Cisco – Dec MOP and how to disable it

ciscocisco-ios

Performing a packet capture I keep seeing strange "DEC MOP Remote Console" frames:

No.     Time        Source                Destination           Protocol Info
    141 83.557841   Cisco_57:62:a0        DEC-MOP-Remote-Console 0x6002   DEC DNA Remote Console

Ethernet II, Src: Cisco_57:62:a0 (00:0d:bc:57:62:a0), Dst: DEC-MOP-Remote-Console (ab:00:00:02:00:00)
    Destination: DEC-MOP-Remote-Console (ab:00:00:02:00:00)
        Address: DEC-MOP-Remote-Console (ab:00:00:02:00:00)
        .... ...1 .... .... .... .... = IG bit: Group address (multicast/broadcast)
        .... ..1. .... .... .... .... = LG bit: Locally administered address (this is NOT the factory default)
    Source: Cisco_57:62:a0 (00:0d:bc:57:62:a0)
        Address: Cisco_57:62:a0 (00:0d:bc:57:62:a0)
        .... ...0 .... .... .... .... = IG bit: Individual address (unicast)
        .... ..0. .... .... .... .... = LG bit: Globally unique address (factory default)
    Type: DEC DNA Remote Console (0x6002)

The source mac address is one from a Cisco router. However Decnet is disabled on the router and transport input set to telnet:

router# show decnet 
% DECnet is not enabled

router# show run | begin line vty
line vty 0 4
   transport input telnet

How can I prevent this router to send these remote console frames?

Best Answer

Decnet Maintenance Operation Protocol (MOP) is an ancient protocol that was used to administrate remote systems, and provided tools such as remote console or network bootstrap.

However, as of now this is still enabled by default on all Cisco IOS Releases from 9.0 to recent 15.x.

To disable MOP on the router it has to be done on a per-interface basis:

router# conf t
router(configure)# interface fastethernet0/0
router(configure-if)# no mop enabled

router# sh run int f0/0 | include mop
 no mop enabled

MOP will be disabled even though the router still shows MOP as protocol on the interface:

router# show int f0/0 count prot status 
Protocols allocated:
 FastEthernet0/0: Other, IP, DEC MOP, ARP, CDP, IPv6