Table of Contents

Initial Switch Router Configurations

This chapter describes how to initially configure the Catalyst 2948G-L3 switch router.

Starting Up the Catalyst 2948G-L3 Switch Router

The following is a review of tasks you should have completed during hardware installation, including starting up the switch router. These tasks must be completed before proceeding with configuring your switch router.

Refer to the Catalyst 2948G-L3 Hardware Installation Guide for correct power voltages

Step 2   Connect the cables to the switch router.

Step 3   Connect a console terminal to the switch router.

Step 4   Start up the switch router.

Step 5   Enter CLI configuration mode by answering no when you are prompted to enter the initial dialog:

Would you like to enter the initial dialog? [yes]: no

You see the following user EXEC prompt: Router>

Note In Step 5 you can choose to answer yes and continue to use the configuration menu that is provided.

Using Console Port and Management Port

You can configure the Catalyst 2948G-L3 switch router from a direct console connection to the console port or remotely through its management port.

For interface configuration instructions, see the "Configuring the Management Port" section.

For further details on configuring ports and lines for management access, refer to the Cisco IOS Configuration Fundamentals Configuration Guide.

Modem Support

The Catalyst 2948G-L3 switch router has a console terminal line that you might need to configure. For line configuration, you must first set up the line for the terminal or the asynchronous device attached to it. For a complete description of configuration tasks and commands used to set up your terminal line and settings, refer to the Configuration Fundamentals Configuration Guide and
Dial Solutions Configuration Guide.

You can connect a modem to the console port or to the auxiliary port on the Catalyst 2948G-L3 switch router. The following settings on the modem are required:

You can configure your modem by setting the DIP switches on the modem or by connecting the modem to terminal equipment. Refer to the user manual provided with your modem for the correct configuration information.

For further details on configuring ports and modems for management access, refer to the Cisco IOS Configuration Fundamentals Configuration Guide and Dial Solutions Configuration Guide.

About Passwords

There are two types of passwords.You can configure both an enable password and an enable secret password. For maximum security, the enable password should be different from the enable secret password.

An enable secret password can contain from 1 to 25 uppercase and lowercase alphanumeric characters. The first character cannot be a number. Spaces are valid password characters. Leading spaces are ignored; trailing spaces are recognized.

You will configure passwords in the next section, "Configuring the Management Port."

Configuring the Management Port

The management port on the switch router allows multiple simultaneous Telnet or SNMP network management sessions. Since there is no separate management port on the Catalyst 2948G-L3 switch router, you can configure any Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet port as a management port.

You can remotely configure the Catalyst 2948G-L3 switch router through the management port, but first you must configure an IP address so that the switch router is reachable. There are two ways to configure the management port interface: manually from the command-line interface (CLI) or by copying the configuration from the BOOTP server into NVRAM.

You can configure the management port from an IP connected network. To obtain remote management access using Telnet, use the following steps.

The Catalyst 2948G-L3 switch router should now be operating correctly. You can now use Telnet to remotely assign and verify configurations.

Displaying the Operating Configuration

You can display the configuration file when you are in EXEC (enable) mode.

Router# show running-config

Router# show startup-config

If you made changes to the configuration, but did not yet write the changes to NVRAM, the results of the show running-config will differ from the results of the show startup-config command.

Configuring the Host Name

In addition to the system passwords and enable password, your initial configuration should include the host name to make it easier to configure and troubleshoot the switch router. To configure the host name, use the following steps beginning in enable mode.

Using the Boot Flash Memory SIMM

This section describes how to use the boot flash memory SIMM to perform the following system administration tasks:

Viewing the Contents of Boot Flash Memory

You can perform the following tasks with the associated commands to view the contents of the onboard boot flash memory SIMM:

Deleting Files from Boot Flash Memory

When you delete a file from boot flash memory, the system marks the file as deleted. Deleted files cannot be recovered. The boot flash memory is not released after the image file has been deleted, only the image file is marked as deleted.

The following is an example of the delete command. The delete command requires you to specify the filename.

Backing Up a System Image to a TFTP Server

To create a backup copy of your system image, or to verify that the copy in boot flash memory is the same as the original file on disk, you can copy system images from boot flash memory to a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server.

In some implementations of TFTP, you must create a dummy file on the TFTP server and give it read, write, and execute permissions before copying the file over it. Refer to your TFTP documentation for more information.

Tip  Before you copy software between the network server and boot flash memory in the switch router, do the following:

To create a backup of the system software on a TFTP server, use the following steps beginning in privileged EXEC mode.

Copying a System Image from a TFTP Server to a Boot Flash Memory SIMM

It is a good idea to have a copy of the current system image on the boot flash memory SIMM in case the new image file that you copy from the TFTP server is corrupted.

Use the following commands to copy the system image from the TFTP server to a boot flash memory SIMM beginning in privileged EXEC mode.

Erasing Files from a Full Boot Flash Memory SIMM

In the event that the boot flash memory is full, you must erase all the files in the boot flash memory filesystem before copying a new image file from the TFTP server.

Use the following commands to first erase and clean boot flash memory and then copy the system image from the TFTP server to boot flash memory beginning in privileged EXEC mode.