D&T team Author : Dimitar Krstevski

Most used Cisco IOS commands

Cisco IOS is one big operating system and has a lots of commands. Depending on the IOS version not
all commands are available in all Cisco IOS versions. In this document we will show the mostly used
Cisco IOS commands that every network administrator should know and use in everyday situations.
Router Modes
Mode Description
Router> User mode
Router# Privileged mode
Router(config)# Global configuration mode
Router(config-if)# Interface mode
Router(config-subif)# Subinterface mode
Router(config-line)# Line mode
Router(config-router)# Router configuration mode
Router(config-if)#exit
Router(config)#
Exit interface mode, return you one mode before
Router(config-if)#end Router#
Exit interfacemode, return to global configuration
mode, (CTRL+Z)
Global Configuration Mode
Command Description
Router> Can see config but not change
Router# Can see config, and move to make changes
Router# conf t Router(config)# Moves to global config mode
Router(config)#no ip domain-lookup
Disable IP domain name system hostname
translation
Router(config)#banner motd ^Hello^ Sets Hello like message of the day banner
Configure Router Name
Command Description
Router(config)#hostname vtyme Name can be any word you choose
vtyme(config)# After change was made
D&T team Author : Dimitar Krstevski
Configure Passwords
Command Description
Router(config)#enable password cisco Set enable password
Router(config)#enable secret class Set enable secret password
Router(config)#line con 0
Router(config-line)#password console
Router(config-line)#login
Router(config-line)#loggin synchronous
Enter console line mode, sets consoleline
mode password to console, enable
password checking at login and enable
synchronized message output
Router(config)#line vty 0 4
Router(config-line)#password telnet
Router(config-line)#login
Router(config-line)#loggin synchronous
Enter vty mode for all 5 vty lines, sets
vty password to telnet, enable
password checking at login and enable
synchronized message output
Router(config)#line aux 0
Router(config-line)#password nopass
Router(config-line)#login
Enters auxiliary line mode, sets auxiliary
line mode password to nopass, enable
password checking at login
Router(config)#service password-encryption Applies a weak encryption to passwords
D&T team Author : Dimitar Krstevski
Show Commands
Command Description
Router#show startup-config Displays configuration saved in NVRAM
Router#show running-config Displays condiguration currently running in RAM
Router#show protocols Displays status of configured Layer 3 protocols
Router#show ip route Displays routing table
Router#show ip protocols
Displays IP routing protocols process parameters and
statistic
Router#show vlan Displays VLAN status
Router#show vtp Displays VTP information
Router#show spanning-tree Displays spanning tree topology
Router#show mac-address-table Displays MAC table
Router#show ip interface brief
Displays summary of interface IP status and
configuration
Router#show cdp neghbors Displays neighbor entries
Router#show arp Displays the ARP table
Router#show version Displays info about loaded software version
Router#show flash Displays info about Flash memory
Router#show history Displays history of commands used
Router#show users Displays all users connected to device
Router#show clock Displays time set on device
Router#show controllers serial 0
Displays statistics for interface hardware. Statistics
display if the clock rate is set and if the cable is DCE
or DTE or not attached
Router#show sessions Displays all telnet connections to device
Saving Configuration
Command Description
Router#copy run start Saves the running-config to local NVRAM
Router#copy run tftp Saves the running-config remotely to TFTP server
D&T team Author : Dimitar Krstevski
Configure Interface
Command Description
Router(config)#interface fa0/0
Moves to Fast
Ethernet 0/0 interface
mode
Router(config-if)#ip address 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0
Assigns address and
subnet maks to
interface
Router(config-if)#no shutdown Turn interface on
Router(config-if)#description homeLan
Optional description of
the link is locally
significant
Router(config-if)#no ip address
Remove assign
address from interface
Router(config)#interface s0/0
Moves to Serial 0/0
interface mode
Router(config-if)#clock rate 64000
Configure serial
interface clock speed