Lessons · Network switches · console access
Getting a screen on it
A switch out of the box has no IP address, so the first session is always through the console socket with a cable and a terminal program.
Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The day a switch will not answer over the network is the day you need this, and it is also the day you cannot look it up. Console access is the way in that never depends on the configuration being right.
How to think about it
Console first, network second. If a box is unreachable, do not start by changing the network; start by standing in front of it with a cable, because the console works whatever the configuration says.
Worked example
enableThis is what you see after the console session opens: a prompt, and nothing else. No login, no address, no menu.
show versionWhat the box is and how long it has been up. On a device you have never met, this is the first thing to read.
show running-configThe whole configuration. On a switch out of the box it is almost empty, which tells you nobody has been here yet.
Your turn
Ask the switch what it is and how long it has been running.
show
Console into a switch
The trap
Assuming the settings. A console session is 9600 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit. Get one of those wrong and the screen fills with rubbish, which reads exactly like a broken switch.