Cisco IOS Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Displaying Active Users

Problem

You want to find out who else is logged in to a router.

Solution

To see which users are currently logged into the router and on which line, use the show users EXEC command:

Router1#show users

Use the keyword all to view all lines whether a user is currently active or not:

Router1#show users all

Use the EXEC command who to view the same output as the show users command:

Router1#who

To remotely view which users are logged into a router, use the finger command from your management server:

Freebsd% finger @Router1

This last command will work only if the finger service is enabled on the router.

Discussion

The router provides a number of different methods to view active users. The output from all of these commands is nearly identical. For security purposes, for operational reasons, or just for curiosity, many administrators like to know which users are accessing the router.

The format of the output is as follows: the absolute line number, the VTY line number, the username, listing of connected hosts, the inactivity timer, and the source address of the session. Also notice that one line of the output has an asterisk * in the left margin, indicating your current session.

The show users command displays the current active users and their associated line information:

Router1#show users Line User Host(s) Idle Location 66 vty 0 ijbrown idle 00:56:15 freebsd.oreilly.com 67 vty 1 kdooley idle 00:17:52 freebsd.oreilly.com * 68 vty 2 weak idle 00:00:00 freebsd.oreilly.com Interface ...