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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.

✨ 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

🖥️ 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

📦 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

⚙️ 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.

🌱 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.

🚀 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.

🔁 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

🛠️ 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

⚠️ 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

🔮 Possible Extensions

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

📜 License

MIT License — use, modify, and share freely.

👤 Author

Created for homelab and operational monitoring of Cisco switches.

Feel free to extend and adapt.