Ever wondered what “xe” means in traceroutes?

Interface Naming

Cisco IOS

  • po – Port Channel
  • be – Bundle Ethernet (LACP)
  • fa – FastEthernet – 10/100Mbps
  • gi – GigabitEthernet – 10/100/1000Mbps
  • tw – TwoGigabitEthernet – 2.5Gbps
  • te – TenGigabitEthernet – 10Gbps
  • twe – TwentyFiveGigE – 25Gbps
  • fo – FortyGigabitEthernet – 40Gbps
  • hu – HundredGigE – 100Gbps
  • th – TwoHundredGigE – 200Gbps
  • fh – FourHundredGigE – 400Gbps

Juniper JunOS

  • ae – Aggregated Ethernet (LACP)
  • fe – 10/100Mbps
  • ge – 1Gbps
  • xe – 10Gbps
  • et – 40Gbps
  • et – 100Gbps
  • et – 400Gbps

Other common carrier abbreviations

Interface naming

  • lag / lagg – Link Aggregation (LACP)

Router designation

  • ccr – Customer Core Router
  • rtr/rcr – Regional Core Router
  • bbr – Backbone Router
  • dcr – Distribution Core Router
  • ibr – Internet Border Router
  • acr – Access Router
  • agr – Aggregation Router
  • csr – Customer Serving Router
  • csw – Customer Serving Switch
  • pe – Provider Edge
  • dist – Distribution
  • cor – Core

Vendor names

  • ar – Arista