---
name: "probe"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcp"
version: "2.7.4-20080507"
release: "Debian 5.0 (Lenny)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/parse"
---

# probe(1)

Cisco router performance metrics domain agent (PMDA)

Part of [parse(1)](/parse/1.md).

}

## NAME

**pmdacisco**, **parse**, **probe** - Cisco router performance metrics domain agent (PMDA)

## SYNOPSIS

**$PCP\_PMDAS\_DIR/cisco/pmdacisco** \[**-d** *domain*\] \[**-l** *logfile*\] \[**-P** *password*\] \[**-r** *refresh*\] \[**-U** *username*\] \[**-x** *port*\] *host:interface-spec* \[...\]\
 **$PCP\_PMDAS\_DIR/cisco/parse** \[options\] *host:interface-spec* \[...\]\
 **$PCP\_PMDAS\_DIR/cisco/probe** \[**-P** *password*\] \[**-U** *username*\] *host*

## DESCRIPTION

**pmdacisco** is a Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) which extracts performance metrics from one or more Cisco routers.

A brief description of the **pmdacisco** command line options follows:

- **-d**

  It is absolutely crucial that the performance metrics *domain* number specified here is unique and consistent. That is, *domain* should be different for every PMDA on the one host, and the same *domain* number should be used for the same PMDA on all hosts.

- **-l**

  Location of the log file.  By default, a log file named *cisco.log* is written in the current directory of [**pmcd**(1)](/pmcd/1.md) when **pmdacisco** is started, i.e. *$PCP\_LOG\_DIR/pmcd*. If the log file cannot be created or is not writable, output is written to the standard error instead.

- **-P**

  By default, it is assumed that no user-level password is required to access the Cisco's telnet port.  If user-level passwords have been enabled on the Ciscos, then those passwords must be specified to **pmdacisco**. If specified with the **-P** option, *password* will be used as the default user-level password for all Ciscos.  See also the INTERFACE IDENTIFICATION section below.

- **-r**

  **pmdacisco** will refresh the current values for all performance metrics by contacting each Cisco router once every *refresh* seconds. The default *refresh* is 120 seconds.

- **-U**

  By default, it is assumed that no username login is required to access the Cisco's telnet port.  If username login has been enabled on the Ciscos, then the corresponding usernames must be specified to **pmdacisco**. If specified with the **-U** option, *username* will be used as the default username login for all Ciscos.  See also the INTERFACE IDENTIFICATION section below.

- **-x**

  Connect to the Cisco via TCP port number *port* rather than the default 23 for a telnet connection.

For each interface, once the telnet connection is established, **pmdacisco** is willing to wait up to 5 seconds for the Cisco to provide a new snapshot of the requested information.  If this does not happen, the telnet connection is broken and no values are returned.  This prevents **pmdacisco** tying up the Cisco's telnet ports waiting indefinitely when the response from the router is not what is expected, e.g. if the format of the \`\`show int'' output changes, or the command is in error because an interface is no longer configured on the router.

## INTERFACE IDENTIFICATION

As each Cisco router can support multiple network interfaces and/or multiple communications protocols, it is necessary to tell **pmdacisco** which interfaces are to be monitored.

The *host:interface-spec* arguments on the command line define a particular interface on a particular Cisco router. *host* should be a hostname or a \`\`dot-notation'' IP address that identifies the telnet port of a particular Cisco router. There are several components of the *interface-spec* as follows.

- protocol

  One of the abbreviations **a**, **B**, **E**, **e**, **f**, **G**, **h**, **s** or **Vl** respectively for ATM, BRI (ISDN), FastEthernet, Ethernet, FDDI, GigabitEthernet, HSSI, serial or Vlan.

- interface

  Depending on the model of the Cisco, this will either be an integer, e.g. **s0**, or an integer followed by a slash (\`\`/'') followed by a subinterface identification in one of a variety of syntactic forms, e.g. **e1/0**, **G0/0/1** or **s4/2.1**.

To discover the valid interfaces on a particular Cisco, connect to the telnet port (using [**telnet**(1)](/telnet/1.md)) and enter the command "show int" and look for the interface identifiers following the keywords \`\`Ethernet'', \`\`Fddi'', \`\`Serial'', etc.

Alternatively run the **probe** command.

- password

  If there is a user-level password, and it is different to the default (see **-P** above), it may be optionally specified here by appending a question mark (\`\`?'') and the password to the end of *interface-spec*.

- username

  If there is a username login, and it is different to the default (see **-U** above), it may be optionally specified here by appending \`\`@'' and the username to the end of *interface-spec*.

The following are examples of valid *interface-spec* arguments.

```
my-router:e1/2
123.456.789.0:s0
wancisco:f2/3?trust_me
cisco34.foo.bar.com:e2?way2cool
mycisco:s2/2.1@mylogin
yourcisco:E0/0?yourpassword@youlogin
```

## HELPER UTILITIES

The **probe** command may be used to discover the names of all interfaces for a particular Cisco router identified by *host*. The **-P** argument is the same as for **pmdacisco**.

The **parse** command takes exactly the same arguments as **pmdacisco**, but executes outside the control of any [**pmcd**(1)](/pmcd/1.md) and so may be used to diagnose problems with handling a particular Cisco router and/or one of its interfaces. Additional diagnostic verbosity may be produced using the **-D appl0,appl1,appl2** command line option. Diagnostics are generated on standard error as each sample is fetched and parsed.

## INSTALLATION

If you want access to the names, help text and values for the Cisco performance metrics, do the following as root:

```
# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/cisco
# ./Install
```

If you want to undo the installation, do the following as root:

```
# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/cisco
# ./Remove
```

**pmdacisco** is launched by [**pmcd**(1)](/pmcd/1.md) and should never be executed directly. The Install and Remove scripts notify [**pmcd**(1)](/pmcd/1.md) when the agent is installed or removed.

## FILES

- **$PCP\_PMCDCONF\_PATH**

  command line options used to launch **pmdacisco**

- **$PCP\_PMDAS\_DIR/cisco/help**

  default help text file for the Cisco metrics

- **$PCP\_PMDAS\_DIR/cisco/Install**

  installation script for the **pmdacisco** agent

- **$PCP\_PMDAS\_DIR/cisco/Remove**

  undo installation script for the  **pmdacisco** agent

- **$PCP\_LOG\_DIR/pmcd/cisco.log**

  default log file for error messages and other information from **pmdacisco**

## PCP ENVIRONMENT

Environment variables with the prefix **PCP\_** are used to parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file */etc/pcp.conf* contains the local values for these variables. The **$PCP\_CONF** variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in [**pcp.conf**(4)](/pcp.conf/4.md).

## SEE ALSO

[**pmcd**(1)](/pmcd/1.md), [**pcp.conf**(4)](/pcp.conf/4.md) and [**pcp.env**(4)](/pcp.env/4.md).