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Switches

Issues with switch discovery, SSH access, and the topology map.

Switch does not appear on the topology map​

The switch is auto-discovered from agents' LLDP data. The mac-nic-exporter container sniffs LLDP packets passively over a raw socket (no lldpd running inside) and exposes each neighbor on its /metrics endpoint. Confirm at least one agent's NIC has seen a neighbor entry pointing at the switch:

# On an agent — check the metrics endpoint (host network, port 29500):
# LLDP neighbors are carried in the labels of the nic_info metric
# (system_name, mgmt_address, port_description, …).
~$ curl -s http://localhost:29500/metrics | grep 'nic_info'

# Or look at the discovery logs:
~$ docker logs mac-nic-exporter 2>&1 | grep -i lldp

If nothing shows up, make sure (a) the link is up, (b) lldpd (or equivalent) is enabled on the switch port, and (c) the agent container has CAP_NET_RAW so it can open the sniffer socket.

"Authentication failed" when opening the Web Terminal​

The SSH credentials in SWITCH_PASSWD_LIST are all wrong for that switch.

~$ mac env set SWITCH_PASSWD_LIST=admin,123455,YourThirdPassword
~$ mac restart master

The master tries each password in order on the first connect to a switch and caches the one that worked. Old cached entries are flushed when the master restarts.

Breakout-mode change does not show new sub-ports​

After config interface breakout, MAC asks the switch (over SSH) to restart its on-box snmp container so the new sub-ports appear in the IF-MIB. If they still don't appear after ~30 seconds, force a refresh of the master-side switch-exporter cache:

# On the master:
~$ docker restart mac-switch-exporter

If the new sub-ports still don't show, log into the switch directly and verify the SNMP daemon there is up — sudo docker ps | grep snmp.

BGP peer "stuck in Active"​

This is almost always a layer-3 reachability or AS-number mismatch on the switch — not something MAC can diagnose. Use the Web Terminal (Terminal tab on the switch panel) to run vendor-native commands like show bgp summary and show ip route <peer-ip>.

Topology shows a "n servers not in topology" banner​

The named servers are registered as agents but their NICs do not have LLDP neighbors that match a managed switch. Common causes:

  • Switch is not yet managed — confirm SSH credentials are valid for it.
  • Link is down — fix the cabling / SFP, then run docker restart mac-switch-exporter on the master to force re-discovery.
  • LLDP TX is disabled on the switch port — run lldpctl from the agent or show lldp neighbors from the switch to verify.