Getting Started

Create an IOSvL2 switch and name it Core1. It will have 16 ports by default, more than we need.

Start the switch and immediately connect via the console; review the bootup process.

On a physical switch, we will get boot information for the flash memory, see it initializing, uncompressing and loading into DRAM. A power on self-test (POST) check of hardware occurs and we get licensing warning, particularly regarding US export regulations. Finally, we get information on the switch hardware. None of this occurs with the GNS3 image.

Cisco had some terrible security practices, and most network equipment installed does not have the most basic security configuration. With the release of IOS15, Cisco change the way the start-up scripts work. You were always offered the configuration wizard if you booted an unconfigured device. You are still offered this dialogue, but you must set a secure password. And on these newer devices, if you do not set a secret password, the device sets one for you and locks you out!

Mad!

In the IOSvL2 switch, once boot is complete, you get to a command prompt with the hostname, which is the default Switch.

The single > symbol means that we are in user mode; we have access to some simple commands only and do not have the ability to do configurations. Press [?] followed by [return] to see a list of the commands available.

To do any serious configuration we need to enter exec mode. To do this, type enable followed by [return]. The tricks we use in Linux will also work here, you can type the first few letters of a command and then [tab] to finish. Or you can just type the first few letters of a command; typing en followed by [return] works fine, and most of us use shortcuts like this.

The single # symbol means that we are in exec mode.

The show command is one of the most used, to see the current running configuration, type show run followed by [return], this will give you the default configuration.

For an exercise, try the command show version and figure out its significance.