How to verify Hardware switched packets on Interface with PBR

Muhammad Kashif Siddiqui · ‎01-31-2015

I am using below software over 6513 hardware. I want to check that my packets are software switched or hardware switched ? As per documentation from 12.2, PBR based traffic is hardware switched. But results showing these are software bases switching as we can see in the output of "show access-list" show counter values secondly "show inter vlan20 " showing "L3 In" traffic as zero where we have Route-map Test has been called.

6513-Router# show version | i IOS|6513
Cisco IOS Software, s72033_rp Software (s72033_rp-ADVENTERPRISE_WAN-M), Version 12.2(33)SXI6, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc4)
cisco WS-C6513 (R7000) processor (revision 1.0) with 458720K/65536K bytes of memory.

!

6500#sh interfaces vlan20 | i L3|L2
L2 Switched: ucast: 213409 pkt, 25174378 bytes - mcast: 2 pkt, 162 bytes
L3 in Switched: ucast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes - mcast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes mcast
L3 out Switched: ucast: 213263 pkt, 25165034 bytes mcast: 0 pkt, 0 bytes

6513#SHOW IP ACCESS-lists
Extended IP access list 100
10 permit ip 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255 192.168.2.0 0.0.0.255 (389189 matches)

Increase in counter showing software switched.

----------Configurations--------------------

interface Vlan20
ip vrf forwarding XYZ
ip address 20.20.20.1 255.255.255.252
ip policy route-map Test
!
interface Vlan30
ip vrf forwarding XYZ
ip address 30.30.30.1 255.255.255.252
!
access-list 100 permit ip 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255 192.168.2.0 0.0.0.255
!
route-map Test permit 10
match ip address 100
set ip next-hop 30.30.30.2

---------------------------------------------

Cisco Freak · ‎02-01-2015

Hi,

R1#sh int fa0/0 stats
FastEthernet0/0
Switching path Pkts In Chars In Pkts Out Chars Out
Processor 189 55000 1057 108076
Route cache 0 924 14 2324
Total 189 55924 1071 110400
R1#

Processor switched packets here shows the number of hardware switches packet. Route cache is fast switching and CEF switched packets.

CF

Muhammad Kashif Siddiqui · ‎02-02-2015

Dear Freak,

Here is the output results. I don't have any "Processor" switched packets means all packets are being handled by RP ? Secondly if the packets are handled by Route Cache (CEF or FastSw) can we say these are handled by hardware ?

6500#show interfaces vlan20 stats
Vlan20
          Switching path              Pkts In       Chars In       Pkts Out      Chars Out
               Processor                     0               0                 0                  0
              Route cache                 81299       9268086     0                  0
               Distributed cache         0               0                 75244          8878792
               Total                             81299       9268086     75244          8878792

Mohamed Sobair · ‎02-02-2015

The C6500 series switches uses DCEF instead of regular CEF Switching.

The "DCEF" means distributed CEF Switching, meaning the CEF table is populated to all line cards once the Switch Starts up.

This also means the hardware is Actually perform the Switching, so according to your output its the "Distribute Cache" output.

just to highlight, the "Route Cache" is a fast switching mechanism and its not CEF Switching. those route cache is a switching mechanism that build tables on demand for switching unlike the CEF which is topology driven.

BR,

Mohamed

Muhammad Kashif Siddiqui · ‎02-04-2015

Thanks for the reply. Can you confirm that in the below output does the switch doing software switching or it's PFC which is handling the packets.

6500#show interfaces vlan20 stats
Vlan20
          Switching path              Pkts In       Chars In       Pkts Out      Chars Out
               Processor                     0               0                 0                  0
              Route cache                 81299       9268086     0                  0
               Distributed cache         0               0                 75244          8878792
               Total                             81299       9268086     75244          8878792