Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Troubleshooting Guide

Device troubleshooting

Updated: September 28, 2026

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Describes the capability to troubleshoot connectivity or traffic health for all devices in an overlay network.

Device troubleshooting is a network diagnostic capability that enables troubleshooting connectivity or traffic health for all devices in an overlay network.

Check device bringup

This task allows you to check the device bringup status to verify if a device has successfully established control-plane connections with the controller devices in the network and is operational.

Device bringup verification is essential for troubleshooting network connectivity issues and ensuring that devices are properly integrated into the network infrastructure. This check helps identify devices that may have failed to establish proper connections or are experiencing configuration problems.

Procedure

From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Monitor > Devices.

Cisco vManage Release 20.6.1 and earlier: From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Monitor > Network.
Choose a device from the list of devices that is displayed.
Click Troubleshooting in the left pane.
In the Connectivity area, click Device Bringup.

The Device Bringup window opens, displaying the device bringup status and connectivity information for troubleshooting purposes.

Ping a device

Use this procedure to verify that a device is reachable on the network by sending ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to the device.

From Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.13.1, you can use IPv4 or IPv6 addresses when pinging devices. For releases before Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.13.1, enter an IPv4 address.

Table 1. Feature history
Feature Name	Release Information	Description
IPv6 Support in Cisco SD-WAN Manager UI Troubleshooting	Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN Release 17.13.1a Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.13.1	Added support for using an IPv6 address when pinging a device. Also added support for using an IPv6 address when running a traceroute, configuring packet capture, and simulating flows.

Before you begin

Ensure that Device Monitoring and Events features have read and write permissions and Tools has read permission. For more information on different permission settings, see Manage Users.

With the set permissions to the usergroup, ensure that you are able to access the required features.

Follow these steps to ping a device:

Procedure

From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Monitor > Devices.

Cisco vManage Release 20.6.1 and earlier: From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Monitor > Network.
To choose a device, click the device name in the Hostname column.
Click Troubleshooting in the left pane.
In the Connectivity area, click Ping.
In the Destination IP field, enter the IP address of the device to ping.

For releases before Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.13.1, enter an IPv4 address. From Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.13.1, enter an IPv4 or IPv6 address.
In the VPN field, choose the VPN to use to reach the device.
In the Source/Interface field, choose the interface to use to send the ping packets.
In the Probes field, choose the protocol type to use to send the ping packets.
In the Source Port and Destination Port fields, enter the number of the source and destination ports.
Click Advanced Options to specify additional parameters:
1. In the Count field, enter the number of ping requests to send. The range is 1 to 30. The default is 5.
2. In the Payload Size field, enter the size of the packet to send. The default is 64 bytes, which comprises 56 bytes of data and 8 bytes of ICMP header. The range for data is 56 to 65507 bytes.
3. Enter the MTU.
  
  Note
  The MTU option does not apply beginning with Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN Release 17.13.1a.
4. Click the Rapid slider to send five ping requests in rapid succession and to display statistics only for the packets transmitted and received, and the percentage of packets lost.
5. In the Type of Service field, enter the value to be included in the ping packets.
6. In the Time to Live field, enter the round-trip time, in milliseconds, for sending this ping packet and receiving a response.
7. Click the Don't Fragment option to set the Don't Fragment bit in the ping packets.
Click Ping.

The ping results display showing the connectivity status and response times to the destination device.

From Cisco vManage Release 20.10.1, the Ping option can be accessed using one of these methods:

Choose Monitor > Devices, click … adjacent to the device name, and choose Ping.
In the Site Topology page, click a device name or tunnel name, and then click Ping in the right navigation pane.

Run a traceroute

Run a traceroute to diagnose network connectivity issues and identify the path that packets take through the network to reach a destination device.

Use the traceroute functionality when troubleshooting network connectivity problems or when you need to understand the network path between devices. The traceroute provides both raw output and a graphical depiction of the packet path.

Before you begin

Follow these steps to run a traceroute:

Procedure

From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Monitor > Devices.

Cisco vManage Release 20.6.1 and earlier: From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Monitor > Network.
To choose a device, click the device name in the Hostname column and click Troubleshooting in the left pane.
In the Connectivity area, click Trace Route.
In the Destination IP field, enter the IP address of the corresponding device in the network.

For releases before Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.13.1, enter an IPv4 address. From Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.13.1, enter an IPv4 or IPv6 address.
From the VPN drop-down list, choose a VPN to use to reach the device.
From the Source/Interface for VPN drop-down list, choose the interface to use to send the traceroute probe packets.
Click Advanced Options.
In the Size field, enter the size of the traceroute probe packets, in bytes.
Click Start to trigger a traceroute to the requested destination.

The lower part of the right pane displays information about the traceroute:

Raw output of the path the traceroute probe packets take to reach the destination.
Graphical depiction of the path the traceroute probe packets take to reach the destination.

From Cisco vManage Release 20.10.1, the Trace Route option can be accessed using one of these methods:

Choose Monitor > Devices, click … adjacent to the device name, and choose Trace Route.
In the Site Topology page, click a device or tunnel name, and then click Trace Route in the right navigation pane.

Discover underlay paths

Underlay path discovery allows you to monitor the physical network paths that carry overlay tunnels, providing visibility into network performance and helping troubleshoot connectivity issues.

Minimum release: Cisco vManage Release 20.10.1

The underlay monitor feature provides network path analysis for devices, tunnels, and applications in your SD-WAN environment.

Procedure

Access the Underlay Monitor option using one of these methods:

On the Monitor > Devices page, click … adjacent to the device name and choose Underlay Monitor.
On the Monitor > Tunnels page, click … adjacent to the tunnel name and choose Underlay Monitor.
On the Monitor > Applications page, click … adjacent to the application name and choose Underlay Monitor.
On the Site Topology page, click a device or tunnel name, and then click Underlay Monitor in the right navigation pane.

The underlay monitor displays network path information and performance metrics for the selected device, tunnel, or application.

Diagnostic monitoring log capture

Diagnostic monitoring log capture enables you to collect and record diagnostic data, such as logs and traces, to help diagnose and troubleshoot issues in Cisco SD-WAN Manager, Cellular Gateways and Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN devices.

Table 2. Feature history
Feature Name	Release Information	Description
Diagnostic Monitoring Log Capture	Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN Release 17.18.1a Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Release 20.18.1	This feature enables you to collect and record diagnostic data, such as logs and traces, to help diagnose and troubleshoot issues in Cisco SD-WAN Manager, Cellular Gateways and Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN devices.

Configure diagnostic monitoring log capture

Configure diagnostic monitoring log capture to collect and analyze cellular interface logs for troubleshooting network issues.

Use diagnostic monitoring log capture to collect detailed logs from cellular interfaces. This feature supports continuous log collection with rotation, automatic stop timers, and filter files for targeted data collection.

Before you begin

Ensure that Data Stream is enabled under Administration > Settings in Cisco SD-WAN Manager.

Follow these steps to configure diagnostic monitoring log capture:

Procedure

From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Monitor > Devices.
To choose a device, click the device name in the Hostname column.
Click Troubleshooting in the left pane.
In the Logs area, click Diagnostic Monitoring Log Capture.

The Diagnostic Monitoring Log Capture page opens.
From the Interface for VPN drop-down list, choose a cellular interface.
Expand the Advance Settings drop-down list.
In the Modem radio reset, turn modem radio off and back on for log collection and check the Enable rotation field to enable continuous log collection.

Logs consist of multiple files. By default, when file size limit is reached for any given file, log collection continue into the next file until log size limit is reached. If rotation is enabled, log collection continues after log size limit is reached by overwriting the oldest file. Log collection stops when you stop the log collection or when the auto stop timer is reached.
In the Timer, enable auto stop timer to automatically stop log collection after specified time is reached or optionally you can set a Stop time.

The range for stop time is 1 to120 minutes.
In the Filter upload, upload the filter file.

The supported filter file formats are .sqf, .cfg, and .bin.
Click Start to start the log capture.

You can check the log capture status and download the file after the file is ready.

Diagnostic monitoring log capture starts collecting logs from the selected cellular interface. You can monitor the capture status and download the collected log files when ready.

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