FD.io VPP  v17.04.2-2-ga8f93f8
Vector Packet Processing
Debug CLI

The VPP network stack comes equipped with a set of commands that are useful for debugging.

The easiest way to access the CLI (with proper permissions) is to use the vppctl command:

1 sudo vppctl <cli-command>

The CLI parser matches static keyword strings, eventually invoking an action function. Unambiguous partial keyword matching always occurs. The action functions consume input until satisfied or until they fail. This model makes for easy coding, but does not guarantee useful "help" output. It's up to the CLI command writer to add useful help strings.

You can find the source code of CLI commands by searching for instances of the VLIB_CLI_COMMAND macro in the code source files.

Please help maintain and improve this document to make and keep these commands clear and useful!

Todo:
Document where to modify this CLI intro text.

Debug and Telnet CLI

The debug CLI is enabled with the unix interactive parameter or startup configuration option. This causes VPP to start without daemonizing and presents a command line interface on the terminal where it is run.

The Telnet CLI is enabled with the cli-listen localhost:5002 option which will cause VPP to listen for TCP connections on the localhost address port 5002. A Telnet client can then connect to this port (for example, telnet localhost 5002) and will receive a command line prompt.

This configuration will enable both mechanisms:

1 unix {
2  interactive
3  cli-listen localhost:5002
4 }

The debug CLI can operate in line mode, which may be useful when running inside an IDE like Emacs. This is enabled with the option unix cli-line-mode. Several other options exist that alter how this CLI works, see the Startup Configuration section for details.

The CLI starts with a banner graphic (which can be disabled) and a prompt. The prompt will typically read vpp for a release version of VPP and DBGvpp# for a development version with debugging enabled, for example: 

    _______    _        _   _____  ___ 
 __/ __/ _ \  (_)__    | | / / _ \/ _ \
 _/ _// // / / / _ \   | |/ / ___/ ___/
 /_/ /____(_)_/\___/   |___/_/  /_/    

vpp#

versus: 

    _______    _        _   _____  ___ 
 __/ __/ _ \  (_)__    | | / / _ \/ _ \
 _/ _// // / / / _ \   | |/ / ___/ ___/
 /_/ /____(_)_/\___/   |___/_/  /_/    

DBGvpp#

This prompt can be configured with the unix cli-prompt setting and the banner is disabled with unix cli-no-banner.

CLI features

The CLI has several editing features that make it easy to use.

  • Cursor keys left/right will move the cursor within a command line; typing will insert at the cursor; erase will erase at the cursor.
  • Ctrl-left/right will search for the start of the next word to the left or right.
  • Home/end will jump the cursor to the start and end of the line.
  • Cursor keys up/down and ^P/^N iterate through the command history buffer. Lines from the history buffer may be edited. New commands are added to the end of the buffer when executed; though duplicates of the previous command are not added.
  • ^U erases the line contents from the left of the cursor to the start.
  • ^K erases the contents from the cursor to the end.
  • ^S/^R will search the command history forwards or in reverse for a command; start typing for matches to auto complete.
  • ^L will clear the screen (if supported by the terminal) and repaint the prompt and any current line. The cursor position is also retained.
  • The CLI can be closed with the quit command. Alternatively, ^D on an empty input line will also close the session. Closing the debug session will also shutdown VPP.

Output that exceeds the length of a terminal page will be buffered, up to a limit.

  • Space or page-down displays the next page.
  • Enter or down-arrow displays the next line.
  • Page-up goes back a page.
  • Up-arrow goes up a line.
  • Home/end jump to the start/end of the buffered output.
  • The key q quits the pager. Space and enter will also quit the pager if the end of the buffer has been reached.

Index of CLI commands

ARP and Loopback CLI

Circular Journal

Command line session

DPDK Crypto

DPDK and pcap tx

Host Interface

Layer 2 CLI

Layer 3 IP CLI

Unix Interface

VLIB application library

VXLAN CLI

netmap

src/examples/vlib

src/plugins/acl

src/plugins/flowperpkt

src/plugins/ila

src/plugins/ioam/analyse/ip6

src/plugins/ioam/encap

src/plugins/ioam/export

src/plugins/ioam/export-vxlan-gpe

src/plugins/ioam/ip6

src/plugins/ioam/lib-pot

src/plugins/ioam/lib-trace

src/plugins/ioam/lib-vxlan-gpe

src/plugins/ioam/udp-ping

src/plugins/lb

src/plugins/memif

src/plugins/sixrd

src/plugins/snat

src/vlib/pci

src/vlibapi

src/vlibmemory

src/vnet

src/vnet/adj

src/vnet/bfd

src/vnet/cdp

src/vnet/classify

src/vnet/cop

src/vnet/devices

src/vnet/dhcp

src/vnet/dpo

src/vnet/feature

src/vnet/fib

src/vnet/flow

src/vnet/gre

src/vnet/ipsec

src/vnet/ipsec-gre

src/vnet/l2tp

src/vnet/lawful-intercept

src/vnet/lisp-cp

src/vnet/lisp-gpe

src/vnet/lldp

src/vnet/map

src/vnet/mfib

src/vnet/mpls

src/vnet/pg

src/vnet/policer

src/vnet/session

src/vnet/span

src/vnet/sr

src/vnet/tcp

src/vnet/udp

src/vnet/unix

src/vnet/vxlan-gpe

src/vpp/api

src/vpp/app

src/vpp/oam

src/vpp/vnet

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