Config Lab: CDP/LLDP 1
#CDP has long been the default and favored protocol for a variety of device discovery functions, but LLDP offers an alternative as well. (LLDP is new to the exam topics per the May 2016 new CCENT and CCNA R&S exams.) Both are supported in Cisco routers and switches, with similar configuration. This lab asks you to work through the commands to enable and disable both CDP and LLDP for the sake of exercising your CLI config skills with these protocols.
The Lab Exercise
Requirements
Configure CDP and LLDP in the topology shown in the figure. In particular, use CDP only in the top part of the topology, and LLDP only in the bottom part. The specific rules for this lab are:
- Use only CDP on the R1 and R2 G0/2 interfaces
- Use only LLDP on the R1 and R2 G0/1 interfaces
- Use only CDP on switch SW1
- Use only LLDP on switch SW2, R3, and R4
- Assume all device interfaces shown in the lab are up and working
Figure 1: Device Discovery Topology
Initial Configuration
Examples 1 through 6 show the beginning configuration state of the four routers and the two switches.
hostname R1
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
no shutdown
Example 1: R1 Config
hostname R2
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
no shutdown
Example 2: R2 Config
hostname R3
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
no shutdown
Example 3: R3 Config
hostname R4
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
no shutdown
Example 4: R4 Config
hostname SW1
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
no shutdown
Example 5: SW1 Config
hostname SW2
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/3
no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0
no shutdown
Example 6: SW2 Config
Answer Options - Click Tabs to Reveal
You can learn a lot and strengthen real learning of the topics by creating the configuration – even without a router or switch CLI. In fact, these labs were originally built to be used solely as a paper exercise!
To answer, just think about the lab. Refer to your primary learning material for CCNA, your notes, and create the configuration on paper or in a text editor. Then check your answer versus the answer post, which is linked at the bottom of the lab, just above the comments section.
You can also implement the lab using the Cisco Packet Tracer network simulator. With this option, you use Cisco’s free Packet Tracer simulator. You open a file that begins with the initial configuration already loaded. Then you implement your configuration and test to determine if it met the requirements of the lab.
(Use this link for more information about Cisco Packet Tracer.)
Use this workflow to do the labs in Cisco Packet Tracer:
- Download the .pkt file linked below.
- Open the .pkt file, creating a working lab with the same topology and interfaces as the lab exercise.
- Add your planned configuration to the lab.
- Test the configuration using some of the suggestions below.
You can also implement the lab using Cisco Modeling Labs – Personal (CML-P). CML-P (or simply CML) replaced Cisco Virtual Internet Routing Lab (VIRL) software in 2020, in effect serving as VIRL Version 2.
If you prefer to use CML, use a similar workflow as you would use if using Cisco Packet Tracer, as follows:
- Download the CML file (filetype .yaml) linked below.
- Import the lab’s CML file into CML and then start the lab.
- Compare the lab topology and interface IDs to this lab, as they may differ (more detail below).
- Add your planned configuration to the lab.
- Test the configuration using some of the suggestions below.
Download this lab’s CML file!
Network Device Info:
This table lists the interfaces used in the lab exercise documentation that differ from those used in the sample CML file.
Device | Lab Port | Â CML Port |
SW2 | G1/0/1 | G0/1 |
SW2 | G1/0/2 | G0/2 |
SW2 | G1/0/3 | G0/3 |
SW2 | G1/0/4 | G1/0 |
Lab Answers Below: Spoiler Alert
Lab Answers: Configuration (Click Tab to Reveal)
Answers
Figure 1: Device Discovery Topology
lldp run
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
no cdp enable
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
no lldp transmit
no lldp receive
Example 1: R1 Config
lldp run
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
no cdp enable
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
no lldp transmit
no lldp receive
Example 2: R2 Config
no cdp run
lldp run
Example 3: R3 Config
no cdp run
lldp run
Example 4: R4 Config
no cdp run
lldp run
Example 5: SW2 Config
Commentary, Issues, and Verification Tips (Click Tabs to Reveal)
Commentary
The default behavior of all Cisco devices is to have the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) enabled on all interfaces. This behavior works well as long as the other deployed equipment in the network is either from Cisco or from a vendor that supports CDP. However, in cases where the connected device happens to use the standards-based Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP), you need to disable CDP and enable LLDP.
For this lab, you were tasked with several configuration tasks that test your ability to configure different variations of CDP and LLDP; the specific order of the configuration is subjective.
On R1 and R2, the first task to configure is to enable LLDP globally with the lldp run global command. Then to run CDP only on some interfaces and LLDP only on other interfaces, you need to use some interface subcommands. Specifically, to disable CDP on their G0/1 interfaces, use the no cdp enable interface subcommand. LLDP uses a slightly different command; to disable LLDP on the R1 and R2 G0/2 interfaces, use both the no lldp transmit and no lldp receive interface subcommands.
For R3 and R4, because both use LLDP only, you can disable CDP completely and enable LLDP on all interfaces. First, to disable CDP globally, configure the no cdp run global command. Then, to enable LLDP globally, which automatically enables LLDP for both transmit and receive on all interfaces, configure the lldp run global command.
Next, consider the switches. Switch SW1 needs only default configuration, with CDP enabled globally, and LLDP disabled globally, so no new configuration is needed. Example 11 shows the configuration needed on switch SW2 to reverse those settings so that SW2 runs LLDP but not CDP.
Known Issues in this Lab
This section of each Config Lab Answers post hopes to help with those issues by listing any known issues with Packet Tracer related to this lab. In this case, the issues are:
# | Summary | Detail |
1 | None | No known issues related to this lab. |
Why Would Cisco Packet Tracer Have Issues?
(Note: The below text is the same in every Config Lab.)
Cisco Packet Tracer (CPT) simulates Cisco routers and switches. However, CPT does not run the same software that runs in real Cisco routers and switches. Instead, developers wrote CPT to predict the output a real router or switch would display given the same topology and configuration – but without performing all the same tasks, an actual device has to do. On a positive note, CPT requires far less CPU and RAM than a lab full of devices so that you can run CPT on your computer as an app. In addition, simulators like CPT help you learn about the Cisco router/switch user interface – the Command Line Interface (CLI) – without having to own real devices.
CPT can have issues compared to real devices because CPT does not run the same software as Cisco devices. CPT does not support all commands or parameters of a command. CPT may supply output from a command that differs in some ways from what an actual device would give. Those differences can be a problem for anyone learning networking technology because you may not have experience with that technology on real gear – so you may not notice the differences. So this section lists differences and issues that we have seen when using CPT to do this lab.
Beyond comparing your answers to this lab’s Answers post, you can test in Cisco Packet Tracer (CPT) or Cisco Modeling Labs (CML). In fact, you can and should explore the lab once configured. For this lab, once you have completed the configuration, try these verification steps.Â
- Connect to any of the routers and display the LLDP and CDP neighbors. Use commands like show cdp neighbors, show lldp neighbors, show cdp interfaces, and show lldp interfaces. For instance, R1 should see SW1 as a neighbor with CDP and SW2 as a neighbor with LLDP. SW2 should see R1, R2, R3, and R4 as a neighbor with LLDP.
Hi,
Just one typo in Example 6 SW2 Config: hostname SW1 global configuration command should reference “SW2”.
Agreed, and fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
Wendell
Hi,
I see that lldp was enabled globally, couldn’t it be possible to enable it per interface by using
lldp receive
lldp transmit, commands ?
Sure, no problem.
Hello Mr Odom,
Just one typo on the last requirement, R4 was referenced twice.
Hello, Master Odom, I was a bit confused, including reading the comments: Is it possible to just disable the CDP protocol that is enabled by default on Cisco devices and some manufacturers, and use, in specific interfaces, the commands per interface?
Example:
lldp transmit / lldp receive
enable cdp.
Why use the “no cdp enable” or “no lldp transmit/receive” command on interfaces where these commands have never been enabled before?
Hi Elton,
Well, I think we’re confusing each other! 🙂
Start w/ CDP. The default settings are “cdp run” (global command) and “cdp enable” (interface subcommands.) So if, like on router R1, you need CDP enabled on one interface and disabled on a second, you can’t use “no cdp run”, because that disables CDP on the device. So, you have to use the interface subcommand. (I think this next part is the crux of your question.) Then, since the default (that is, not typed/configured, but default) setting is cdp enable on R1’s lower interface, we must use “no cdp enable” to do the opposite. Doing nothing leaves the configuration as “cdp enable”, which is not what we want on the interface that needs to use only LLDP.
I think that may be what your asking?
Wendell
Hey Wendell,
The show lldp interfaces global command does not appear to be available in CPT using the layer 3650-24ps model layer 3 switch assigned to (SW2) in this topology. It is available in the 2911 routers in use but it is not available in the layer 2 switch assigned to (SW1) in this topology as well. You may need to add this to the known packet tracer issues tab. Just FYI.