Diagnostic-information Configuration

show diagnostic-information [since|count]

[Command]

show diagnostic-information [since|count]

[Purpose]

Used to collect device diagnostic information.

[View]

System view

[Parameter]

Parameter	Description
since	Collect logs and core files since the specified date
count	The number of logs to be collected

[Usage Scenario]

Currently, on-site troubleshooting often requires multiple communications to check the configuration status of the on-site switches. To facilitate the collection of more information in one go, a quick maintenance command has been added to collect switch information. After executing the command, the output will be saved as a compressed file to a fixed directory /var/dump/.

[Use Cases]

sonic# show diagnostic-information count 2

show system reboot-cause

[Command] show system reboot-cause

[Purpose] Used to view system restart reason information.

[View] System View

[Use Cases]

sonic# show system reboot-cause
+------------------------------+--------------------+------------------------------+---------------+----------------+
| Reboot-time                  |   Reboot-timestamp | Reboot-reason                | Reboot-user   | Reboot-ip      |
+==============================+====================+==============================+===============+================+
| Fri Mar  6 02:45:54 UTC 2026 |         1772765154 | User issued 'reboot' command | admin         | 192.168.18.238 |
+------------------------------+--------------------+------------------------------+---------------+----------------+

show system cfgdb-event

[Command] show system cfgdb-event

[Purpose] Used to view the change status of system configuration files, supporting modify/delete status.

[View] System View

[Use Cases]

sonic# show system cfgdb-event
+------------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------+----------------+
| Time                         |   Timestamp | Operation   | User   | IP             |
+==============================+=============+=============+========+================+
| Fri Mar 06 03:40:28 UTC 2026 |  1772768428 | modify      | admin  | 192.168.18.238 |
+------------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------+----------------+
sonic# show system cfgdb-event
+------------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------+----------------+
| Time                         |   Timestamp | Operation   | User   | IP             |
+==============================+=============+=============+========+================+
| Fri Mar 06 03:51:04 UTC 2026 |  1772769064 | delete      | admin  | 192.168.18.238 |
+------------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------+----------------+

show system fs-status

[Command] show system fs-status

[Purpose] Used to view the system disk read/write status, with rw/ro states available.

[View] System View

[Use Cases]

sonic# show system fs-status
+----------+------------------------------+--------------------+
| Status   | Detect-time                  |   Detect-timestamp |
+==========+==============================+====================+
| rw       | Thu Mar 05 07:02:14 UTC 2026 |         1772694134 |
+----------+------------------------------+--------------------+
sonic# show system fs-status
+----------+------------------------------+--------------------+
| Status   | Detect-time                  |   Detect-timestamp |
+==========+==============================+====================+
| ro       | Thu Mar 05 06:59:14 UTC 2026 |         1772693954 |
+----------+------------------------------+--------------------+

show system users

[Command] show system users

[Purpose] View users currently logged into the switch

[View] System View

[Use Cases]

sonic# show system users
admin    pts/0        2026-03-10 07:39 (192.168.18.238)
admin    pts/1        2026-03-10 07:26 (192.168.18.238)

ping

[Command] ping* target_address* [source* source_address***|vrf*** vrf_name***]] [size*** size***] [interval*** interval***] [repeat*** count***]**

[Purpose] Used to execute the ping diagnostic command.

[View] Linux View

[Parameter]

Parameter	Description
target_address	Specifies the destination address for the ping
source_address	Specifies the source address for the ping request
source_interface	Specifies the source interface for the ping request
vrf_name	Specifies the VRF for the ping request
size	Specifies the packet length of the ping request
interval	Specifies the interval between ping requests
count	Specifies the number of ping request packets

[Use Cases]

sonic# ping 1.1.1.1 interval 0.5

traceroute

[Command]

ping <target_address> [source [ip <ip_address> |] [vrf <vrf_name>]

[Purpose]

Used to execute the traceroute diagnostic command.

[View]

Linux View

[Parameter]

Parameter	Description
target_address	Specifies the destination address for the ping
ip_address	Specifies the source address for the tracerouterequest
interface	Specifies the source interface for the tracerouterequest
vrf_name	Specifies the VRF for the ping request

[Use Cases]

sonic# traceroute 192.168.0.78
traceroute to 192.168.0.78 (192.168.0.78), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.0.1 2.347 ms 2.373 ms 2.486 ms
2 172.16.1.1 1.954 ms 1.916 ms 2.057 ms
3 172.16.1.11 3.159 ms 3.446 ms 3.587 ms
4 192.168.0.78 1.739 ms 1.705 ms 1.669 ms

config-db.json

[Purpose]

System configuration file.

[View]

Linux View

[Comment]

System configuration file directory: /etc/sonic/config-db.json stores the currently saved configuration of the system. The system loads this configuration file during startup to restore the configuration. It is not recommended to directly modify the content of this file.

syslog

[Purpose]

System log file.

[View]

Linux View

[Comment]

System log file directory: /var/log/syslog stores the runtime logs of the current system. You can open this file to view system operation logs. System logs are periodically compressed. To view older logs, you can check the compressed files at /var/log/syslog..gz. The system can store a maximum of 1,000 compressed syslog files. The /var/log directory also stores runtime logs for other modules, such as auth.log, ptp.log, ztp.log, etc. The method for viewing these logs is the same as for syslog. It is not recommended to directly edit the contents in this directory.

tcpdump

[Command]

tcpdump -i* interface_name***[-Qin] [-Qout] [-w xxx.pcap]**

[Purpose]

Capture packets on a specified interface.

[View]

Linux View

[Parameter]

Parameter	Description
interface_name	Specifies the interface for packet capture. Supported interfaces include physical interfaces, LAG interfaces, and VLAN interfaces
Qin/Qout	Specifies Specifies the packet capture direction as inbound or outbound; by default, both directions are captured.
-w	Specifies that captured packets should be saved locally.

[Use Cases]

admin@sonic:~$ tcpdump -i Vlan100 -w Vlan100.pcap

ftp

[Command]

ftp* x.x.x.x*

[Purpose]

Transfer files using the FTP method

[View]

Linux View

[Parameter]

Parameter	Description
x.x.x.x	The Ftp server address

[Use Cases]

admin@sonic:~$ ftp
ftp> admin@sonic:~$ ftp 192.168.0.78
Connected to 192.168.0.78.
220 (vsFTPd 3.0.3)
Name (192.168.0.78:admin): teraspek
331 Please specify the password.
Password:
230 Login successful.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> put 14.pcap
local: 14.pcap remote: 14.pcap
200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
150 Ok to send data.
226 Transfer complete.
29424 bytes sent in 0.00 secs (64.6565 MB/s)
ftp>

tftp

[Command]

tftp* x.x.x.x*

[Purpose]

Transfer files using the Ttfp method

[View]

Linux View

[Parameter]

Parameter	Description
x.x.x.x	The tftp server address

[Use Cases]

admin@sonic:~$ tftp 192.168.0.7
tftp> put 14.pcap
Sent 29461 bytes in 0.0 seconds
tftp>

screen-paging disable

[Command]

screen-paging disable no screen-paging disable

[Purpose]

Disable pagination for screen display

[View]

System Configuration View

[Comment]

Users can change the terminal screen display pagination settings for easier Viewing of configurations when executing commands multiple times with extensive output lines on the device.

[Use Cases]

sonic# screen-paging disable

watch

[Command] watch [interval* interval***] [diff] [err-quit]*** commands*

[Purpose] Periodically Execute Display Commands

[Parameter]

Parameter	Description
interval	Interval for executing the command. Default: 5 seconds. Range: 1 – 254 seconds
diff	Highlights differences when the current command output differs from the previous one
err-quit	Automatically exits when an error occurs during command execution
commands	The specific command to execute. Only a single show command is supported

[View] System View

[Comment] When users need to repeatedly execute the same command on the device, this command can be used for automatic execution. The command output is displayed on the screen in real time at regular intervals for easy observation. Press the q or Q key to exit.

[Use Cases]

sonic# watch interval 2 diff err-quit show counters interface