CDP is primarily used to obtain protocol addresses of
neighboring devices and discover the platform of those devices. CDP can also be
used to display information about the interfaces your router uses. CDP is
media- and protocol-independent, and runs on all equipment manufactured by
Cisco, including routers, bridges, access servers, and switches.
Use of SNMP with the CDP MIB allows network management applications to
learn the device type and the SNMP agent address of neighboring devices and to
send SNMP queries to those devices. CDP uses the CISCO-CDP-MIB.
CDP runs on all media that support Subnetwork Access Protocol (SNAP),
including LAN, Frame Relay, and ATM physical media. CDP runs over the data link
layer only. Therefore, two systems that support different network-layer
protocols can learn about each other.
Each device configured for CDP sends periodic messages, known as
advertisements, to a multicast address. Each device
advertises at least one address at which it can receive SNMP messages. The
advertisements also contain time-to-live, or hold-time, information, which
indicates the length of time a receiving device holds CDP information
before discarding it. Each device also listens to the periodic CDP messages
sent by others to learn about neighboring devices and determine when their
interfaces to the media go up or down.
CDP Version-2 (CDPv2) is the most recent release of the protocol and
provides more intelligent device tracking features. These features include a
reporting mechanism that allows for more rapid error tracking, thereby reducing
costly downtime. Reported error messages can be sent to the console or to a
logging server, and can cover instances of unmatching native VLAN IDs (IEEE
802.1Q) on connecting ports, and unmatching port duplex states between
connecting devices.
CDPv2
show
commands can provide detailed output on
VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) management domain and duplex modes of neighbor
devices, CDP-related counters, and VLAN IDs of connecting ports.
Type-length-value fields (TLVs) are blocks of information embedded in
CDP advertisements.
Table 1
summarizes the TLV definitions for CDP advertisements.
Table 1. Type-Length-Value Definitions for CDPv2
TLV |
Definition |
Device-ID TLV
|
Identifies the device name in the form of a character string.
|
Address TLV
|
Contains a list of network addresses of both receiving and
sending devices.
|
Port-ID TLV
|
Identifies the port on which the CDP packet is sent.
|
Capabilities TLV
|
Describes the functional capability for the device in the form
of a device type; for example, a switch.
|
Version TLV
|
Contains information about the software release version on which
the device is running.
|
Platform TLV
|
Describes the hardware platform name of the device, for example,
Cisco 4500.
|
VTP Management Domain TLV
|
Advertises the system’s configured VTP management domain
name-string. Used by network operators to verify VTP domain configuration in
adjacent network nodes.
|
Native VLAN TLV
|
Indicates, per interface, the assumed VLAN for untagged packets
on the interface. CDP learns the native VLAN for an interface. This feature is
implemented only for interfaces that support the IEEE 802.1Q protocol.
|
Full/Half Duplex TLV
|
Indicates status (duplex configuration) of CDP broadcast
interface. Used by network operators to diagnose connectivity problems between
adjacent network elements.
|