Cisco Systems Cisco 12816 Manuale Utente

Easy access to the most current diagnostics software—Because the field 
diagnostic software is now maintained as a separate image, the most recent 
version is always available on Cisco.com, without regard to the Cisco IOS 
software release currently in use.

This chapter describes the following topics:

More than 100 diagnostic operations for each router line card exist, in addition to 
diagnostics for the switch fabric and route processor cards. These operations 
include the following: 

Processor tests

Memory tests

Component tests

Major data path tests

Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) image updates (on some line cards)

When using Cisco IOS Release 12.0(21)S or 12.0(21)ST or later, the default 
download method changes from the MBus to the switch fabric to make the process 
faster. It takes about 1 minute to obtain test results from the switch fabric 
compared to 15 minutes from the MBus.

While diagnostics are running, the line card being tested is taken offline and is 
controlled by the diagnostic software. The diagnostics affect only the line card 
being tested; the other line cards remain online and continue to pass traffic 
normally. Diagnostics do not affect system performance.