Xshell Highlight Sets Cisco May 2026

Purpose: Separate the log time from the message. | Description | Regex Pattern | Color | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Standard Timestamp | \d2:\d2:\d2 | Gray | | Millisecond Timestamp | \d2:\d2:\d2\.\d3 | Cyan |

These are the "stop everything and look here" messages.

| Purpose | Regex Pattern | Style | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Interface Down | \b(?:down|DOWN|down/down)\b | Red text, Bold | | Error-Disabled | err-disable|errdisabled|error-disable | White text, Red background, Bold | | Shutdown | administratively down|shutdown | Dark Red text | | Routing Loss | neighbor down|flapping|reset | Red text, Underline | | Crash | %SYS-2-MALLOCFAIL|%CORE|Stack Overflow | Red background, Yellow text |

Regex Explanation:

Configuring Highlight Sets in Xshell is one of the best ways to reduce configuration errors when managing Cisco devices. By color-coding critical keywords like err-disabled address-protocol , you can spot issues instantly. 🛠️ Step 1: Create a New Highlight Set Highlight Sets to create a new profile. Name it something descriptive, like Cisco_Network_Monitor 🎨 Step 2: Define Cisco Keywords Within your new set, click xshell highlight sets cisco

to define the terms you want to pop out. Use the following categories for a professional setup: Keywords (Sample) Suggested Color Critical/Down err-disabled established Identifiers IP Address 🔍 Step 3: Using Regular Expressions (Optional)

If you want to highlight specific patterns (like IP addresses or MAC addresses), check the Regular Expression box when adding a keyword: IP Address Pattern: \b(?:\d1,3\.)3\d1,3\b Cisco Interface Pattern: (GigabitEthernet|FastEthernet|TenGigabitEthernet)\d/\d+ 🚀 Step 4: Apply to Your Session

Highighting doesn't turn on automatically for old sessions. To enable it: Right-click your active session or go to Session Properties Navigate to Appearance Highlight Set dropdown, select your newly created Cisco_Network_Monitor 💡 Pro-Tips for Cisco Admins Export/Import: You can export your highlight sets as

files to share with your team or move them to a different machine via the Xshell Highlight Sets Menu Case Sensitivity: Purpose: Separate the log time from the message

Cisco CLI is generally case-sensitive for some outputs (like

). Ensure you add both or uncheck "Match case" in the Xshell settings. for specific Cisco protocols like

| Pattern (Regex) | Purpose | Suggested Color | |----------------|---------|----------------| | %ERROR | Error messages | Red text + yellow background | | %WARNING | Warnings | Orange text | | %NOTICE | Notices | Light blue | | down | Interface/link down | Red | | up.+\r | Interface/link up | Green | | err-disable | Port error state | Magenta + bold | | deny\|block | ACL denials | Red + italic | | authentication failed | Login failures | Red background | | [0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+ | IP addresses | Cyan | | vlan [0-9]+ | VLAN changes | Yellow |

Note: Check Case insensitive for most patterns (e.g., down should match Down and down). Configuring Highlight Sets in Xshell is one of

Xshell supports two highlighting methods:

| Type | What it does | |------|----------------| | Keyword highlighting | Colors specific words (e.g., enable, show run, interface) | | Regular expression highlighting | Colors patterns (e.g., IP addresses, VLAN IDs, error messages) |

For Cisco CLI, you’ll want both.