Physical Layer Configurations
Beyond knowing what physical components are in the deployment, it is valuable to know that their configurations are correct and they operate correctly. NetQ enables you to confirm that peer connections are present, discover any misconfigured ports, peers, or unsupported modules, and monitor for link flaps.
NetQ uses LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) to collect port information. NetQ can also identify peer ports connected to DACs (Direct Attached Cables) and AOCs (Active Optical Cables) without using LLDP, even if the link is not UP.
Confirm Peer Connections
You can validate peer connections for all devices in your network or for a specific device or port. This example shows the peer hosts and their status for the leaf03 switch.
cumulus@switch:~$ netq leaf03 show interfaces physical peer
Matching cables records:
Hostname Interface Peer Hostname Peer Interface State Message
----------------- ------------------------- ----------------- ------------------------- ---------- -----------------------------------
leaf03 swp1 oob-mgmt-switch swp7 up
leaf03 swp2 down Peer port unknown
leaf03 swp47 leaf04 swp47 up
leaf03 swp48 leaf04 swp48 up
leaf03 swp49 leaf04 swp49 up
leaf03 swp50 leaf04 swp50 up
leaf03 swp51 exit01 swp51 up
leaf03 swp52 down Port cage empty
Discover Misconfigurations
You can verify that the following configurations are the same on both sides of a peer interface:
- Admin state
- Operational state
- Link speed
- Auto-negotiation setting
Use the netq check interfaces command to determine if any of the interfaces have continuity errors. This command only checks the physical interfaces; it does not check bridges, bonds, or other software constructs. The command syntax is:
netq check interfaces [around <text-time>] [json]
If NetQ cannot determine a peer for a given device, the port shows as unverified.
If you find a misconfiguration, use the netq show interfaces physical command for clues about the cause.
Find Mismatched Operational States
This example checks every interface for misconfiguration and you can find that one interface port has an error. Look for clues about the cause and see that the operational states do not match on the connection between leaf 03 and leaf04: leaf03 is up, but leaf04 is down. If the misconfiguration was due to a mismatch in the administrative state, the message would have been Admin state mismatch (up, down) or Admin state mismatch (down, up).
cumulus@switch:~$ netq check interfaces
Checked Nodes: 18, Failed Nodes: 8
Checked Ports: 741, Failed Ports: 1, Unverified Ports: 414
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show interfaces physical peer
Matching cables records:
Hostname Interface Peer Hostname Peer Interface Message
----------------- ------------------------- ----------------- ------------------------- -----------------------------------
...
leaf03 swp1 oob-mgmt-switch swp7
leaf03 swp2 Peer port unknown
leaf03 swp47 leaf04 swp47
leaf03 swp48 leaf04 swp48 State mismatch (up, down)
leaf03 swp49 leaf04 swp49
leaf03 swp50 leaf04 swp50
leaf03 swp52 Port cage empty
...
Find Mismatched Peers
This example uses the and keyword to check the connections between two peers. You can see an error, so you check the physical peer information and discover that someone specified an incorrect peer. After fixing it, run the check again, and see that there are no longer any interface errors.
cumulus@switch:~$ netq check interfaces
Checked Nodes: 1, Failed Nodes: 1
Checked Ports: 1, Failed Ports: 1, Unverified Ports: 0
cumulus@switch:~$ netq show interfaces physical peer
Matching cables records:
Hostname Interface Peer Hostname Peer Interface Message
----------------- ------------------------- ----------------- ------------------------- -----------------------------------
leaf01 swp50 leaf04 swp49 Incorrect peer specified. Real peer
is leaf04 swp50
cumulus@switch:~$ netq check interfaces
Checked Nodes: 1, Failed Nodes: 0
Checked Ports: 1, Failed Ports: 0, Unverified Ports: 0
Find Mismatched Link Speeds
This example checks for configuration mismatches and finds a link speed mismatch on server03. The link speed on swp49 is 40G and the peer port swp50 shows as unknown.
cumulus@switch:~$ netq check interfaces
Checked Nodes: 10, Failed Nodes: 1
Checked Ports: 125, Failed Ports: 2, Unverified Ports: 35
Hostname Interface Peer Hostname Peer Interface Message
----------------- ------------------------- ----------------- ------------------------- -----------------------------------
server03 swp49 server03 swp50 Speed mismatch (40G, Unknown)
server03 swp50 server03 swp49 Speed mismatch (Unknown, 40G)
Find Mismatched Auto-negotiation Settings
This example checks for configuration mismatches and finds auto-negotiation setting mismatches between the servers and leafs. Auto-negotiation is off for the leafs, but on for the servers.
cumulus@switch:~$ netq check interfaces
Checked Nodes: 15, Failed Nodes: 8
Checked Ports: 118, Failed Ports: 8, Unverified Ports: 94
Hostname Interface Peer Hostname Peer Interface Message
----------------- ------------------------- ----------------- ------------------------- -----------------------------------
leaf01 swp1 server01 eth1 Autoneg mismatch (off, on)
leaf02 swp2 server02 eth2 Autoneg mismatch (off, on)
leaf03 swp1 server03 eth1 Autoneg mismatch (off, on)
leaf04 swp2 server04 eth2 Autoneg mismatch (off, on)
server01 eth1 leaf01 swp1 Autoneg mismatch (on, off)
server02 eth2 leaf02 swp2 Autoneg mismatch (on, off)
server03 eth1 leaf03 swp1 Autoneg mismatch (on, off)
server04 eth2 leaf04 swp2 Autoneg mismatch (on, off)
Identify Flapping Links
You can also determine whether a link is flapping using the netq check interfaces command:
cumulus@switch:~$ netq check interfaces
Checked Nodes: 18, Failed Nodes: 8
Checked Ports: 741, Failed Ports: 1, Unverified Ports: 414
Matching cables records:
Hostname Interface Peer Hostname Peer Interface Message
----------------- ------------------------- ----------------- ------------------------- -----------------------------------
leaf02 - - - Link flapped 11 times in last 5
mins