Connecting to a Cisco Device via Console

So you take a brand new Cisco router or switch boxes, and very first, you must install it before its basic configuration. To configure a Cisco device basics you first have to device console.

If you take a brand new Cisco equipment factory-you will see it with a blue ribbon cable has a DB9 serial port, and another network RJ45 connectors at the other end. Don't be fooled, this is not the "next-generation" Ethernet cable or token ring, but Cisco console cable to the connection cable.

You use this cable to connect to his Cisco devices via the serial port, you can configure the device using the command line.

Because Cisco devices do not have a graphics adapter or the ability to use a mouse and keyboard, you must connect with this feature, so you can configure the device CLI through the console to another computer device.

In order to connect to the Cisco devices via the console will need to use a terminal emulator application.

Usually performs this task by using the HyperTerminal application can be Windows, but is included in the Windows XP Windows Vista, and updates may require that you manually download/install this application.

Most popular terminal emulator PuTTY, is completely free to download, you can click on the useful links in the footer menu found in the section "PuTTY terminal emulator" link.

Most popular paid artwork developed terminal emulator called SecureCRT. The application writing the lab is $99 per single-user license and support SSH/Telnet/serial and a group of normally no longer be using other protocols. SecureCRT however provide a very useful scripts and logging features and the ability to save sessions in different folders, so you can easily connect to an existing device later.

In many cases, in real life, you may need to connect to the Cisco devices via the console, you configure misconfiguring locking themselves out of their access control lists to make a mistake, or maybe you hang, the processor by performing processor-intensive debugging commands. However, as a network engineer, you need to know how to become a Cisco device console.

Lab Instruction:

While most of the terminal emulation software of different features that are available and/or agreement, any terminal emulation program to achieve the same goal. In this walk through, PuTTY will use, which is free (see summary of laboratory) connected to a Cisco device and establish the control panel to the Cisco command line interface session.

Step 1: Connect your Cisco console cable or terminal adapter to a Serial port on your computer.

Step 2: Connect the RJ45 end of the console cable to the “Console” port on your Cisco Lab Access Server (Cisco 2509, 2511 or a Cisco router with a NM-xxA/S Network Module) do not power on your router yet.

Step 3: When first running the Putty executable you will be presented with the Putty Configuration Window as shown below.

Step 4 : After the PuTTY configuration window appears, bullets from moving SSH to serial;

Note: COM1 serial communications is the default communication port for PuTTY; you may need to change your COM ports to match your console cables to the ports. Speed of the default baud rate is 9,600 PuTTY. 9,600 is 0x2102 (configuration registers are discussed in a later chapter) configuration of Cisco devices that are registered by default speed.

Step 5 : once you verify that the COM port speed and click "open", a new window will appear. This window terminal window. COM#--PuTTY terminal window appears, your power to the Cisco device. After booting device; assuming NVRAM is clear, you will be prompted to install the program configuration dialog box:

After Setup configuration dialog box appears, type "n" to no and press the Enter key. Then you will be prompted to press ENTER to start! Press Enter to the router after a user mode command line interface that looks like the following,

After you have reached this point you have completed the objectives of this lab. Proceed.