Configuring a Catalyst Switch
Connections
Start by connecting the serial port on the PC side and the console port on the switch.
Connection
Launch HyperTerminal and choose a connection on com1 port, or another com port depending on the PC configuration. You need to choose 9600 Bauds The rest doesn’t matter much…
What You Need to Know
When launching the terminal, you’ll determine several things:
- The router name (for example: swpar5)
- A secret
- A password
- A virtual terminal password
Then you need to switch to “enable” mode to be able to change the configuration
enable
The prompt changes from swpar5> to swpar5#
In this mode, you can view the router configuration by typing
sh run
Resources
If you want to modify this configuration, you need to switch to “conf” mode
conf t
Result: the prompt changes to swpar5(config)#
The “t” is to indicate that you want to configure the router in terminal mode.
Configuring the IP Address of an Interface
By running sh run, you can see the different interfaces, like this:
interface FastEthernet0/24
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
!
interface Vlan1
no ip address
no ip route-cache
!
ip http server
!
control-plane
!
!
line con 0
line vty 0 4
password *xxxxx*
no login
line vty 5 15
Here we see an interface named Vlan1 that has no IP address, and we notice that the two lines that follow are indented with a space, so we can modify them by typing, in “configuration” mode:
interface Vlan1
The prompt then changes to swpar5(config-if)# Then type
ip address 192.168.0.169 255.255.255.0
Then return to enable mode (with the prompt swpar5#) and type:
wr m
to save
From there, you can access the router’s web interface by typing
http://192.168.0.169
Firmware Update
Checking Firmware Version
Type
sh ver
Downloading the Latest Version
Go to cisco.fr –> support –> download software –> software advisor –> Find software compatible with my hardware –> Select your hardware configuration manually –> then choose the router model and download the archive. You have the choice between software that supports CRYPTO (secure https connection) or not.
Installing the New Firmware
It’s a .tar archive that needs to be loaded from the router’s web interface. Everything is automatic.
Configuring the VTP Domain
swpar5(config)#vtp mode client (or server or transparent)
swpar5(config)#vtp domain ulnet-fr
Configuring an Interface
Setting trunk mode allows multiple VLANs to pass through a single port between multiple switches:
swpar5(config-if)#switchport mode trunk
swpar5(config-if)#switchport nonegotiate
swpar5(config-if)#auto qos voip trust
swpar5(config-if)#macro description cisco-switch
swpar5(config-if)#spanning-tree link-type point-to-point
Creating a VLAN
Switch to configuration mode, and type
swpar5(config)#vlan x
where “x” is an “id” for the VLAN (a number), then choose a name for this VLAN. To do this, in conf mode, type “vlan x”
swpar5(config-vlan)#name vlan_name
You can verify the VLAN configuration with the command
swpar5#sh vlan
Once the VLAN is created, it’s better to put it in “no-shutdown” so that it doesn’t automatically deactivate:
swpar5(config-if)#no shutdown
Assigning an Interface to a VLAN
Enter configuration mode and choose an interface, for example “interface FastEthernet0/1”, and type
swpar5(config-if)#switchport mode access
swpar5(config-if)#switchport access vlan 3 (if the VLAN is called "vlan 3")
Graphical Mode
Once you have assigned an IP address, you can access the switch’s graphical interface via http. When asked for a username and password, you only need to enter the password that you set at the beginning.
Resources
Last updated 20 Nov 2007, 14:57 CET.