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Troubleshooting high CPU on a 6500 with sup720

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Tue, 09/29/2015 - 01:46

Adam Casella Mar 8th, 2011

Troubleshooting high CPU on a 6500 with sup720

The purpose of this document is to cover how to determine the cause of high
CPU on a 6500/7600 with a sup720.
The troubleshooting methods discussed in
this documentation will make it possible to determine the cause of 90% of
all high CPU issues on the sup720.
The majority of high CPU on the sup720 is related to CPU usage on the MSFC,
thus the majority of this document will cover high CPU on the MSFC.
Because it would not be possible to cover every possible reason high CPU can
be caused on the sup720, I will demonstrate how to use some of the tools
built-in to the sup720 to show general methods on how to narrow down the
cause of high CPU.
If you are unable to determine the reason based on this documentation,
please open a TAC case to investigate this issue further.

**Note that these methods can be used to determine the cause of high CPU on
a RSP720, Sup32 and VS-S720, due to common architecture.

Determining Where the CPU utilization is occurring:

Within the sup720 6500, there are two types of CPUs.

One is used for

layer 2 operations and is commonly referred as the SP (Switch Processor)

CPU. The other CPU is used for layer3/4 operations and it commonly referred
to as the RP(Route Processor) CPU.
Both of these processors are located on
the MSFC3 complex, each with a 1 gig in-band channel to the supervisor.
Also depending on the module you may also have a DFC (Distributed Feature
Card) to perform forwarding locally on that module.
The DFC also has its
own CPU, which performs processing locally on the line card.
Under certain
scenarios high CPU can be seen on these modules.

High CPU on the SP (Switch processor):

High CPU on the SP is much less common than high CPU on the RP.
The
reasons for high CPU on the SP are typically related to layer 2 operations
of the sup720, such a spanning-tree (processing of BPDU's) or processing
IGMP snooping/IGMP queries/membership reports as well as LACP/PAGP.

You can view the CPU utilization using the following command:

SP CPU Util:

Switch# remote command switch show process cpu

OR

Switch#remove login switch

Switch-sp#show process cpu

High CPU on the RP (Route Processor):

This will be traffic that needs to be processed for layer 3 operations, such
as ARP, HSRP, forwarding traffic in software.
Below I will go over
troubleshooting steps when seeing high CPU on the IP Input/ARP input process
as well as CPU utilization caused by interrupt switched traffic on the RP
CPU.

You can view the CPU utilization using the following command:

RP CPU Util:

Switch#show process cpu

High CPU on a DFC/module:

The CPU on the DFC will help in programming TCAM and router in hardware,
since each DFC has its own TCAM.
High CPU on a DFC is not very common and can occur for a few different
reasons.
One reason you may see high CPU on the DFC is due to Netflow Data
Export.
Typically CPU from NDE is expected, but in rare instances it can
become high enough to disrupt other processes.
You can view the CPU utilization using the following command:
DFC CPU Util:

Switch# attach <module>

Switch-DFC#show process cpu

Types of CPU utilization:

There are two type of CPU utilization within IoS, interrupt and process.

Process based CPU utilization:

CPU utilization caused by a process can be caused by few reasons listed

below:

1.) Processes switched traffic.

This is traffic that is hitting a specific
process in order to be forwarded OR processed by the CPU.
An example of
each would traffic being forwarded via the "IP Input" process OR controlplane traffic hitting the "PIM process".

2.) A process trying to clean up tables/previous actions performed.

This
can be seen in process such a "CEF Scanner" OR "BGP Scanner", which are
used to clean/update the CEF and BGP tables.

Interrupt based CPU utilization:

CPU caused by an interrupt is always traffic based.

Interrupt switched
traffic, is traffic that does not match a specific process, but still needs
to be forwarded.

Determining the type of CPU utilization:

Process and Interrupt CPU utilization are listed within the "show process
cpu" command.
This is broken down below on how to determine what
percentage of the CPU utilization is due to interrupt traffic or processed
switched traffic:

6500-3#sh proc cpu

CPU utilization for five seconds: 0%/0%; one minute: 0%; five minutes: 0%

Red - Percentage of total CPU utilization

Blue - Percentage of the CPU that is caused by Interrupts.

Percentage of process CPU util. = Total CPU - Interrupt CPU util.

Common reasons for HIGH CPU on the MSFC/RP:

IP traffic with a TTL of 1 - Due to the fact we need to send an IP unreachable

message to the host letting them know the message has expired in transit.
This cannot be done in hardware and thus the packet must be punted to the
MSFC.
Find the device sending traffic the TTL of 1 and stop is from
sending traffic, increase the TTL OR install the MLS TTL rate-limiter.
Using an ACL with the log keyword - Since a log keyword requires a syslog
message to be generated this must be punted to the RP CPU as it cannot be
done in hardware. Remove the log keyword from the ACL.
Using a PBR route-map without a set statement - Any traffic that matches a PBR
route-map with no set statement will be punted.
This is due to the fact
that we need to program the next-hop in hardware and if the next-hop is not
known, this traffic must be punted to determine the next hop.
Configure a
set statement OR remove the policy route from the interface.
FIB TCAM Exception - If you try to install more routes than are possible into
the FIB TCAM
you will see the following error message in the logs:

CFIB-SP-STBY-7-CFIB_EXCEPTION : FIB TCAM exception, Some entries will be

software switched

%CFIB-SP-7-CFIB_EXCEPTION : FIB TCAM exception, Some entries will be

software switched
%CFIB-SP-STBY-7-CFIB_EXCEPTION : FIB TCAM exception, Some entries will be
software switched

This error message is received when the amount of available space in the
TCAM is exceeded. This results in high CPU. This is a FIB TCAM limitation.
Once TCAM is full, a flag will be set and FIB TCAM exception is received.
This stops from adding new routes to the TCAM. Therefore, everything will be
software switched. The removal of routes does not help resume hardware
switching. Once the TCAM enters the exception state, the system must be
reloaded to get out of that state. You can view if you have hit a FIB TCAM
exception with the following command:
6500-2#sh mls cef exception status

Current IPv4 FIB exception state = TRUE

Current IPv6 FIB exception state = FALSE
Current MPLS FIB exception state = FALSE
When the exception state is TRUE, the FIB TCAM has hit an exception.
The maximum routes that can be installed in TCAM is increased by the mls
cef maximum-routes command.

This issue is common when trying to route a full BGP table on PFC-3A or a
PFC-3B.
**Note a failover of the supervisors in dual supervisor system will not recover this exception, even
through the show mls cef exception status will no longer indicate a FIB exception. A full
reload of the switch is required.
ICMP redirects - If traffic is taking a path that is not efficient, an ICMP
redirect will be sent out to inform the host of a better next-hop.
This
will cause the packet to be punted in order to trigger the MSFC to send the
ICMP redirect to the host. This can be seen when performing a netdr
capture.
An example of using netdr can be seen in the Tools used to
determine the source of the CPU utilization: section
Turn off icmp redirects to stop this traffic from being punted.
However
this is an indication of network inefficiency that was attempting to be
dynamically resolved.
User interaction is needed in order to track down
this inefficiency.
If you need assistance in determining why ICMP redirects are being generated
please open a TAC case

CEF Glean adjacency

- This can happen when no ARP resolution for the next
hop.
All traffic must be punted in order to trigger an ARP request for the
next hop.
This will always manifest it self as interrupt based traffic.
To protect the RP CPU from this issue you can implement the Glean adj. mls
rate-limiter.
Netflow and ACL feature configured on the same interface matching the same traffic
You cannot have an ACL based feature and a Flow based feature configured on
the same interface for the same traffic. An Example of this would be having
NAT and PBR configured on the same interface matching the same traffic.
NAT is netflow assisted, as the first packet in every flow would need to be
punted to create the netflow entry in hardware.
Once the netflow entry is
created all subsequent packets will hit this hardware netflow entry and thus
be forwarded in hardware.

Policy-Based Routing is ACL based. This will create a policy-route state

when a route-map is configured to use PBR and applied to that interface.
This will point to a special adjacency, which is where the next-hop is
specified in the set statement of the route-map.
The issue comes when a packet matches both the NAT and the PBR feature, the
traffic can not be sent to the CPU to be put into Netflow AND be redirected
to the PBR special adj, thus this traffic must be software switched.
If
these two features overlap, these features are taken out of hardware and the
traffic is software switched.
When this occurs neither feature may be
applied to the matching traffic.
If a packet does not match both the ACL based feature and Netflow based
feature match criteria then the relevant function (ACL based or Netflow
based) will be performed in hardware.
Therefore, for proper hardware based performance in situations where ACL
based features and Netflow based features are configured on the same
interfaces it is important to have unique policies.

To work around this problem do not have both an ACL based and Netflow based
feature configured on the same interface, matching the same traffic.

You can read more about troubleshooting feature conflict issues via the
following link:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-15670

Directed Broadcast traffic All broadcast traffic must be sent to the MSFC on
a vlan when a layer 3 interface is configured within that vlan.
This
includes directed broadcast traffic.
Use multicast instead of directed
broadcast.

Bridging loop - If a bridging loop occurs on the network, this could cause
high CPU on the MSFC. All broadcast traffic must be sent to the MSFC on a
vlan when a layer 3 interface is configured within that vlan.

You can determine what traffic is hitting the CPU by using a netdr capture
to track down the source interface of the loop (See Using Netdr to determine
traffic punted to the CPU section).

GRE with non-unique tunnel source - On the sup720, tunnel sources must be
unique for all tunnels. Tunnels with a non-unique source will be software
switched. The workaround for this limitation is to use either unique
loopback interfaces for every GRE tunnel OR
use secondary addresses on a
loopback interface for the tunnel source addresses.
For more
information see CSCdy72539.
You may also see the following error:

%Warning: Using same source IP for more than one IP/GRE tunnels may cause software
switching packets for tunnels using this address. If possible, use a unique tunnel source
for Interface Tunnel <tun#>

Other common unsupported features on Sup720-PFC3:

The following features/traffic types are common features that are not
supported by the 6500 and will cause high CPU if implemented:

**Note this is not an exhausted list and there may be unsupported features not listed below.

NBAR
Traffic with IP options field set.
Multicast RPF drops
RSVP (INTSERV QOS) *can be used for tunnels
CEF accounting

Multicast traffic and NAT see CSCek78254

The following link will give a larger list of all unsupported features and
commands on the sup720-PFC3:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/12.2SX/release/n
otes/features.html#wp3691673

Tools used to determine the source of the CPU utilization:

Determine the source of RP CPU utilization using interface buffers:

**Note** you will only be able to see traffic in the interface buffers on a
layer 3 interface if the traffic is being processed switched (see
Determining type of CPU utilization above).
This will not work when
traffic is being interrupt switched.
In the case of interrupt switched
traffic use the netdr capture instead.

One of the quickest ways to determine the layer 3 interface that is the
source of traffic that is causing high CPU is to see which interface has a
large amount of drops flushes on the interfaces input queue.
The input
queue on a layer 3 interface is the CPU queue for that interface on the
sup720.
If we ever see packets/drops on the input queue on the sup720 it
is always due to traffic that is being sent towards the CPU.
You can
narrow down the location of such an interface with the following commands:

6500-2#show interface | include

is up|drop

Vlan10 is up, line protocol is up

Input queue: 74/75/18063/18063 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output
drops: 0
Vlan20 is up, line protocol is up
Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0

We can see that SVI (Switched Virtual Interface) 10 has 74 packets in its
buffer, whose queue size is 75 packets. This demonstrates that a large
amount of traffic is being punted on this interface to the RP CPU, since
this queue is full.

Now that we can see a large amount of traffic within this queue, we can
look at what is in this queue with the command "show buffers input-interface
vlan 10 header".
This command will display the IP header of the packet so
we can attempt to determine the source.
If you want to look at the entire
packet you can use the command
"show buffers input-interface vlan 10
packet".

Below is the output from this command for SVI 10

6500-2#sh buffers input-interface vlan 10 header

Buffer information for Small buffer at 0x4667A08C

data_area 0x802F664, refcount 1, next 0x466AE968, flags 0x200
linktype 7 (IP), enctype 1 (ARPA), encsize 14, rxtype 1

if_input 0x530D5048 (Vlan10), if_output 0x0 (None)

inputtime 00:00:00.000 (elapsed never)
outputtime 00:00:00.000 (elapsed never), oqnumber 65535
datagramstart 0x802F6DA, datagramsize 60, maximum size 308
mac_start 0x802F6DA, addr_start 0x802F6DA, info_start 0x0
network_start 0x802F6E8, transport_start 0x802F6FC, caller_pc 0x41F78790

source: 10.10.10.2, destination: 10.100.101.10, id: 0x0000, ttl: 1,

TOS: 0 prot: 6, source port 0, destination port 0

Above we can see the basic information about this traffic that is included
in the IP header, including the TOS, TTL and protocol encapsulated within
the IP header.

If we viewed the entire packet we can look at more in depth information

including the layer 2 information, as can be seen below:

6500-2#sh buffers input-interface vlan 10 packet

Buffer information for Small buffer at 0x466A23B0

data_area 0x80340A4, refcount 1, next 0x466E991C, flags 0x200
linktype 7 (IP), enctype 1 (ARPA), encsize 14, rxtype 1
if_input 0x52836BE4 (Vlan10), if_output 0x0 (None)

inputtime 16:32:10.292 (elapsed 00:00:50.608)

outputtime 00:00:00.000 (elapsed never), oqnumber 65535
datagramstart 0x803411A, datagramsize 60, maximum size 308
mac_start 0x803411A, addr_start 0x803411A, info_start 0x0
network_start 0x8034128, transport_start 0x0, caller_pc 0x41F78790

source: 10.10.10.2, destination: 10.100.101.10, id: 0x0000, ttl: 1,

TOS: 0 prot: 6, source port 0, destination port 0

0:0015C726 FB800000 01000600 08004500

..G&{.........E.

16: 002E0000 00000106 3651

0A0A 0A020A64

........6Q.....d

32: 650A0000 00000000 00000000 00005000

e.............P.

48: 0000265C 00000001 02030405 FD

..&\........}

Red = Dest MAC

Blue = Source MAC
Green = Ethertype (0x800 for IP traffic)
Purple = Src. IP
Orange = Dest IP

Using show ip traffic statistics to see why traffic is punted:

6500-2#show interface | i is up|drop

Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
Vlan10 is up, line protocol is up

Input queue: 74/75/18063/18063 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output

drops: 0
Vlan20 is up, line protocol is up

SVI 10/Interface Vlan 10 is receiving a large amount of traffic that is

being punted to the RP CPU.
When we look at what is in this queue with the
command "show buffers input-interface vlan 10 header".

Below is the output from this command for SVI 10

6500-2#sh buffers input-interface vlan 10 header

Buffer information for Small buffer at 0x4667A08C

data_area 0x802F664, refcount 1, next 0x466AE968, flags 0x200
linktype 7 (IP), enctype 1 (ARPA), encsize 14, rxtype 1
if_input 0x530D5048 (Vlan10), if_output 0x0 (None)
inputtime 00:00:00.000 (elapsed never)
outputtime 00:00:00.000 (elapsed never), oqnumber 65535
datagramstart 0x802F6DA, datagramsize 60, maximum size 308
mac_start 0x802F6DA, addr_start 0x802F6DA, info_start 0x0
network_start 0x802F6E8, transport_start 0x802F6FC, caller_pc 0x41F78790

source: 10.10.10.2, destination: 10.100.101.10, id: 0x0000, ttl: 1,

TOS: 0 prot: 6, source port 0, destination port 0

Buffer information for Small buffer at 0x4667C7E8

data_area 0x80314A4, refcount 1, next 0x46695FD0, flags 0x200

linktype 7 (IP), enctype 1 (ARPA), encsize 14, rxtype 1
if_input 0x530D5048 (Vlan10), if_output 0x0 (None)
inputtime 00:00:00.000 (elapsed never)
outputtime 00:00:00.000 (elapsed never), oqnumber 65535
datagramstart 0x803151A, datagramsize 60, maximum size 308
mac_start 0x803151A, addr_start 0x803151A, info_start 0x0
network_start 0x8031528, transport_start 0x803153C, caller_pc 0x41F78790

source: 10.10.10.1, destination: 10.10.10.2, id: 0xD096, ttl: 255, prot: 1

Since at this point we are unsure why this traffic is being punted, we can
look at show ip traffic" statistics to see why this traffic is being punted
to the CPU. First start by clearing the IP traffic statistics. We can then
see what is incrementing in these counters to see what would be the cause:

6500-2#clear ip traffic
Clear "show ip traffic" counters [confirm]
6500-2#sh ip traffic
IP statistics:
Rcvd:

33516 total, 0 local destination

0 format errors, 0 checksum errors, 33516 bad hop count <------We

can see that the bad Hop count in this case is incrementing
0 unknown protocol, 0 not a gateway
0 security failures, 0 bad options, 0 with options
Opts:

0 end, 0 nop, 0 basic security, 0 loose source route

0 timestamp, 0 extended security, 0 record route
0 stream ID, 0 strict source route, 0 alert, 0 cipso, 0 ump
0 other

Frags: 0 reassembled, 0 timeouts, 0 couldn't reassemble

0 fragmented, 0 couldn't fragment
Bcast: 0 received, 0 sent
Mcast: 0 received, 0 sent
Sent:

0 generated, 0 forwarded

Drop:

40005 encapsulation failed, 0 unresolved, 0 no adjacency

0 no route, 0 unicast RPF, 0 forced drop
0 options denied, 0 source IP address zero

ICMP statistics:
Rcvd: 0 format errors, 0 checksum errors, 0 redirects, 0 unreachable
0 echo, 0 echo reply, 0 mask requests, 0 mask replies, 0 quench
0 parameter, 0 timestamp, 0 info request, 0 other
0 irdp solicitations, 0 irdp advertisements
0 time exceeded, 0 timestamp replies, 0 info replies
Sent: 0 redirects, 0 unreachable, 0 echo, 0 echo reply
0 mask requests, 0 mask replies, 0 quench, 0 timestamp
0 info reply, 58464 time exceeded, 0 parameter problem
can also the 6500 is sending ICMP TTL expired messages as well.

<---- We

0 irdp solicitations, 0 irdp advertisements

<snip>

Looking at the traffic statistics we can see that the bad hop count counter
is incrementing and the switch is sending ICMP time exceeded messages.

On the 6500 all traffic with a TTL of 1 is punted to the CPU so that an
ICMP TTL expired message can be sent to the host who sent this traffic.

Also, the first packet in the buffer can be seen to have TTL of 1, which is
why this traffic is punted.
We can see that the 2nd packet is sourced from
10.10.10.1 (SVI 10) sent to 10.10.10.2. This packet is an ICMP TTL expired
message.

Using Netdr to determine traffic punted to the CPU:

A netdr capture is preformed on the MSFC CPU controller.

This is the
closest location you can capture a packet on the MSFC in order to determine
why traffic is being punted to the MSFC/RP CPU.
With a Sup720 or Sup32 it
allows one to capture packets on the RP or SP inband. The netdr command can
be used to capture both Tx and Rx packets in the software-switching path.

Cat6500#debug netdr capture ?

acl

(11) Capture packets matching an acl

and-filter

(3) Apply filters in an and function: all must match

continuous

(1) Capture packets continuously: cyclic overwrite

destination-ip-address

(10) Capture all packets matching ip dst address

dstindex

(7) Capture all packets matching destination index

ethertype

(8) Capture all packets matching ethertype

interface

(4) Capture packets related to this interface

or-filter
match

(3) Apply filters in an or function: only one must

rx
source-ip-address
srcindex

(2) Capture incoming packets only

(9) Capture all packets matching ip src address
(6) Capture all packets matching source index

tx

(2) Capture outgoing packets only

vlan

(5) Capture packets matching this vlan number

<cr>

OPTIONS:

Using the continuous option, the switch will capture packets on the RPinband continuously fill the entire capture buffer (4096 packets) and then
start to overwrite the buffer in a FIFO fashion.
The tx and rx options will capture packets coming from the MSFC and going
to the MSFC respectivey.
The and-filter and the or-filter specify that an and or an or will be
applied respectively to all of the options that follow. For example, if
you use the syntax below, then both option #1 and option #2 must match for
the packet to be captured. Similarly, if the or-filter is used either
option #1 or option #2 or both must match for the packet to be captuered.

debug netdr and-filter option#1 option#2

The interface option is used to capture packets to or from the specified
interface. The interface can be either an SVI or a L3 interface on the
switch.
The vlan option is used to capture all packets in the specified VLAN. The
VLAN specified can also be one of the internal VLANs associated with a L3
interface.
The srcindex and dstindex options are used to capture all packets matching
the source ltl and destination ltl indices respectively. Note that the
interface option above only allows the capture of packets to or from a L3
interface (SVI or physical). Using the srcindex or dstindex options allows
the capture of Tx or Rx packets on a given L2 interface. The srcindex and
dstindex options work with either L2 or L3 interface indices.
The ethertype option allows the capture of all packets matching the
specified ethertype.
The source-ip-address and destination-ip-address options allow the capture
of all packets matching the specified source or destination IP address
respectively.

Below is an example of capturing traffic destined to 10.100.101.10 sourced

from 10.10.10.2 going to the RP CPU:

6500-2#debug netdr cap rx and-filter source-ip-address 10.10.10.2 destination-ip-address

10.100.101.10

6500-2#sh netdr cap

A total of 4096 packets have been captured

The capture buffer wrapped 0 times
Total capture capacity: 4096 packets

------- dump of incoming inband packet ------interface Vl10, routine mistral_process_rx_packet_inlin, timestamp 00:00:11
dbus info: src_vlan 0xA(10), src_indx 0xC0(192), len 0x40(64)
bpdu 0, index_dir 0, flood 0, dont_lrn 0, dest_indx 0x380(896)
10020400 000A0000 00C00000 40080000 00060468 0E000040 00000000 03800000
mistral hdr: req_token 0x0(0), src_index 0xC0(192), rx_offset 0x76(118)
requeue 0, obl_pkt 0, vlan 0xA(10)
destmac 00.15.C7.26.FB.80, srcmac 00.00.01.00.06.00, protocol 0800
protocol ip: version 0x04, hlen 0x05, tos 0x00, totlen 46, identifier 0
df 0, mf 0, fo 0, ttl 100, src 10.10.10.2, dst 10.100.101.10
tcp src 0, dst 0, seq 0, ack 0, win 0 off 5 checksum 0x265C

Red = Ingress Vlan of traffic

Blue = Layer 3 interface traffic is coming from

Green = Ethertype and SRC/DST MAC addresses

Purple = IP Header

Orange = SRC index (source of ingress traffic).

Dark Red = Dest Index (where traffic is being sent).

You can use this information to track down the source of the traffic being
punted.
Please refer to Troubleshooting with a NETDR capture on a
sup720/6500 documention for a further explanation of how to interpret this
data.

Please open a TAC case if you need further assistance interpreting this
data.

Using a CPU SPAN to determine traffic being punted to the CPU

This capture is performed on the ASIC, which is connected to the RP/SP

CPU.
This will allow you to replicate traffic that is being sent to the
RP or SP CPU to a capture device.
This can be handy for determine the
cause of the HIGH CPU OR determining if traffic is being sent to or from
the CPU for processing (such as HSRP/OSPF/PIM control plane traffic).

When using the 12.2(18)SXF train and earlier the

inband span session is as follows:

configuration for an

RP Console:

Router#monitor session <1-66> <source|destination|filter> <interface|remote|vlan>

<FastEthernet|GigabitEthernet|Port-channel|GE-WAN> <tx|rx|both>

SP Console:

Router#remote login switch

Router-sp#test monitor session <1-66> <add|del|show> <rp-inband|sp-inband>
<tx|rx|both>

-OR-

Router#remote login switch

Router-sp#test monitor <add|del|> <session: 1-66> <rp-inband|sp-inband>
<tx|rx|both>
Router-sp#test monitor session <1-66> <show>

On the 12.2(33)SXH train and later, this is the configuration for an inband
sp->rp span session:

Router(config)# monitor session 1 type local

Router(config-mon-local)# source cpu

<rp|sp> <tx|rx|both>

Router(config-mon-local)# destination interface gigabitethernet 1/2

Router(config-mon-local)# no shutdown

For more information please reference the following link:

http://cco.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/12.2SX/configura
tion/guide/span.html#wp1109488

Once this information is collected you can then use the source MAC/source IP
information to determine the source of the traffic.

Troubleshooting CPU spikes.

At times it is not possible to determine the cause of a CPU spike, since a

"show process CPU" cannot be run during the times of the issue.
One way to
get around this would be to setup an EEM script to run the command for you
when the CPU goes above a certain value.
The following EEM script will run
a "show process cpu sorted" when the CPU utilization of the device goes
above 50%:

event manager scheduler script thread class default number 1

event manager applet High_CPU
event snmp oid 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.109.1.1.1.1.3.1 get-type exact entry-op ge
entry-val 50 poll-interval 0.5

action 0.0 syslog msg "High CPU DETECTED. Please wait - logging
Information to <file system>:high_cpu.txt"
action 0.1 cli command "enable"
action 0.2 cli command "show clock | append <file system>:high_cpu.txt"
action 1.2 cli command "term length 0"
action 1.3 cli command "show process cpu sorted | append <file
system>:high_cpu.txt"

Please fill in <file system> with the location of the file system without
"<" or ">".

If you need further assistance in determining the cause of your high CPU
please open a Cisco TAC case.

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Comments

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katerina.dardoufa Tue, 09/29/2015 - 01:46

Great article!

Thanks for sharing

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anandbhalla Fri, 08/17/2012 - 06:46

Under section "common reasons for High CPU on MSFC/RP:"
How about a situation where PBR route-map is used with a match ip access-list and set
statement, but the ip access-list does not exist on the router ?

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Akshay Balaganur Mon, 01/16/2012 - 11:43

Nice and informative.
You might wanna check the SNMP OID though.. Looks like there is a typo.
1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.109.1.1.1.1.3 is a valid OID ( Ends with 3 not 3.1 )
Cheers,
Akshay

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Wachirajit G Fri, 11/28/2014 - 01:12

Hi Akshay,
Some document end with 3.1. Please advise
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/catalyst-6500-series-switches/63992-6k-highcpu.html
1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.109.1.1.1.1.3.1

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p.hruby Tue, 03/19/2013 - 01:59

Akshay,
look at this nice document about CPU monitoring and OIDs
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk362/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094a94.shtml
Petr

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https://supportforums.cisco.com/document/59926/troubleshooting-high-cpu-6500-sup720