Switch Details

Front Panel

When you open a switch details page, you'll find yourself on the Front Panel tab. This tab gives you a comprehensive overview of the switch's port panel.

In this Front Panel view, you get a logical representation of the switch's ports. You can view the port status, port configuration, and the clients or APs connected to each port. The following image represents a sample Front Panel.

The port icons on the Front Panel view help you quickly identify the client devices or APs connected to each port and their status. The following table lists the key port icons and their descriptions:

Table 1: Port Icons and Their Descriptions

Port Icon	Description
	The port is empty. No device is connected.
	A wired client is connected.
	A wired client is connected (trunk port).
	A Mist AP is connected.
	A camera is connected. This icon applies only to Verkada cameras.
	Virtual Chassis port (VCP). A member device is connected.
	The port is up. Sometimes, when a switch port is learning multiple MAC addresses on the same interface, the switch cannot identify which device is connected to the port. When that happens, the Mist portal might not display the connected device as a wired client, even though the port icon stays solid green. However, if the connected device has LLDP enabled, the portal identifies which device is connected to the port.
	The port is empty, with active alerts.
	A wired client is connected, but the port has active alerts.
	A Mist AP is connected, but the port has active alerts.
	An uplink is connected. But the port has active alerts.

For a sneak peek into what's happening on a specific port, simply hover your mouse over the port. You can view the type of device connected to the port, the port speed, power settings, IP address, and much more.

Here's an example of what you might see if you hover over port ge-0/0/45:

To get a more detailed view of what's going on with a port, click that port to select it. When you select a port from the front panel, the following happens:

• If you select multiple ports, the configuration page displays the Port Configuration, Networks, and Port Profiles tiles with the settings applied to the selected ports. You can make configuration adjustments to the ports from these tiles. If the selected ports do not have any configuration, the Port Configuration, Networks, and Port Profiles tiles are displayed without any data.

• If you select only a single port, the configuration page additionally displays port Statistics and Wired Client insights. From the Wired Client insights tile, you can access the connected devices.

From the detailed view of the port, you can also bulk edit the port configuration, perform cable tests, bounce (restart) the port in case you encounter any issues with it, and clear MAC addresses stored through persistent MAC learning.

To bulk edit your port configuration or override any existing port configuration on a switch, select the ports to be configured from the Front Panel on the switch details page, and click Modify Port Configuration (shown in the above picture). In case the selected ports are already part of an existing port range configuration, a warning message indicating the same is displayed. When you save the new configuration, it will replace the existing configuration for the selected ports. Previously, you had to manually remove any port configuration overlap before you carry out a bulk port edit.

On the right side of the front panel, you can also see the device usage indicators. To view the usage information, hover over the indicators on the upper right of the screen. For example, you can see the temperature values of each component that contribute to the total temperature of the switch.

All in all, this detailed view and the additional features make managing your switch a breeze.

Port List

If you want to see a list of all the ports, just click the Port List tab right beside the Front Panel tab.

In this Port List view, you'll find a wealth of information about each port. You can see the port name, its status, the clients connected to it, the power draw, port profile, port mode, port speed, and even the amount of data transmitted and received. You can also access each connected client by clicking the client name hyperlink.

By default, Port List displays a select set of columns. You can add more columns to the view from the list of available columns. To do that, go to Table Settings by clicking the hamburger menu in the upper right of the page. From the Table Settings page, select a check box to display the corresponding column (see the image below).

Switch Insights

If you want to gain valuable insights into your switch, the events such as switch configuration changes, performance, and connected endpoints, visit the Switch Insights page by clicking the Switch Insights hyperlink on the Properties tile.

Switch Insights gives you a bird's-eye view of all the switch events that have taken place. It's like a log of configuration changes, software updates, and system alarms.

Switch Insights also lets you track some important metrics like CPU and memory utilization of the switch. You can also dive into details about BGP neighbors (applicable to campus fabrics). You can also view traffic patterns, port errors, and power draw at the switch or port level.

The key sections on the Switch Insights page are the following:

• Switch Events—Provides a log of all the switch events reported. You can filter good, neutral, and bad events.

• Table Capacity—Provides the following indicators:

  • MAC Address Table—Displays the percentage of the MAC address table capacity used. The MAC address table contains MAC Address-interface bindings associated with each VLAN.

  • ARP Table—Displays the percentage of Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) table capacity used. The ARP table contains the learned MAC Address-IP bindings of the devices connected to the network.

  • Route Summary—Displays the percentage of routing table capacity used.

  • EVPN Database—Available for switches that are part of an EVPN topology.

  

  You can click the Search Entries button under each metric to open a shell view in a new window where you can search for entries after specifying filters. You also have the option to refresh and clear the entries displayed. Clicking Refresh on the upper right of the window provides a continuous display of the entry every three seconds for a total of 30 seconds. To stop the refresh before the 30-second timer is complete, close the window or click another table. Clicking the Clear Entry button, which is available only for MAC and ARP table, clears the respective entry from the table. You also have the option to clear the buffer on the screen by clicking Clear Screen at the lower left of the window.

• Switch Charts—A set of charts providing insights into the key metrics such as CPU and memory utilization, power draw, and port errors.

• Switch Ports—A detailed port list. You can see all the ports along with information about the connected endpoints.

Metrics

The Metrics section on the switch details page helps you track the performance of your switches against specific compliance parameters, and identify if there are any areas that need attention. You'll find a bunch of important compliance parameters that are being monitored. For example, you can keep an eye on switch-AP affinity, version compliance, PoE compliance, and switch uptime. When you click each metric, you'll be taken to a detailed view that provides more information.

For more information, see Switch Metrics.

Switch Utilities

The switch details page provides troubleshooting and testing tools to help you get to the root of any issue. To access these tools, click the Utilities drop-down list in the upper right corner of the page.

For more information on switch utilities, see Switch Utilities.

Switch Configuration

If you need to take a closer look at the configuration or make changes to it, scroll down to the Switch Configuration section on the switch details page. This section shows all the configurations applied to the switch through the template linked to the site to which the switch is onboarded. It also shows additional switch-specific settings.

To learn more about the switch configuration templates and different configuration options, see Switch Configuration.