42-14
Cisco ME 3400 Ethernet Access Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-9639-06
Chapter 42 Troubleshooting
Using IP Traceroute
The traceroute mac command output shows the Layer 2 path only when the specified source and
destination MAC addresses belong to the same VLAN. If you specify source and destination MAC
addresses that belong to different VLANs, the Layer 2 path is not identified, and an error message
appears.
If you specify a multicast source or destination MAC address, the path is not identified, and an error
message appears.
If the source or destination MAC address belongs to multiple VLANs, you must specify the VLAN
to which both the source and destination MAC addresses belong. If the VLAN is not specified, the
path is not identified, and an error message appears.
The traceroute mac ip command output shows the Layer 2 path when the specified source and
destination IP addresses belong to the same subnet. When you specify the IP addresses, the switch
uses the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to associate the IP addresses with the corresponding
MAC addresses and the VLAN IDs.
If an ARP entry exists for the specified IP address, the switch uses the associated MAC address
and identifies the physical path.
If an ARP entry does not exist, the switch sends an ARP query and tries to resolve the IP
address. If the IP address is not resolved, the path is not identified, and an error message
appears.
When multiple devices are attached to one port through hubs (for example, multiple CDP neighbors
are detected on a port), the Layer 2 traceroute feature is not supported. When more than one CDP
neighbor is detected on a port, the Layer 2 path is not identified, and an error message appears.
This feature is not supported in Token Ring VLANs.

Displaying the Physical Path

You can display the physical path that a packet takes from a source device to a destination device by
using one of these privileged EXEC commands:
tracetroute mac [interface interface-id] {source-mac-address} [interface interface-id]
{destination-mac-address} [vlan vlan-id] [detail]
tracetroute mac ip {source-ip-address | source-hostname}{destination-ip-address |
destination-hostname} [detail]
Note Layer 2 traceroute is available only on NNIs.
For more information, see the command reference for this release.
Using IP Traceroute
These sections contain this information:
Understanding IP Traceroute, page 42-15
Executing IP Traceroute, page 42-15