The Cisco Nexus 3464C and Cisco Nexus 34180YC are top of the rack (ToR) switches that contain the Barefoot Networks Tofino ASICs. Because these switches are TORs, they do not feature any interchangeable fabric modules or line cards. The Barefoot Networks Tofino ASICs exist on the switches' system boards.

On the Cisco Nexus 3464C and Cisco Nexus 34180YC switches, a specific shell enables access directly to the ASICs. This shell is called the Barefoot shell.

The Barefoot shell is available directly from EXEC mode. The shell enables you to issue commands directly to the Barefoot Networks Tofino ASICs, which are supported in the Cisco Nexus 3464C and Cisco Nexus 34180YC switches. You can check the model of your switch by issuing the show module command.

switch-1# show module
Mod Ports  Module-Type                          Model                 Status
--- ----- ------------------------------------- --------------------- ---------
1    66   64x100G QSFP28 + 2x10G SFP+ Ethernet  N3K-C3464C            active * 
 

This topic documents how to access the Barefoot shell from NX-OS, use the online help function, and exit the Barefoot shell. For detailed documentation about the Barefoot shell and its commands, consult the Barefoot Networks Tofino documentation.

• To enter the Barefoot shell, issue the bfshell command.

  Example:

  switch-1# bfshell                                                                
  Warning: bfshell access should be used with caution
  
  
          ********************************************
          *      WARNING: Authorised Access Only     *
          ********************************************
      
  bfshell> 
  

  The command prompt changes to bfshell to indicate that you are in the Barefoot shell.

• To get a list of top-level commands in the hierarchy, type ? (question mark).

  Example:

  bfshell> ?
    cint       C Interpreter
    exit       Exit this CLI session
    help       Display an overview of the CLI syntax
    pd-switch  pd_switch Related Commands
    pipemgr    Pipe manager commands
    quit       Exit this CLI session
    switchapi  switchAPI commands
    ucli       UCLI commands
    version    Display the SDE version
  

• To get details about the types of help available, type help at the prompt.

  Example:

  bfshell> help 
  
  CONTEXT SENSITIVE HELP
  [?] - Display context sensitive help. This is either a list of possible
        command completions with summaries, or the full syntax of the
        current command. A subsequent repeat of this key, when a command
        has been resolved, will display a detailed reference.
  
  AUTO-COMPLETION
  The following keys both perform auto-completion for the current command line.
  If the command prefix is not unique then the bell will ring and a subsequent
  repeat of the key will display possible completions.
  
  [enter] - Auto-completes, syntax-checks then executes a command. If there is
            a syntax error then offending part of the command line will be
            highlighted and explained.
  
  [space] - Auto-completes, or if the command is already resolved inserts a space.
  
  MOVEMENT KEY
  [CTRL-A] - Move to the start of the line.
  [CTRL-E] - Move to the end of the line.
  [up]     - Move to the previous command line held in history.
  [down]   - Move to the next command line held in history.
  [left]   - Move the insertion point left one character.
  [right]  - Move the insertion point right one character.
  
  DELETION KEYS
  [CTRL-C]    - Delete and abort the current line.
  [CTRL-D]    - Delete the character to the right on the insertion point.
  [CTRL-K]    - Delete all the characters to the right of the insertion point.
  [CTRL-U]    - Delete the whole line.
  [backspace] - Delete the character to the left of the insertion point.
  
  ESCAPE SEQUENCES
  !!  - Subsitute the the last command line.
  !N  - Substitute the Nth command line (absolute as per 'history' command)
  !-N - Substitute the command line entered N lines before (relative)
  bfshell> 

• To change to different command subsystems in the hierarchy, enter the top-level command name.

  For example, to change to the pd-switch commands:

  bfshell> ?
    cint       C Interpreter
    exit       Exit this CLI session
    help       Display an overview of the CLI syntax
    pd-switch  pd_switch Related Commands
    pipemgr    Pipe manager commands
    quit       Exit this CLI session
    switchapi  switchAPI commands
    ucli       UCLI commands
    version    Display the SDE version
  
  bfshell> pd-switch
  pd-switch:0>  

  Notice the prompt changes to display the subsystem.

  New commands are available within each subsystem in the hierarchy.

  pd-switch:0> ?
    dump_profile  dump action profile entries
    dump_table    dump table entries
    end           End pd-switch sub-commands
    exit          Exit this CLI session
    get           Display value of shell variable
    help          Display an overview of the CLI syntax
    pd            prefix for all pd commands
    quit          Exit this CLI session
    set           Set value of shell variable
    var           Declare new shell variable
  

• To exit the Barefoot shell, issue either the exit or quit command, which terminates the current Barefoot CLI session and returns you to the NX-OS prompt. You can issue these commands from anywhere in the hierarchy.

  Examples:

  pd-switch:0> exit
  switch-1#
  bfshell> quit
  switch-1#