Cisco configuration modes
User mode >
As soon as you gain access to the device terminal, you enter user mode, which is indicated by a > prompt.
Router>
Privileges are barely enough to view the OS version and the device serial number (command sh ver).
Privileged mode #
For advanced configuration, you have to switch to a priviliged mode. Execute enable and type the password for this mode, if needed. On success, the prompt will change to #.
Router> enable
Router#
Here, you can execute commands to view current configuration (sh run) or poll device interfaces (sh ip inter brief for network switches and routers or sh inter ip brief for Cisco ASA).
Configuration mode (config)#
To make any changes to the device configuration, you have to enter a third mode, which is the config mode. To gain access, execute conf t from the privileged mode. The prompt will change from # to (config)#.
Router#conf t
Router(config)#
Important!
Commands for displaying the device configuration may not work in config mode at some Cisco network switches and routers. To execute them, you have to either
- return to the privileged mode (#) by executing exit or q (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z),
Router(config)#q
Router#sh run
Building configuration...
or
- from the current mode, type do and the commmand itself.
Router(config)#do sh run
Building configuration...
This article was written by Alexey Yurchenko