Table Of Contents
Understanding show Command Responses
Using a Headend Cable Modem to Verify Downstream Signals
Performing Amplitude Averaging
Enabling or Disabling Power Adjustment
Setting Frequency Threshold to Affect Power Adjustment
Setting Downstream Test Signals
Configuring Unmodulated Test Signals
Pinging Unresponsive Cable Modems
Using Cable Interface debug Commands
debug cable error (for MAC Protocol Errors)
debug cable keyman (for Baseline Privacy Activity)
debug cable privacy (for Baseline Privacy)
debug cable range (for Ranging Messages)
debug cable receive (for Upstream Messages)
debug cable reg (for Modem Registration Requests)
debug cable reset (for Reset Messages)
debug cable specmgmt (for Spectrum Management)
debug cable startalloc (for Channel Allocations)
debug cable transmit (for CMTS Transmissions)
debug cable ucc (for Upstream Channel Change Messages)
debug cable ucd (for Upstream Channel Description Messages)
Troubleshooting the System
This chapter contains troubleshooting information for various functions of your Cisco Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) router and includes the following sections:
Section PurposeProvides show command options for deriving system information.
"Using a Headend Cable Modem to Verify Downstream Signals" section
Uses a Cisco uBR924 cable access modem to verify the downstream signal originating from a Cisco uBR7200 series router.
The system uses an averaging algorithm to determine the optimum power level for a CM with low carrier-to-noise ratio that is making excessive power adjustments—known as flapping. This section shows how you can interpret these power adjustments as indicating unstable return path connections.
Provides configuration commands that allow you to create downstream test signals.
Allows a cable system administrator to quickly diagnose the health of a channel between the Cisco uBR7200 series cable interface and the CM.
Provides instructions for troubleshooting cable interface line cards.
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Note
For detailed information about troubleshooting your CMTS platform using cable flap lists, refer to the chapter "Flap List Troubleshooting for the Cisco CMTS" in the Cisco Cable Modem Termination System Feature Guide on Cisco.com.
Understanding show Command Responses
This section summarizes cable-related show commands. For additional command information about these and other CMTS commands, refer to these additional resources on Cisco.com:
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Cisco IOS CMTS Cable Command Reference
Command Purposeshow cable flap-list [sort-interface | sort-flap | sort-time]
To display the cable flap-list on a Cisco uBR7200 series router, use the show cable flap-list command in privileged EXEC mode.
For the Cisco uBR7200 series, the sort option applies to one line card at a time, then the list is merged together. For example, the flap list is sorted for cable7/0, appears on the console, and then is sorted for cable 7/1, which then appears on the console, and so on.
The show cable flap-list and show cable modem commands indicate when the Cisco uBR7200 series CMTS has detected an unstable return path for a particular modem and has compensated with a power adjustment. An asterisk (*) appears in the power-adjustment field for a modem when a power adjustment has been made; an exclamation point appears when the modem has reached its maximum power transmit level and cannot increase its power level any further.
For additional information about using cable flap lists, refer to the chapter "Flap List Troubleshooting for the Cisco CMTS" in the Cisco Cable Modem Termination System Feature Guide.
To display all Data-over-Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) states, and other useful troubleshooting information, such as last received upstream radio frequency (RF) power level and maximum number of provisioned customer premises equipment (CPE), use the show cable modem command in privileged EXEC mode.
Note
DOCSIS CMs are required to pass through successive states during registration and provisioning. Using this information, you can isolate why a CM is offline or unavailable.
The show cable flap-list and show cable modem commands indicate when the Cisco uBR7200 series CMTS has detected an unstable return path for a particular modem and has compensated with a power adjustment. An asterisk (*) appears in the power-adjustment field for a modem when a power adjustment has been made; an exclamation point appears when the modem has reached its maximum power transmit level and cannot increase its power level any further.
The show cable modem command displays a list of options for a single modem to be specified by entering either the RF CPE device IP address or MAC address:
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Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) information for each CM on each interface
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Summary display of the total number of modems connected for each upstream channel
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Total number of registered and unregistered modems for the specified interface or upstream
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Total number of offline modems for the specified interface or upstream, and status for each offline modem before it went offline
To display station maintenance error statistics, use the show cable modem maintenance command in privileged EXEC mode.
When a CM is detected to be offline by the CMTS—no reply after 16 retries of station maintenance requests—the CM is marked offline. Besides marking the CM and service identifier (SID) state offline, the SID is removed immediately from the CMTS ranging list, and an aging timer is started to clean up the SID completely if the CM does not attempt to come online within the next 24 hours.
Output fields are described below:
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The SM Exhausted Count value refers to the number of times a CM was dropped because it did not reply to station maintenance requests. A CM is removed from the station maintenance list after 16 times of periodic ranging opportunity without seeing the RNG_REQ from the modem.
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The SM Aborted Count value refers to the number of times the CM was dropped because its operational parameters were unacceptable. This includes such reasons as the power level is outside the acceptable range, or the timing offset keeps changing. The respective times in the command output indicate when this happened.
To display type of service (ToS) specifications, use the show cable qos profile command in privileged EXEC mode. Information includes upstream packet discards, errors, error-free packets, correctable and uncorrectable errors, noise, and micro-reflection statistics.
Following is a response to the show cable qos profile command. The display shows ToS specifications:
Router# show cable qos profile
Service Prio Max Guarantee Max Max tx TOS TOS Create Bclass upstream upstream downstream burst mask value by priv> bandwidth bandwidth bandwidth enab1 0 0 0 0 0 0x0 0x0 cmts(r) no2 0 64000 0 1000000 0 0x0 0x0 cmts(r) no3 0 1000 0 1000 0 0x0 0x0 cmts no4 3 256000 0 512000 0 0x0 0x0 cm no5 5 1000000 0 10000000 0 0x0 0x0 cm no6 3 256000 0 512000 0 0x0 0x0 cm yesNote
The "r" in the "Create by" column means that the first two classes of service the CMTS creates are reserved for CMs that are not online.
The optional argument n can be used to display a specific profile.
To display cable interface information, use the show interface cable command in privileged EXEC mode:
show interface cable slot/port [downstream | upstream]
The following example displays show interface cable command output for a CM located in slot 1/port 0:
Router# show interface cable 5/0
Cable5/0 is up, line protocol is upHardware is BCM3210 FPGA, address is 00e0.1e5f.7a60 (bia 00e0.1e5f.7a60)Internet address is 1.1.1.3/24MTU 1500 bytes, BW 27000 Kbit, DLY 1000 usec, rely 255/255, load 1/255Encapsulation, loopback not set, keepalive not setARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00Last input 4d07h, output 00:00:00, output hang neverLast clearing of "show interface" counters neverQueuing strategy: fifoOutput queue 0/40, 0 drops; input queue 0/75, 0 drops5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec10908 packets input, 855000 bytes, 0 no bufferReceived 3699 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles3 input errors, 3 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored, 0 abort5412 packets output, 646488 bytes, 0 underruns0 output errors, 0 collisions, 13082 interface resets0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped outThe show interface cable upstream command is enhanced to display details on the MAC scheduler state for an upstream port.
New items in the display include:
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Detailed slot queue statistics—Queue [CIR Grants] 0/20, fair queuing, 0 drops in the previous example, meaning that the queue for CIR-service grants has a current depth of 0, and a maximum depth of 20. Weighted fair queuing shows grants in this queue.
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Constant bit rate (CBR) slot scheduling table state—The reserved slot table in the previous example has two CBR entries. This shows that at the time the command was issued, the MAC scheduler had admitted two CBR slots in the reserved slot table.
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Counters for each type of upstream slot scheduled in the MAPs for this upstream channel—The "Init Mtn IEs 800" means that the MAC scheduler has added 800 initial maintenance information elements (slots) at the time the show command was issued.
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MAC scheduling statistics—Displays the percentage of the upstream bandwidth that is used for each type of slot on an average.
To display the service identifier (SID) for a CM, use the show interface cable sid command in privileged EXEC mode.
The following sample output from the show interface cable sid command shows the one form of the command:
Router# show int c4/0 sid
Sid Prim MAC Address IP Address Type Age Admin Sched SfidState Type5 0010.7b6b.58c1 10.20.114.34 stat 2d1h36menable BE 16 0010.7bed.9dc9 10.20.114.37 stat 2d1h36menable BE 137 0010.7bed.9dbb 10.20.114.38 stat 2d1h36menable BE 158 0010.7b6b.58bb 10.20.114.112 stat 2d1h34menable BE 179 0010.7b6b.58bb 10.20.114.112 dyna 2d1h34menable BE 19To display modulation profile group information for a Cisco CMTS, use the show cable modulation-profile command in privileged EXEC mode.
The show cable modulation-profile command now includes an added option number that displays the modulation profile number.
The show cable modulation-profile command completely replaces the former show cable burst-profile command.
Using a Headend Cable Modem to Verify Downstream Signals
You can use a Cisco uBR924 cable access modem to verify the downstream signal originating from a Cisco uBR7200 series router. Be sure that you configure the Cisco uBR924 according to DOCSIS CM practices.
To verify the downstream signal from a Cisco uBR7200 series router using a Cisco uBR924, follow the procedure below:
Step 1
After the Cisco uBR924 is operational and you have an input signal between 0 and +5 dBmV, use the show controller c0 tuner command.
Step 2
Scan the output for the value corresponding to the signal-to-noise (SNR) estimate variable. If this value is at least 35 dB, you have an optimized signal. If the value is less than 34 dB, adjust the upconverter at the cable headend.
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Tip
The SNR estimate for a CM installed at a headend should be between 35 and 39 dB. Although the exact value displayed varies from CM to CM, values collected on the same CM from measurement to measurement will be consistent. Maximizing SNR optimizes CM reliability and service quality.
Performing Amplitude Averaging
The Cisco uBR7200 series CMTS uses an averaging algorithm to determine the optimum power level for a CM with low carrier-to-noise ratio that is making excessive power adjustments—known as flapping. To avoid dropping flapping CMs, the Cisco uBR7200 series CMTS averages a configurable number of RNG-REQ messages before it makes power adjustments. By compensating for a potentially unstable return path, the Cisco uBR7200 series CMTS maintains connectivity with affected CMs. You can interpret these power adjustments, however, as indicating unstable return path connections.
The show cable flap-list and show cable modem commands are expanded to indicate the paths on which the Cisco uBR7200 series CMTS is making power adjustments and the modems that have reached maximum transmit power settings. These conditions indicate unstable paths that should be serviced.
The following example shows the output of the show cable flap-list command:
Router# show cable flap-listMAC Address Upstream Ins Hit Miss CRC P-Adj Flap Time0010.7bb3.fd19 Cable5/0/U1 0 2792 281 0 *45 58 Jul 27 16:54:500010.7bb3.fcfc Cable5/0/U1 0 19 4 0 !43 43 Jul 27 16:55:010010.7bb3.fcdd Cable5/0/U1 0 19 4 0 *3 3 Jul 27 16:55:01The asterisk (*) indicates that the CMTS is using the power-adjustment method on this modem. An exclamation point (!) indicates that the modem has reached maximum transmit power.
Output of the show cable modem command appears below:
Router# show cable modem
MAC Address IP Address I/F MAC Prim RxPwr Timing Num BPIState Sid (db) Offset CPEs Enbld0050.04f9.edf6 10.44.51.49 C7/1/U0 online 1 -0.50 3757 0 no0050.04f9.efa0 10.44.51.48 C7/1/U0 online 2 -0.50 3757 0 no0030.d002.41f5 10.44.51.147 C7/1/U0 online 3 -0.25 3829 0 no0030.d002.4177 10.44.51.106 C7/1/U0 online 4 -0.50 3798 0 no0030.d002.3f03 10.44.51.145 C7/1/U0 online 5 0.25 3827 0 no0050.04f9.ee24 10.44.51.45 C7/1/U0 online 6 -1.00 3757 0 no0030.d002.3efd 10.44.51.143 C7/1/U0 online 7 -0.25 3827 0 no0030.d002.41f7 10.44.51.140 C7/1/U0 online 8 0.00 3814 0 no0050.04f9.eb82 10.44.51.53 C7/1/U0 online 9 -0.50 3756 0 no0050.f112.3327 10.44.51.154 C7/1/U0 online 10 0.25 3792 0 no0030.d002.3f8f 10.44.51.141 C7/1/U0 online 11 0.00 3806 0 no0001.64f9.1fb9 10.44.51.55 C7/1/U0 online 12 0.00 4483 0 no0030.d002.417b 10.44.51.146 C7/1/U0 online 13 0.50 3812 0 no0090.9600.6f7d 10.44.51.73 C7/1/U0 online 14 0.00 4071 0 no0010.9501.ccbb 10.44.51.123 C7/1/U0 online 15 0.25 3691 0 noThe asterisk (*) in the show cable modem command output indicates that the CMTS is using the power adjustment method on this CM. The ! symbol indicates that the CM has reached maximum transmit power.
This section documents the commands pertaining to amplitude averaging:
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cable upstream power-adjust noise
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cable upstream frequency-adjust averaging
Enabling or Disabling Power Adjustment
To enable the power-adjustment capability, use the cable upstream power-adjust command in interface configuration mode:
cable upstream n power-adjust {threshold [threshold #] | continue [tolerable value] | noise [% of power adjustment]}
To disable the power-adjustment capability, use the no form of this command:
no cable upstream power-adjust
Syntax Description
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Note
The threshold default is 1 dB. The tolerable value default is 2 dB. The power adjustment is 30 percent.
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CautionDefault settings are adequate for system operation. Amplitude averaging is an automatic procedure. In general, Cisco does not recommend that you adjust values. Cisco does recommend, however, that you clean up your cable plant should you encounter flapping CMs.
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Note
In some instances, you might adjust certain values:
If CMs cannot complete ranging because they have reached maximum power levels, you might try to set the tolerable value CONTINUE field to a larger value than the default of 2 dB. Values larger than 10 dB on "C" versions of cable interface line cards, or 5 dB on FPGA versions, are not recommended.
If the flap list shows CMs with a large number of power adjustments, but the CMs are not detected as noisy, you might try to decrease the percentage for noisy. If you think that too many CMs are unnecessarily detected as noisy, you might try to increase the percentage.
Setting Frequency Threshold to Affect Power Adjustment
To control power adjustment methods by setting the frequency threshold, use the
cable upstream freq-adj averaging in interface configuration mode. To disable power adjustments, use the no form of this command.cable upstream n freq-adj averaging % of frequency adjustment
no cable upstream freq-adj averaging
Syntax Description
The following example shows how to change the power-adjustment method when the frequency adjustment packet count reaches 50 percent:
Router(config-if)# cable upstream 0 freq-adj averaging 50
Setting Downstream Test Signals
This feature provides configuration commands that allow you to create downstream test signals. Both pseudo random bit stream (PRBS) and unmodulated carrier test signals are now supported.
A PRBS test signal is a random data pattern that has been modulated to look like a real data stream. An unmodulated test signal is a continuous sine wave that looks like a carrier wave on the downstream transmission.
See the following sections for the required tasks to create PRBS and unmodulated carrier test signals:
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"Configuring Unmodulated Test Signals" section
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"Configuring PRBS Test Signals" section
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"Verifying Test Signal Output" section
Configuring Unmodulated Test Signals
Configuring PRBS Test Signals
Verifying Test Signal Output
To verify the output of a continuous wave test signal or the output of a PRBS test signal, use a spectrum analyzer on the downstream channel. The downstream carrier is enabled as a default.
The standard mode of operation is modulated signal output and the interface is active. For PRBS and continuous wave output, the selected interface is shut down.
The functioning of the no cable downstream if-output command has not changed. The interface is shut down.
Pinging Unresponsive Cable Modems
Pinging a Cable Modem
Ping DOCSIS is a Cisco patent-pending feature that allows a cable system administrator to quickly diagnose the health of a channel between the Cisco uBR7200 series routers and the cable interface. The technology uses 1/64—the bandwidth of IP ping—and works with CMs that do not have an IP address. This allows cable operators to ping CMs that are unable to complete registration, that have internal bugs, or that are unresponsive due to a crash.
The Ping DOCSIS feature includes a real-time view and plot of requested power adjustments, and a measure of optimal headend reception power. This gives the cable operator the ability to solicit a configurable number of periodic ranging requests from a cable interface.
To ping a specific cable interface to determine if it is online, use the following command in EXEC mode.
Command PurposeStep 1
Router# ping docsis addrPings the CM with a specific MAC address or IP address to see if it is online.
Verifying the Ping
The ping docsis command returns a verification from a CM that is pinged:
Queuing 5 MAC-layer station maintenance intervals, timeout is 25 msec:!!!!!Success rate is 100 percent (5/5)![]()
Tip
If you are having trouble, make sure that you are using a valid MAC or IP address for the cable interface you want to ping.
Using Cable Interface debug Commands
To troubleshoot cable interfaces, use the following debug commands in enable (privileged EXEC) mode.
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CautionThe following commands can generate large amounts of output as the number of cable modems grows. On heavily loaded systems with thousands of CMs, these commands can dramatically affect router performance.
debug cable arp
To activate the debugging of Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests on the cable interfaces, use the debug cable arp command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of ARP requests, use the no form of this command.
debug cable arp
When this command is activated, all cable ARP request messages are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable error (for MAC Protocol Errors)
To display errors that occur in the cable MAC protocols, use the debug cable error command in privileged EXEC mode. To disable debugging output, use the no form of this command.
debug cable error
no debug cable error
When this command is activated, all cable ARP request messages are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console. When this command is activated, any errors that occur in the cable MAC protocol are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable keyman (for Baseline Privacy Activity)
To activate the debugging of key encryption key (KEK) and traffic encryption key (TEK) BPI key management, use the debug cable keyman command in privileged EXEC mode. To disable debugging output, use the no form of this command.
debug cable keyman
no debug cable keyman
When this command is activated, all activity related to KEK and TEK keys appears on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable mac-messages
To activate the debugging of messages generated in the cable MAC that frames and encrypts downstream RF signals, use the debug cable mac-messages command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate the debugging of cable MAC messages, use the no form of this command.
debug cable mac-messages
no debug cable mac-messages
When this command is activated, messages generated by the cable MAC are displayed on the Cisco Cisco uBR7200 series console.
debug cable map
To display map debugging messages, use the debug cable map command in privileged EXEC mode. Use the no form of this command to disable debugging output.
debug cable map sid [sid-num]
no debug cable map
debug cable phy
To activate the debugging of messages generated in the cable PHY, use the debug cable phy command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate the debugging of the cable PHY, use the no form of this command.
debug cable phy
no debug cable phy
Cable PHY is the physical layer where upstream and downstream activity between the Cisco uBR10000 series router and the HFC network is controlled. When this command is activated, messages generated in the cable PHY are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable privacy (for Baseline Privacy)
To activate the debugging of baseline privacy, use the debug cable privacy command in privileged EXEC mode. To disable debugging output, use the no form of this command.
debug cable privacy
no debug cable privacy
debug cable qos
To activate the debugging of QoS, use the debug cable qos command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of QoS, use the no form of this command.
debug cable qos
no debug cable qos
When this command is activated, messages related to QoS parameters are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable range (for Ranging Messages)
To activate the debugging of ranging messages from cable interfaces on the HFC network, use the debug cable range command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of cable interface ranging, use the no form of this command.
debug cable range
no debug cable range
When this command is activated, ranging messages generated when cable interfaces request or change their upstream frequencies are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable receive (for Upstream Messages)
To activate the debugging of upstream messages from cable interfaces, use the debug cable receive command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of upstream messages, use the no form of this command.
debug cable receive
no debug cable receive
When this command is activated, any messages generated by cable interfaces and sent to the Cisco uBR7200 series router are displayed on the router console.
debug cable reg (for Modem Registration Requests)
To activate the debugging of registration requests from cable interfaces on the HFC network, use the debug cable reg command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of cable registration, use the no form of this command.
debug cable reg
no debug cable reg
When this command is activated, messages generated by cable interfaces as they make requests to connect to the network are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable reset (for Reset Messages)
To activate the debugging of reset messages from cable interfaces on the HFC network, use the debug cable reset command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of cable reset messages, use the no form of this command.
debug cable reset
no debug cable reset
When this command is activated, reset messages generated by cable interfaces are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable specmgmt (for Spectrum Management)
To activate the debugging of spectrum management (frequency agility) on the HFC network, use the debug cable specmgmt command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of cable spectrum management, use the no form of this command.
debug cable specmgmt
no debug cable specmgmt
When this command is activated, messages generated because of spectrum group activity are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console. Spectrum group activity can be additions or changes to spectrum groups, or frequency and power level changes controlled by spectrum groups.
debug cable startalloc (for Channel Allocations)
To activate the debugging of channel allocations on the HFC network, use the debug cable startalloc command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of cable channel allocations, use the no form of this command.
debug cable startalloc
no debug cable startalloc
When this command is activated, messages generated when channels are allocated to cable interfaces on the HFC network are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable transmit (for CMTS Transmissions)
To activate the debugging of transmissions from the Cisco uBR10000 series router across the HFC network, use the debug cable transmit command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of cable transmissions, use the no form of this command.
debug cable transmit
no debug cable transmit
When this command is activated, messages generated at the headend are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.debug cable ucc (for Upstream Channel Change Messages)
To activate the debugging of upstream channel change (UCC) messages generated when cable interfaces request or are assigned a new channel, use the debug cable ucc command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of cable upstream channel changes, use the no form of this command.
debug cable ucc
no debug cable ucc
When this command is activated, messages related to upstream channel changes are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
debug cable ucd (for Upstream Channel Description Messages)
To activate the debugging of upstream channel descriptor (UCD) messages, use the debug cable ucd command in privileged EXEC mode. To deactivate debugging of cable upstream channel descriptor, use the no form of this command:
debug cable ucd
no debug cable ucd
UCD messages contain information about upstream channel characteristics and are sent to the cable modems on the HFC network. CMs that are configured to use enhanced upstream channels use these UCD messages to identify and select an enhanced upstream channel to use. When this command is activated, messages related to upstream channel descriptors are displayed on the Cisco uBR10000 series router console.
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Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses. Any examples, command display output, and figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.
© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.