What Is Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)?
Communication is the key to success, and when two or more things interact, they need a perfect hand shake that can set things straight and set things smooth for great functionality. A protocol is just like that handshake. It's how two systems that speak a different language can ensure they're speaking to the right one. Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) is Cisco's way of saying, "Hey! I've got some information about my neighbors that you might want." It's a data link layer protocol that works at the same level as Ethernet and other data link layer protocols used by most networking equipment, including routers, bridges, access servers and switches. CDP shares information about connected network devices, such as their interfaces used by routers, IP addresses and operating system versions. It can also allow two systems operating on different network layer protocols to learn about each other. Hewlett-Packard pulled the plug on CDP, but not without a fight. CDP is a protocol that allows network administrators to monitor their networks and determine if any devices are out of communication with their servers. Cisco Systems originally developed it in the early 1990s, but it's been adopted by other manufacturers as well. Hewlett-Packard removed CDP support from their products in 2006, citing a desire to move toward IEEE 802.1AB Link Layer Discovery Protocol, which is similar to CDP and implemented by numerous vendors. CDP is pretty great. It lets you know if your neighbors are using the same operating system and IP address ranges as you, which can help you troubleshoot network issues. There's one thing it needs to tell you: what kind of information is being sent over that port? If you want to know what type of data is going through a port, you'll need something else like SNMP or NetFlow
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