What is the terminal monitor command?

By default, when you log in to a Cisco device via Telnet/SSH, you will not see log messages for that device. To view the logs of the Cisco devices to which you have logged in via Telnet/SSH, enter the teminal monitor command in privileged EXEC mode.

terminal monitor command

#terminal monitor

Fig. terminal monitor
Fig. terminal monitor

Example of the terminal monitor command

The following is a simple example of the terminal monitor command.

When there is no terminal monitor command

I am telnetting from R1 to R2 (192.168.12.2) and shutdown -> no shutdown on R2 Se0/0. At that time, the log of the interface status is not displayed.

R1#telnet 192.168.12.2
Trying 192.168.12.2 ... Open


User Access Verification

Password:
R2>enable
Password:
R2#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
R2(config)#interface serial 0/0
R2(config-if)#shutdown
R2(config-if)#no shutdown

When you enter the terminal monitor

After logging in to R2 from R1 via Telnet, enter the terminal monitor command and then shutdown -> no shutdown on Se0/0. Then you can see the log of the interface status.

R1#telnet 192.168.12.2
Trying 192.168.12.2 ... Open


User Access Verification

Password:
R2>enable
Password:
R2#terminal monitor
R2#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
R2(config)#interface serial 0/0
R2(config-if)#shutdown
R2(config-if)#
*Mar  1 00:06:17.335: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface Serial0/0, changed state to administratively down
R2(config-if)#no shutdown
R2(config-if)#
*Mar  1 00:06:25.983: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface Serial0/0, changed state to up
R2(config-if)#
You need to enable the logging monitor command on the destination R2. However, the logging monitor command is enabled by default, so you don’t need to configure it explicitly.

Cisco Basic