Nortel Networks 2300 Running Traces, Using the Trace Command, Tracing Authentication Activity

582Appendix A: Troubleshooting a WS Switch

Running Traces

Trace commands enable you to perform diagnostic routines. You can set a trace command with a keyword, such as authentication or sm, to trace activity for a particular feature, such as authentication or the session manager.

Warning! Using the set trace command can have adverse effects on system performance. Nortel recommends that you use the lowest levels possible for initial trace commands, and slowly increase the levels to get the data you need.

Using the Trace Command

Tracing is used only for debugging WSS Software. The command set trace area enables you to view messages about the status of a specific portion of the WSS Software.

There are many trace parameters that you can run. (See “List of Trace Areas” on page 585.) However, this chapter describes only authentication, authorization, the session manager (sm), and 802.1X users (dot1x), four areas that you might find most helpful.

To focus on the object of the trace, you can add one or more of these parameters to the set trace command:

set trace [area] [mac-addr mac-addr] [port port-num] [user username] [level level]

Tracing Authentication Activity

Tracing authentication activity can help you diagnose authentication problems. You can trace all authentica- tion activity, or only the activity for a specific user, MAC address, or port.

For example, to trace all authentication activity at level 4, type the following command:

23x0# set trace authentication level 4

success: change accepted.

Tracing Session Manager Activity

You can trace all session manager commands, or only those for a specific user, MAC address, or port. For example, to trace all session manager (sm) activity at level 3, type the following command:

23x0# set trace sm level 3

success: change accepted.

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