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Lessons · Network switches · checking every port came back

Line by line against the paper

`show interfaces status` puts link state and VLAN side by side, one row per port. Printed before the swap, it is the only before-and-after you have.

Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

A port that was connected and is now notconnect is a cable in the wrong hole or a line the restore refused. Both cost five minutes tonight and an hour tomorrow.

How to think about it

Compare rows, not impressions. Every port that was connected should be connected, in the same VLAN, with the same description.

Worked example

enable
In.
show interfaces status
Every port, one row each. This is the screen you print before you start.
configure terminal
Now put a port back the way it was.
interface gi0/2
One port.
description Front desk
So the row says what it is for.
switchport access vlan 10
And which VLAN it belongs to.
exit
Out.
interface gi0/5
A port somebody disabled and nobody wrote down.
shutdown
Off.
end
Done.
show interfaces status
Gi0/2 carries its name and VLAN. Gi0/5 reads disabled -- which is a question, not a fault.

Your turn

Show every port's link state and VLAN on one screen.

show interfaces 

The trap

Reading the Status column and not the Vlan column beside it. Link is a physical fact and says nothing about which VLAN the port is in.

Practise checking every port came back on HoneA question on it now, a coding challenge where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.