Skip to content
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Troubleshooting Tools

Many different tools can be used on network devices during troubleshooting. Although they all provide useful information, depending on the problem, one will always be a better fit. 

Logging is a very simple, yet very beneficial, service for learning what has happened on the devices in the past. By default, Syslog is enabled on Cisco devices, and it is recommended to export all log messages to an external Syslog server for centralized monitoring.

To verify end-to-end connectivity, you can use several basic tools:

  • Ping: A successful ping to an IP address verifies basic IP connectivity between the hosts.
  • Traceroute: This can help you to find out how far the data can reach the path toward the destination.
  • Telnet/SSH: Both protocols can be used to test if certain TCP or UDP ports are open on a specific host, using the desired port when establishing the remote session.

Additionally, you can use the show interfaces interface-type command to gather numerous useful pieces of information to help troubleshoot. 

This command provides information about the duplex and speed of an interface, but you can also find out more about various statistics such as input and output errors, input and output queue drops, collisions, and so on.