Cisco Switch Port Status Monitor (Telnet)

A Python-based monitoring tool that connects to a Cisco switch via Telnet, collects interface status and PoE information, and displays active (connected) ports in a clean GUI dashboard.

This project is designed for homelab, lab, and operational environments where SSH may not be available and Telnet is still in use.

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✨ Features

• ✅ Telnet connection using pexpect
• ✅ Supports login without username
• ✅ Handles:
  • Password-only login
  • Username + password login
  • Direct > or # prompt
  • Enable (enable) password
• ✅ Automatically disables terminal paging
• ✅ Collects:
  • Interface link status
  • VLAN
  • Speed (human readable)
  • Duplex
  • PoE admin/oper state
  • PoE power usage (Watts)
• ✅ GUI table with:
  • Auto refresh
  • Manual refresh
  • Sortable columns
• ✅ Designed to recover from connection failures gracefully

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🖥️ GUI Overview

The GUI displays only active (connected) ports in a sortable table:

Column	Description
Port	Cisco interface converted to Port number
VLAN	Access VLAN
Speed	Human-readable link speed
Duplex	Full / Half
PoE Admin	PoE enabled/disabled
PoE Oper	PoE operational state
Power (W)	Power drawn by the device

A status bar at the bottom shows:

• Connection state
• Errors
• Last refresh time

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📦 Requirements

Python

• Python 3.8+ recommended

System packages

Tkinter is required for the GUI.

Debian / Ubuntu / Raspberry Pi OS

sudo apt install python3-tk

RedHat / Rocky / Alma / CentOS

sudo dnf install python3-tkinter

Arch / Manjaro

sudo pacman -S tk

Python modules

pip install pexpect

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⚙️ Configuration

Edit these variables at the top of status.py:

SWITCH_IP = "10.183.100.11"
TELNET_PORT = 23

USERNAME = ""            # optional
PASSWORD = "telnetpass"
ENABLE_PASSWORD = "enablepass"

🔐 Login without username

If your switch does not require a username:

USERNAME = ""

This is fully supported.

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🌱 Environment Variables (Recommended)

Instead of hardcoding credentials:

export SWITCH_USER=""
export SWITCH_PASS="telnetpass"
export SWITCH_ENABLE="enablepass"
python3 status.py

This keeps secrets out of source code.

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🚀 Running the Program

python3 status.py

If running on a headless server, ensure:

• X11 / Wayland forwarding is available, or
• Use a desktop environment

For pure server usage, consider converting this to a web dashboard.

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🔁 Refresh Behavior

• Auto refresh every 10 seconds (configurable in GUI)
• Manual refresh button
• Auto refresh can be paused/resumed

The program safely:

• Reconnects on failure
• Retries after timeouts
• Never blocks the GUI

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🛠️ How It Works (Internals)

1. Connects via Telnet using pexpect
2. Detects login prompt type
3. Enters enable mode if required
4. Runs:
   • show interfaces status
   • show power inline
5. Parses CLI output with regex
6. Merges interface + PoE data
7. Displays connected ports in GUI

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⚠️ Notes & Limitations

• Telnet must be enabled on the switch
• Tested primarily on Cisco IOS-style output
• Parsing may need adjustment for NX-OS / IOS-XE variants
• GUI requires a graphical environment

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🔮 Possible Extensions

• Web-based dashboard (Flask / FastAPI)
• Port search & filtering
• Historical PoE graphs
• Alerts for power spikes or link changes
• SSH support

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📜 License

MIT License — use, modify, and share freely.

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👤 Author

Created for homelab and operational monitoring of Cisco switches.

Feel free to extend and adapt.