c
?




 
 
   

The first parameter refers to the Physical layer, and it¶s up when it receives carrier detect.
The second parameter refers to the Data Link layer, and it looks for keepalives from the connecting
end. (Keepalives are used between devices to make sure connectivity has not dropped.)
Here¶s an example of where the problem usually is found²on serial interfaces:
c
?

?

S 
    
f you see that the line is up but the protocol is down, as shown above, you¶re experiencing
a clocking (keepalive) or framing problem²possibly an encapsulation mismatch. Check the
keepalives on both ends to make sure that they match; that the clock rate is set, if needed, and
that the encapsulation type is the same on both ends. The output above would be considered
a Data Link layer problem.
f you discover that both the line interface and the protocol are down, it¶s a cable or interface
problem. The following output would be considered a Physical layer problem:
c
?

?

S      
f one end is administratively shut down (as shown next), the remote end would present as
down and down:
c
?

?

S      
To enable the interface, use the command  

 from interface configuration mode.
The next 
  command demonstrates the serial line and the
maximum transmission unit (MTU)²1,500 bytes by default. t also shows the default bandwidth
(BW) on all Cisco serial links: 1.544Kbps. This is used to determine the bandwidth of
the line for routing protocols such as E
P and OSPF. Another important configuration to
notice is the keepalive, which is 10 seconds by default. Each router sends a keepalive message
to its neighbor every 10 seconds, and if both routers aren¶t configured for the same keepalive
time, it won¶t work.m