Well, maybe I overstated it a bit. ;-) My main complaint about the debug commands is that the output is too cryptic. Also, some of them were clearly designed for the Cisco developers not for the end user of the router (network admin, engineer). The information they provide is simply not helpful.
Inserting a sniffer can definitely be a pain on a WAN, on the other hand. Plus WAN sniffers are terribly expensive. Actually inserting a sniffer is more of a pain than it used to be on LANs too. But at least the result is a plain-language decode of every packet. By the way, do you remember which EIGRP debug commands you used and how they helped solve the problem? That might be helpful info for us (if you have time to explain, no biggie if you don't.) Thanks Priscilla At 03:35 PM 5/24/02, MADMAN wrote: >I have to respectfully disagree, > > Done correctly with caution when necessary the router is an excellant >and often the only troubleshooting tool. If your unpacking a Sniffer >your in deep doo doo as it's quite rare I require it to solve a network >problem. Don't get me wrong, they are essential and have a purpose but >too often people are going too deep too fast to solve problems that do >not require an analyzer. > > I used a couple of EIGRP debugs yesterday to help a hospital whose >core 6500 was melting down and for those that do remote support debug is >our friend. > > DebugDave > > >Priscilla Oppenheimer wrote: > > > > At 07:32 AM 5/24/02, dre wrote: > > > Cisco router to solve any problem, even those that shouldn't be solved > > >with > > >a router! > > > > And how about all the people who try to turn the router into a > > troubleshooting tool? You wouldn't believe how many times I've had to > > convince people that the debug commands aren't a replacement for a sniffer. > > Not only are there issues with eating CPU resources to display the debug > > info, but a lot of the commands don't show packets (which they shouldn't). > > Also, regardless of whether they show events or packets, they don't display > > the information in English (in many cases). In fact, many of the debug > > commands were written to help Cisco software and hardware developers do > > some debugging on flaky code/hardware. They weren't written to help a > > network administrator or engineer. > > > > I know this is a tangent from the real discussion, but I just wanted to > > make that additional point about a Cisco router not being the solution to > > every problem. > > > > Priscilla > > > > ________________________ > > > > Priscilla Oppenheimer > > http://www.priscilla.com >-- >David Madland >Sr. Network Engineer >CCIE# 2016 >Qwest Communications Int. Inc. >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >612-664-3367 > >"Emotion should reflect reason not guide it" ________________________ Priscilla Oppenheimer http://www.priscilla.com Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=44988&t=44876 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
