Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software Installation And Configuration Guide

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Configure Console Access

Updated: March 5, 2026

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Overview

Describes the process of booting Cisco Catalyst 8000V for the first time, including instructions on configuring the console access for a Cisco Catalyst 8000V VM.

A console is an interface for direct communication with a device such as a VM.

  • In the context of a VM, a console provides managed access to a VM hosted in a cloud envioronment.

  • The console provides an interface that works independently of the VM's operating system or network state. This independence makes it an essential tool for diagnosing and fixing critical issues.

Cisco Catalyst 8000V boots when the VM is powered on. Depending on your configuration, you can monitor the installation process using the virtual VGA console or the virtual serial port console.

Boot the Cisco Catalyst 8000V as the VM

Before you begin

To access and configure Cisco Catalyst 8000V from the serial port on the hypervisor instead of the virtual VGA console, you should provision the VM to use this setting before powering on the VM and booting the router.

Procedure

1.

Power up the VM. Within 5 seconds of powering on the VM, select either the Virtual Console or the Serial Console. Use the selected console to view the router boot process and access the Cisco Catalyst 8000V CLI.
2.

(Optional) Select one of these options:

  • VirtualConsole : Choose this option to use the virtual console. If you choose to use the virtual console, the rest of the steps in this procedure do not apply. Cisco Catalyst 8000V boots using the Virtual Console if you do not select any other option within the 5 second timeframe.
  • SerialConsole: Choose this option to use the virtual serial port console on the VM.

The virtual serial port must already be present on the VM for this option to work.

You can select the console port during the boot process only the first time Cisco Catalyst 8000V boots. For instructions to change the console port access after Cisco Catalyst 8000V has booted for the first time, see Modify the console port access after installation.

The Cisco Catalyst 8000V starts the boot process.
3.

Use one of these commands to telnet to the VM:

  • telnet:// host-ipaddress : portnumber
  • telnet host-ipaddress portnumber (from a UNIX xTerm terminal)

The system first calculates the SHA-1, which may take a few minutes. After the initial installation process completes, the system removes the .iso package file from the virtual CD-ROM and reboots the VM. This enables Cisco Catalyst 8000V to boot normally off the virtual Hard Drive.

Note
The system reboots during first-time installation only.

The boot time for Cisco Catalyst 8000V varies by software release and the hypervisor you use.
4.

After booting, the system displays a screen with the main software image and the Golden Image. The highlighted entry will boot automatically in three seconds. Do not select the Golden Image. Wait for the main software image to boot.

Note
Cisco Catalyst 8000V does not include a ROMMON image that is included in many Cisco hardware-based routers. During installation, a backup copy of the installed version is stored in a backup partition. This copy can be selected to boot from in case you upgraded your boot image, deleted the original boot image, or somehow corrupted your disk. Booting from the backup copy is equivalent to booting a different image from ROMMON. For more information on changing the configuration register settings to access GRUB mode, see Access and Use the GRUB Mode.

You can now enter the router configuration environment by entering the standard commands enable and then configureterminal .

Post configuration guidelines

See this list for guidelines before you install the licenses after configuring the console access.

  • When you boot a Cisco Catalyst 8000V instance for the first time, the mode the router boots in depends on the release version.

  • You must install the software license or enable an evaluation license to obtain the supported throughput and features. Depending on the release version, you must enable the boot level or change the maximum throughput level, and reboot Cisco Catalyst 8000V.

  • The installed license technology package must match the package level configured with the licensebootlevel command. If the license package does not match the setting you have configured, the throughput is limited to 100 Kbps.

  • (VMware ESXi only) If you manually created the VM using the .iso file, you need to configure the basic router properties. Use Cisco IOS XE CLI commands, or manually configure the properties in the vSphere GUI.

Access the VM through the virtual VGA console

When installing the Cisco Catalyst 8000V software image, to access the VM through the virtual VGA console, use the Virtual VGA console setting. You do not need to make additional configuration changes to access the Cisco Catalyst 8000V CLI through the virtual VGA console if one of the condition applies:

  • You do not change the console setting during the bootup process.

  • You do not add two virtual serial ports to the VM configuration. This is applicable if you are using automatic console detection.

Access the VM through the virtual serial port

You can access a Cisco Catalyst 8000V instance using the virtual VGA console by default. If you use automatic console detection and two virtual serial ports are present, the Cisco Catalyst 8000V CLI becomes available on the first virtual serial port.

You can also configure the VM to use the serial console, which always attempts to use the first virtual serial port for the Cisco Catalyst 8000V CLI.

Configure access to serial console in VMware ESXi

This task specifies how to configure the serial console access in ESXi. Perform these steps using VMware vSphere. For detailed information about vSphere, see the official VMware vSphere documentation.

Procedure

1.

Power-down the VM.
2.

Select the VM and configure the virtual serial port settings.

  1. Choose Edit Settings > Add.

  2. Choose Device Type > Serial port.

  3. Click Next.

  4. Choose Select Port Type.

  5. Select Connect via Network, and click Next.

3.

Select Select Network Backing > Server (VM listens for connection).
4.

Enter the Port URI using the telnet ://: portnumber syntax.

Here, portnumber is the port number of the virtual serial port.
5.

Under the I/O mode, choose the Yield CPU on poll option, and click Next.
6.

Power on the VM and access the virtual serial port console.
7.

Configure these security settings for the virtual serial port.

  1. Choose the ESXi host for the virtual serial port.

  2. Click the Configuration tab and choose Security Profile.

  3. In the Firewall area, click Properties , and then select the VM serial port connected over Network value.

    You can now access the Cisco IOS XE console using the Telnet port URI. When you configure the virtual serial port, the Cisco Catalyst 8000V is no longer accessible from the VM’s virtual console.

    Note
    To use these settings, either the AutoConsole option or the SerialConsole option in the GRUB menu should be selected during the Cisco Catalyst 8000V bootup. If you have already installed the Cisco Catalyst 8000V software using the virtual VGA console, you must configure either the Cisco IOS XE platformconsoleauto command or the Cisco IOS XE platformconsoleserialcommand and reload the VM for the console access through the virtual serial port to work.

Configure the access to serial console in KVM

Configure the serial console access in a KVM environment by using the KVM console on your server. Perform the steps using the KVM console on your server.

Procedure

1.

Power off the VM.
2.

Click the default Serial1 device (if it exists) and click Remove .

This removes the default pty-based virtual serial port which would otherwise count as the first virtual serial port.
3.

Click Add Hardware and select Serial to add a serial device.
4.

In Character Device, choose the TCP Net Console (tcp) device type from the drop-down list.
5.

In Device Parameters, choose the mode from the drop-down list.
6.

In the Host field, enter 0.0.0.0.

With this setting, the server accepts telnet connections on any interface.
7.

Choose the port from the drop-down list.
8.

Choose the Use Telnet option.
9.

Click Finish.

You can now access the Cisco IOS XE console using the Telnet port URI. For more information, see Open a Telnet session to the console.

Note
To use these settings, select either the AutoConsole option or the SerialConsole option in the GRUB menu when you boot the Cisco Catalyst 8000V instance. If you have already installed the Cisco Catalyst 8000V software using the virtual VGA console, you must configure either the Cisco IOS XE platformconsoleauto command or the platformconsoleserial command. Reload the VM in order for the console access through the virtual serial port to work.

Open a Telnet session to the console

Use Cisco IOS XE CLI commands to open a Telnet session to the Cisco Catalyst 8000V console on the virtual serial port

Procedure

1.

Telnet to the VM by performing one of these steps:

  • Run the telnet:// host-ipaddress : portnumber command.
  • From a UNIX terminal, run the telnet host-ipaddress portnumber command.
2.

At the Cisco Catalyst 8000V IOS XE password prompt, enter your credentials.

Example:

User Access Verification
Password: mypass
Note
If no password has been configured, press Return .
3.

From the user EXEC mode, enter the enable command.

Example:

Router> enable
4.

At the password prompt, enter your system password.

Example:

Password: enablepass
5.

When the enable password is accepted, the system displays the privileged EXEC mode prompt.

Example:

Router#
6.

You now have access to the CLI in the privileged EXEC mode. Enter the commands you require to complete your tasks.
7.

To exit the Telnet session, use the exit or logout command.

Example:

Router# logout

Modify the console port access after installation

After the Cisco Catalyst 8000V instance has booted successfully, change the console port access to the router using Cisco IOS XE commands. After you change the console port access, you must reload the router for the change to take effect.

Procedure

1.

enable

Enables the privileged EXEC mode. Enter your password, if prompted.

Example:

Router> enable
2.

configure terminal

Enters the global configuration mode.

Example:

Router# configure terminal
3.

Perform one of these actions:

  • platformconsolevirtual : Specifies that the Cisco Catalyst 8000V is accessed through the hypervisor virtual VGA console.
  • platformconsoleserial : Specifies that the Cisco Catalyst 8000V is accessed through the serial port on the VM. Use this option only if your hypervisor supports serial port console access.

Example:

Router(config)# platform console virtual

Example:

Router(config)# platform console serial
4.

end

Exits the configuration mode.

Example:

Router(config)# end
5.

copysystem:running-confignvram:startup-config

Copies the running configuration to the NVRAM startup configuration.

Example:

Router# copy system:running-config nvram:startup-config
6.

reload

Reloads the operating system.

Example:

Router# reload

What to do next

Install the Cisco Catalyst 8000V licenses. For instructions about installing and using licenses, refer to Configure Licenses and Throughput for Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software.