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PowerConnect B-Series FCX Configuration Guide 189
53-1002266-01
Chapter
6
Monitoring Hardware Components
Table 39 lists the individual Dell PowerConnect switches and the hardware monitoring features
they support.
The procedures in this chapter describe how to configure the software to monitor hardware
components.
Virtual cable testing
PowerConnect devices support Virtual Cable Test (VCT) technology. VCT technology enables the
diagnosis of a conductor (wire or cable) by sending a pulsed signal into the conductor, then
examining the reflection of that pulse. This method of cable analysis is referred to as Time Domain
Reflectometry (TDR). By examining the reflection, the Dell PowerConnect device can detect and
report cable statistics such as local and remote link pair, cable length, and link status.
Configuration notes
• This feature is supported on copper ports only. It is not supported on fiber ports.
• The port to which the cable is connected must be enabled when you issue the command to
diagnose the cable. If the port is disabled, the command is rejected.
• If the port is operating at 100 Mbps half-duplex, the TDR test on one pair will fail.
• If the remote pair is set to forced 100 Mbps, any change in MDI/MDIX may cause the device to
interpret the Multilevel Threshold-3 (MLT-3) as a reflected pulse, in which case, the device will
report a faulty condition. In this scenario, it is recommended that you run the TDR test a few
times for accurate results.
Command syntax
To diagnose a cable using TDR, enter commands such as the following at the Privileged EXEC level
of the CLI.
PowerConnect#phy cable-diag tdr 1
The above command diagnoses the cable attached to port 1.
When you issue the phy-cable-diag command, the command brings the port down for a second or
two, then immediately brings the port back up.
TABLE 39 Supported hardware monitoring features
Feature PowerConnect B-Series FCX
Virtual cable testing (VCT) Yes
Digital optical monitoring Yes