cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
125078
Views
25
Helpful
22
Replies

Why some switch ports does not show mac address

mahesh18
Level 6
Level 6

                   Hi all,

I was finding  out which device is connected to switch port.

I did this command to find mac address

sh mac address-table int gigabitEthernet 2/23

Multicast Entries

vlan    mac address     type    ports

-------+---------------+-------+--------------------------------------------

225    ffff.ffff.ffff   system Gi2/1,Gi2/2,Gi2/4,Gi2/5,Gi2/6,Gi2/7,Gi2/8

                                Gi2/9,Gi2/10,Gi2/11,Gi2/12,Gi2/13,Gi2/14

                                                              Gi4/39,Gi4/43,Gi4/48,Po25

625    ffff.ffff.ffff   system Gi2/1,Gi2/2,Gi2/5,Gi2/6,Gi2/7,Gi2/8,Gi2/9

                                Gi2/10,Gi2/11,Gi2/12,Gi2/14,Gi2/15,Gi2/16

                                                              Gi4/48,Po25

seems ffff is all broadcast address .

Need to know why this is not showing mac address thanks

MAhesh

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Hello Mahesh,

L2 information for the port looks like fine.

To learn a MAC address on the port the attached device has to speak and to be understood by the switch port.

So a first possible case is given by some incompatibility between more modern C4500 linecards  (I remember a case with WS-4648 on new C4500 that required upgrade of network drivers on PC NICs)

Another possible situation is given by wake on lan the connected device is powered but it does not show activity so no MAC is learned on the port.

CAM aging time is by default only 300 seconds so another case is a device like a PC that is powered on, connected but it hasn't used the LAN for more then 300 seconds so its entry has expired and it has been removed from CAM table

Hope to help

Giuseppe

View solution in original post

22 Replies 22

Ivan Shirshin
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hi Mahesh,

What are the switch model and IOS version?

Kind Regards,
Ivan

**Please grade this post if you find it useful.

Kind Regards,
Ivan

Hi Ivan

cisco WS-C4506  and

bootflash:cat4500-ipbasek9-mz.122-54.SG.bin"

Thanks

Hi Mahesh,

Check if you have broadcast storm in the network. Also verify for STP transitions:

    show span int gi2/23  //check for topology changes

I saw similar issue related to static mac configuration. Do you have any of that in the config?

Kind Regards,
Ivan

**Please grade this post if you find it useful.

Kind Regards,
Ivan

Hi,

Here is info

sh spanning-tree int gi2/23

Vlan                Role Sts Cost      Prio.Nbr Type
------------------- ---- --- --------- -------- --------------------------------
VLAN0225            Desg FWD 3100      128.87   P2p Edge
VLAN0625            Desg FWD 3100      128.87   P2p Edge

I chekced no static mac on switch port config.

thanks

mahesh

Hello Mahesh,

L2 information for the port looks like fine.

To learn a MAC address on the port the attached device has to speak and to be understood by the switch port.

So a first possible case is given by some incompatibility between more modern C4500 linecards  (I remember a case with WS-4648 on new C4500 that required upgrade of network drivers on PC NICs)

Another possible situation is given by wake on lan the connected device is powered but it does not show activity so no MAC is learned on the port.

CAM aging time is by default only 300 seconds so another case is a device like a PC that is powered on, connected but it hasn't used the LAN for more then 300 seconds so its entry has expired and it has been removed from CAM table

Hope to help

Giuseppe

Hi Giuseppe,

Thanks again seems its some wake on lan setup on main switch.

Regards

MAhesh

Hello! can you pls elaborate on this "So a first possible case is given by some incompatibility between more modern C4500 linecards (I remember a case with WS-4648 on new C4500 that required upgrade of network drivers on PC NICs)"

 

how did you figure out that it was an incompatibility? I'm just working through some issues with devices on a newly installed 4500. Any info would be appreciated 

rizwanr74
Level 7
Level 7

"Why some switch ports does not show mac address"

Because those port in question in a vlan, for which have layer2 definition yet to be created.

meaning you assigned a port to a vlan but you have not created a layer2 defenition.

Hope that answers your question.

thanks

Hi,

Thanks for reply.

I check port config it is assigned to Voice and data vlan.

Can you please explain below

meaning you assigned a port to a vlan but you have not created a layer2 defenition.

thanks

MAhesh

Mahesh,

In addition to the options provided by Giuseppe (Hi Giuseppe, long time no see) try pinging the device and than issue the sh mac address-table command. 

This usually does not apply to PC, Laptop, etc.... but I have seen some video camera encoders that the MAC address does not show up on the switch unless you ping it first.  Strange right?

HTH

Hi Reza,

Sh ip arp does not work also i do not know IP address of device.

Thanks

MAhesh

Hi Mahesh,

Try clearing the MAC table:

clear mac address-table dynamic interface gi2/23

and than try "sh mac address-table again

HTH

Nice tip that Reza

This really helped me, thanks! I had trouble with a similar device.

The switch didn't cached the mac address of the device. So I just pinged the device :)

 

I think you could ping to the broadcast if you don't know the exact address.

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community:

Innovations in Cisco Full Stack Observability - A new webinar from Cisco