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Configuring the Catalyst switch

Configuring the Catalyst switch 
6.2.2 This page will teach students how to configure a switch.
A switch may be preconfigured and only passwords may need to be entered for the User EXEC or Privileged EXEC modes. Switch configuration mode is entered from Privileged EXEC mode.
In the CLI, the default Privileged EXEC mode prompt is Switch#. In User EXEC mode the prompt is Switch>.
The following steps will ensure that a new configuration will completely overwrite the current configuration:
  • To remove the current VLAN information, delete the VLAN database file called vlan.dat from the flash directory
  • Erase the back up configuration file called startup-config
  • Restart the switch with the reload command 
Security, documentation, and management are important for every network device.
A switch should be given a hostname, and passwords should be set on the console and vty lines. 
A switch should be assigned an IP address so that it can be accessed remotely using Telnet or other TCP/IP applications. A switch should be assigned a default gateway so that when working from the command line interface, other networks can be accessed.
By default, VLAN 1 is the management VLAN. The management VLAN is used to manage all of the network devices on a network. In a switch-based network, all network devices should be in the management VLAN. All ports belong to VLAN 1 by default. A best practice is to remove all of the access ports from VLAN 1 and place them in another VLAN. This allows for management of network devices while keeping traffic from the network hosts off of the management VLAN.
The Fast Ethernet switch ports default to auto-speed and auto-duplex. This allows the interfaces to negotiate these settings. Network administrators can manually configure the interface speed and duplex values if necessary.
Some network devices can provide a web-based interface for configuration and management purposes. Once a switch is configured with an IP address and gateway, it can be accessed in this way. A web browser can access this service using the IP address and port 80, the default port for http. The HTTP service can be turned on or off, and the port address for the service can be chosen. 
Any additional software such as an applet can be downloaded to the browser from the switch. Also, the switch can be managed by a browser based graphical user interface (GUI).   
The Lab Activities will help students become more familiar with the basic configuration of a switch.
The next page will discuss MAC address tables.

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