About Cisco IOS XE Software Documentation

Table Of Contents

About Cisco IOS XE Software Documentation

Documentation Objectives

Audience

Documentation Conventions

Typographic Conventions

Command Syntax Conventions

Software Conventions

Reader Alert Conventions

Documentation Organization

Cisco IOS XE Documentation Set

Cisco IOS XE Documentation on Cisco.com

Configuration Guides, Command References, and Supplementary Resources

Additional Resources and Documentation Feedback

About Cisco IOS XE Software Documentation

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Last Updated: November 24, 2010

This document describes the objectives, audience, conventions, and organization used in Cisco IOS XE software documentation. Also included are resources for obtaining technical assistance, additional documentation, and other information from Cisco. This document is organized into the following sections:

•Documentation Objectives

•Audience

•Documentation Conventions

•Documentation Organization

•Additional Resources and Documentation Feedback

Documentation Objectives

Cisco IOS XE documentation describe the tasks and commands available to configure and maintain Cisco networking devices.

Audience

The Cisco IOS XE documentation set is intended for users who configure and maintain Cisco networking devices (such as routers and switches) but who may not be familiar with the configuration and maintenance tasks, the relationship among tasks, or the Cisco IOS commands necessary to perform particular tasks. The Cisco IOS XE documentation set is also intended for those users experienced with Cisco IOS XE software who need to know about new features, new configuration options, and new software characteristics in the current Cisco IOS XE release.

Documentation Conventions

In Cisco IOS XE documentation, the term router may be used to refer to various Cisco products; for example, routers, access servers, and switches. These and other networking devices that support Cisco IOS XE software are shown interchangeably in examples and are used only for illustrative purposes. An example that shows one product does not necessarily mean that other products are not supported.

This section contains the following topics:

•Typographic Conventions

•Command Syntax Conventions

•Software Conventions

•Reader Alert Conventions

Typographic Conventions

Cisco IOS XE documentation uses the following typographic conventions:

Convention	Description
^ or Ctrl	Both the ^ symbol and Ctrl represent the Control (Ctrl) key on a keyboard. For example, the key combination ^D or Ctrl-D means that you hold down the Control key while you press the D key. (Keys are indicated in capital letters but are not case sensitive.)
string	A string is a nonquoted set of characters shown in italics. For example, when setting a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) community string to public, do not use quotation marks around the string; otherwise, the string will include the quotation marks.

Command Syntax Conventions

Cisco IOS XE documentation uses the following command syntax conventions:

Convention	Description
bold	Bold text indicates commands and keywords that you enter as shown.
italic	Italic text indicates arguments for which you supply values.
[x]	Square brackets enclose an optional keyword or argument.
...	An ellipsis (three consecutive nonbolded periods without spaces) after a syntax element indicates that the element can be repeated.
|	A vertical line, called a pipe, indicates a choice within a set of keywords or arguments.
[x | y]	Square brackets enclosing keywords or arguments separated by a pipe indicate an optional choice.
{x | y}	Braces enclosing keywords or arguments separated by a pipe indicate a required choice.
[x {y | z}]	Braces and a pipe within square brackets indicate a required choice within an optional element.

Software Conventions

Cisco IOS XE software uses the following conventions:

Convention	Description
Courier font	Courier font is used for information that is displayed on a PC or terminal screen.
Bold Courier font	Bold Courier font indicates text that the user must enter.
<     >	Angle brackets enclose text that is not displayed, such as a password. Angle brackets also are used in contexts in which the italic font style is not supported; for example, ASCII text.
!	An exclamation point at the beginning of a line indicates that the text that follows is a comment, not a line of code. An exclamation point is also displayed by the Cisco IOS XE software for certain processes.
[     ]	Square brackets enclose default responses to system prompts.

Reader Alert Conventions

Cisco IOS XE documentation uses the following conventions for reader alerts:

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Caution Means reader be careful. In this situation, you might do something that could result in equipment damage or loss of data.

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Note Means reader take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to material not covered in the manual.

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Timesaver Means the described action saves time. You can save time by performing the action described in the paragraph.

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Documentation Organization

This section describes the Cisco IOS XE documentation set, how it is organized, and how to access it on Cisco.com. Listed are configuration guides, command references, and supplementary references and resources that comprise the documentation set.

•Cisco IOS XE Documentation Set

•Cisco IOS XE Documentation on Cisco.com

•Configuration Guides, Command References, and Supplementary Resources

Cisco IOS XE Documentation Set

The Cisco IOS XE documentation set consists of the following:

•Release notes and caveats provide information about platform, technology, and feature support for a release and describe severity 1 (catastrophic), severity 2 (severe), and severity 3 (moderate) defects in released Cisco IOS XE software. Review release notes before other documents to learn whether updates have been made to a feature.

•Sets of configuration guides and command references organized by technology and published for each standard Cisco IOS XE release.

–Configuration guides—Compilations of documents that provide conceptual and task-oriented descriptions of Cisco IOS XE features.

–Command references—Alphabetical compilations of command pages that provide detailed information about the commands used in the Cisco IOS XE features and the processes that comprise the related configuration guides. For each technology, there is a single command reference that covers all Cisco IOS XE releases and that is updated at each standard release.

•Command reference book for debug commands.

•Lists of all the commands in a specific release and all commands that are new, modified, removed, or replaced in the release.

•Reference book for system messages for all Cisco IOS XE releases.

Cisco IOS XE Documentation on Cisco.com

The following sections describe the documentation organization and how to access various document types.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about Cisco IOS XE software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Configuration Guides

Configuration guides are provided by technology and release and comprise a set of individual feature guides relevant to the release and technology.

Command References

Command reference books describe Cisco IOS XE commands that are supported in many different software releases and on many different platforms. The books are organized by technology. For information about all Cisco IOS XE commands, use the Command Lookup Tool at http://tools.cisco.com/Support/CLILookup or the Cisco IOS Master Command List, All Releases, at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/mcl/allreleasemcl/all_book.html.

Cisco IOS XE Supplementary Documents and Resources

Supplementary documents and resources are listed in Table 2.

Configuration Guides, Command References, and Supplementary Resources

Table 1 lists, in alphabetical order, Cisco IOS XE software configuration guides and command references, including brief descriptions of the contents of the documents. The command references contain commands for both Cisco IOS software and Cisco IOS XE software, for all releases. The command references support many different software releases and platforms. Your Cisco IOS XE software release or platform may not support all these technologies.

Table 2 lists documents and resources that supplement the Cisco IOS XE software configuration guides and command references. These supplementary resources include release notes and caveats; master command lists; new, modified, removed, and replaced command lists; system messages; and the debug command reference.

For additional information about configuring and operating specific networking devices, and to access Cisco IOS documentation, go to the Product/Technologies Support area of Cisco.com at the following location:

http://www.cisco.com/go/techdocs

Table 1 Cisco IOS XE Configuration Guides and Command References 

Configuration Guide and Command Reference Titles	Features/Protocols/Technologies
•Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers SIP and SPA Software Configuration Guide	Configuration and troubleshooting of SPA interface processors (SIPs) and shared port adapters (SPAs) that are supported on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router.
•Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers Software Configuration Guide	Overview of software functionality that is specific to the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers.
•Cisco IOS XE Access Node Control Protocol Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Access Node Control Protocol Command Reference	Communication protocol between digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAMs) and a broadband remote access server (BRAS).
•Cisco IOS XE Asynchronous Transfer Mode Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Asynchronous Transfer Mode Command Reference	LAN ATM, multiprotocol over ATM (MPoA), and WAN ATM.
•Cisco IOS XE Broadband Access Aggregation and DSL Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Broadband Access Aggregation and DSL Command Reference	PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE).
•Cisco IOS XE Carrier Ethernet Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Carrier Ethernet Command Reference	IEEE 802.3ad Link Bundling; Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) support for Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet links and EtherChannel bundles; LACP support for stateful switchover (SSO), in service software upgrade (ISSU), Cisco nonstop forwarding (NSF), and nonstop routing (NSR) on Gigabit EtherChannel bundles; and IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation MIB.
•Cisco IOS XE Configuration Fundamentals Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Configuration Fundamentals Command Reference	Autoinstall, Setup, Cisco IOS command-line interface (CLI), Cisco IOS file system (IFS), Cisco IOS web browser user interface (UI), basic file transfer services, and file management.
•Cisco IOS XE DECnet Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS DECnet Command Reference	DECnet protocol.
•Cisco IOS XE Dial Technologies Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Dial Technologies Command Reference	Asynchronous communications, dial backup, dialer technology, Multilink PPP (MLP), PPP, and virtual private dialup network (VPDN).
•Easy Virtual Network Configuration Guide •Easy Virtual Network Command Reference	Easy Virtual Network (EVN) is an IP-based virtualization technology that provides end-to-end virtualization of the network. With EVN, you can use a single IP infrastructure to provide separate virtual networks whose traffic paths remain isolated from each other.
•Cisco IOS XE High Availability Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS High Availability Command Reference	A variety of high availability (HA) features and technologies that are available for different network segments (from enterprise access to service provider core) to facilitate creation of end-to-end highly available networks. Cisco IOS HA features and technologies can be categorized in three key areas: system-level resiliency, network-level resiliency, and embedded management for resiliency.
•Cisco IOS XE Intelligent Services Gateway Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Intelligent Services Gateway Command Reference	Subscriber identification, service and policy determination, session creation, session policy enforcement, session life-cycle management, accounting for access and service usage, and session state monitoring.
•Cisco IOS XE Interface and Hardware Component Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Interface and Hardware Component Command Reference	LAN interfaces, logical interfaces, serial interfaces, virtual interfaces, and interface configuration.
•Cisco IOS XE IP Addressing Services Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Addressing Services Command Reference	IP addressing, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Network Address Translation (NAT), Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and Next Hop Address Resolution Protocol (NHRP).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Application Services Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Application Services Command Reference	Enhanced Object Tracking (EOT), Gateway Load Balancing Protocol (GLBP), Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), IP Services, TCP, Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Multicast Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Multicast Command Reference	Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) sparse mode (PIM-SM), bidirectional PIM (bidir-PIM), Source Specific Multicast (SSM), Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP), Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), and Multicast VPN (MVPN).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Routing: BFD Configuration Guide	Bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Routing: BGP Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Routing: BGP Command Reference	Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), multiprotocol BGP, multiprotocol BGP extensions for IP multicast.
•Cisco IOS XE IP Routing: EIGRP Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Routing: EIGRP Command Reference	Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Routing: ISIS Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Routing: ISIS Command Reference	Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Routing: ODR Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Routing: ODR Command Reference	On-Demand Routing (ODR).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Routing: OSPF Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Routing: OSPF Command Reference	Open Shortest Path First (OSPF).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Routing: Protocol-Independent Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Routing: Protocol-Independent Command Reference	IP routing protocol-independent features and commands. Generic policy-based routing (PBR) features and commands are included.
•Cisco IOS XE IP Routing: RIP Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Routing: RIP Command Reference	Routing Information Protocol (RIP).
•Cisco IOS XE IP SLAs Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP SLAs Command Reference	Cisco IOS IP Service Level Agreements (IP SLAs).
•Cisco IOS XE IP Switching Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IP Switching Command Reference	Cisco Express Forwarding.
•Cisco IOS XE IPv6 Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS IPv6 Command Reference	For a list of IPv6 features, protocols, and technologies, go to the IPv6 "Start Here" document at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/ios_xe/ipv6/configuration/guide/ip6-roadmap_xe.html
•Cisco IOS XE ISO CLNS Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS ISO CLNS Command Reference	ISO Connectionless Network Service (CLNS).
•Cisco IOS XE LAN Switching Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS LAN Switching Command Reference	VLANs and multilayer switching (MLS).
•Cisco IOS XE Multiprotocol Label Switching Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Multiprotocol Label Switching Command Reference	MPLS Label Distribution Protocol (LDP), MPLS Layer 2 VPNs, MPLS Layer 3 VPNs, MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE), and MPLS Embedded Management (EM) and MIBs.
•Cisco IOS XE NetFlow Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS NetFlow Command Reference	Network traffic data analysis, aggregation caches, and export features.
•Cisco IOS XE Network Management Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Network Management Command Reference	Basic system management, system monitoring and logging, Cisco IOS Scripting with Tool Control Language (Tcl), Cisco networking services (CNS), Embedded Event Manager (EEM), Embedded Syslog Manager (ESM), HTTP, Remote Monitoring (RMON), and SNMP.
•Cisco IOS XE Novell IPX Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Novell IPX Command Reference	Novell Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) protocol.
•Cisco IOS XE Optimized Edge Routing Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Optimized Edge Routing Command Reference	Optimized edge routing (OER) monitoring and automatic route optimization and load distribution for multiple connections between networks.
•Cisco IOS XE Performance Routing Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Performance Routing Command Reference	Performance Routing (PfR) provides additional intelligence to classic routing technologies to track the performance of, or verify the quality of, a path between two devices over a WAN infrastructure in order to determine the best egress or ingress path for application traffic.
•Cisco IOS XE Quality of Service Solutions Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Quality of Service Solutions Command Reference	Class-based weighted fair queueing (CBWFQ), low latency queueing (LLQ), Modular Quality of Service (QoS) Command-Line Interface (CLI) (MQC), Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR), priority queueing, Multilink PPP (MLP) for QoS, header compression, Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), weighted fair queueing (WFQ), and weighted random early detection (WRED).
•Cisco IOS Security Command Reference	Access control lists (ACLs); authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA); firewalls; IP security and encryption; neighbor router authentication; network access security; public key infrastructure (PKI); RADIUS; and TACACS+.
•Cisco IOS XE Security Configuration Guide: Secure Connectivity	Internet Key Exchange (IKE) for IPsec VPNs; security for VPNs with IPsec; VPN availability features (reverse route injection, IPsec preferred peer, and real-time resolution for the IPsec tunnel peer); IPsec data plane features; IPsec management plane features; Public Key Infrastructure (PKI); Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN); Easy VPN; and Cisco Group Encrypted Transport VPN (GET VPN).
•Cisco IOS XE Security Configuration Guide: Securing the Control Plane	Control Plane Policing, Neighborhood Router Authentication.
•Cisco IOS XE Security Configuration Guide: Securing the Data Plane	Access Control Lists (ACLs); Firewalls: Context-Based Access Control (CBAC) and Zone-Based Firewall; Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS); Flexible Packet Matching; Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (uRPF); Threat Information Distribution Protocol (TIDP) and TMS.
•Cisco IOS XE Security Configuration Guide: Securing User Services	AAA (includes Network Admission Control [NAC]); Security Server Protocols (RADIUS and TACACS+); Secure Shell (SSH); Secure Access for Networking Devices (includes Autosecure and Role-Based CLI access); Lawful Intercept.
•Cisco IOS XE Service Advertisement Framework Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Service Advertisement Framework Command Reference	Cisco Service Advertisement Framework.
•Cisco IOS XE VPDN Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS VPDN Command Reference	Multihop by Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS), timer and retry enhancements for L2TP and Layer 2 Forwarding (L2F), RADIUS Attribute 82 (tunnel assignment ID), shell-based authentication of VPDN users, and tunnel authentication via RADIUS on tunnel terminator.
•Cisco IOS XE Wide-Area Networking Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Wide-Area Networking Command Reference	Frame Relay; L2VPN Pseudowire Redundancy; and Media-Independent PPP and Multilink PPP.
•Cisco Unified Border Element (Enterprise) Configuration Guide •Cisco IOS Voice Command Reference	The Cisco Unified Border Element (Enterprise) on the Cisco ASR 1000 brings a scalable option for enterprise customers. Running as a process on the Cisco ASR 1000 and utilizing the high-speed RTP packet processing path, the Cisco Unified Border Element (Enterprise) is used as an IP-to-IP gateway by enterprises and commercial customers to interconnect SIP and H.323 voice and video networks. The Cisco UBE (Enterprise) provides a network-to-network demarcation interface for signaling interworking, media interworking, address and port translations, billing, security, quality of service (QoS), and bandwidth management.
•Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) Configuration Guide: Distributed Model •Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) Command Reference: Distributed Model	The Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) is a session border controller (SBC) that is VoIP-enabled and deployed at the edge of networks. For Cisco IOS XE Release 2.3 and earlier releases, Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) is supported only in the distributed mode. Operating in the distributed mode, the SBC is a toolkit of functions that can be used to deploy and manage VoIP services, such as signaling interworking, network hiding, security, and quality of service.
•Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) Configuration Guide: Unified Model •Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) Command Reference: Unified Model	The Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) is a highly scalable, carrier-grade session border controller (SBC) that is designed for service providers and that is generally deployed at the border of the enterprise or SP networks to enable the easy deployment and management of VoIP services. Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) is integrated into Cisco routing platforms and can use a large number of router functions to provide a very feature-rich and intelligent SBC application. Formerly known as Integrated Session Border Controller, Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) provides a network-to-network demarcation interface for signaling interworking, media interworking, address and port translations, billing, security, quality of service, call admission control, and bandwidth management. For Cisco IOS XE Release 2.4 and later releases, Cisco Unified Border Element (SP Edition) can operate in two modes or deployment models: unified and distributed. The configuration guide documents the features in the unified mode.

Table 2 lists documents and resources that supplement the Cisco IOS XE software configuration guides and command references.

Table 2 Cisco IOS XE Software Supplementary Documents and Resources 

Document Title or Resource	Description
Cisco IOS Master Command List, All Releases	Alphabetical list of all the commands documented in all Cisco IOS XE software releases.
Cisco IOS Debug Command Reference	Alphabetical list of debug commands including brief descriptions of use, command syntax, and usage guidelines.
Cisco IOS XE system messages	List of Cisco IOS XE system messages and descriptions. System messages may indicate problems with your system, may be informational only, or may help diagnose problems with communications lines, internal hardware, or the system software.
Release notes and caveats	Information about new and changed features, system requirements, and other useful information about specific software releases; information about defects in specific Cisco IOS XE software releases.
MIBs	Files used for network monitoring. To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS XE software releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/go/mibs
RFCs	Standards documents maintained by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that Cisco IOS XE documentation references where applicable. The full text of referenced RFCs may be obtained at the following URL: http://www.rfc-editor.org/

Additional Resources and Documentation Feedback

What's New in Cisco Product Documentation is updated monthly and describes all new and revised Cisco technical documentation. The What's New in Cisco Product Documentation publication also provides information about obtaining the following resources:

•Technical documentation

•Cisco product security overview

•Product alerts and field notices

•Technical assistance

Cisco IOS XE software technical documentation includes embedded feedback forms where you can rate documents and provide suggestions for improvement. Your feedback helps us improve our documentation.

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Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and phone numbers used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses and phone numbers. Any examples, command display output, network topology diagrams, and other figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses or phone numbers in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.

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