange lights on Switch in Util mode?

[Paul St.Onge]

Hey everyone, I just purchased some older C2950C and C2950T switches and one 2611XM router for a small home lab. Now I am still waiting for some console cables, but in the mean time, I powered on the devices and all seemed well. BUT when I was flipping through the different modes of the switch, when I went to the Util mode, the first 2 ports where green, and then ports 3 - 6 where orange, and the rest had no color. What does this mean?

I have tried to google it but, not really getting my answer.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[bikespace · Accepted solution]

Nobody EVER learns what they mean :-)  well, other than the fact that it was backplane utilisation. I had to once because some customer asked for a rundown.

So if you've got 2 greens, looking at the diagram below, the current backplane util is , well it's low (between 6.25% and 12.4%) :-)

And if you've got up to 6 orange, well it's in the same bracket, but higher up that bracket, that's where the max utilisation has been to at some point. It only uses the first 12 ports because it's the same logarithmic scale for 12 port/24 port.

It really never mattered, but this diagram always bugged me. How do you represent around 4% with those lights? You can't because there's a gap between 0.0487% and 6.25% :-)

All that effort on this diagram, but mess it up anyway,

If you work that one out, then let me know and relieve my 10 or 12 year anguish (anguish might be a strong term I'm not that bothered) :-)

Hope this helps.