Introduction to Networking Switch Access

Unmanaged and Managed Switches There are two main types of switches Unmanaged switches are low-end switches designed for ease-of-use and situations where default settings are sufficient Managed switches are more advanced and must be configured to use Managed switches not only allow for more customization but also allow for greater security measures Managed switches need a separate PC in order to be configured, and are able to be managed two in ways Out-of-Band management In-Band management

Out-of-Band Management Out-of-Band management is when we use a dedicated switch port in order to connect a computer to our router This is done using a rollover cable (also called a console cable) The initial configuration to the router must be done this way, since the router will need to be set up with an IP address and authentication information to use In-Band management

In-Band Management In-Band management is when we use a standard network connection to access the switch This will require us to use a remote access protocol, like Telnet, SSH, or a browser-based application When using a browser based-configuration, HTTPS is much more secure than HTTP, since HTTP will transmit data such as authentication information as plain text. Telnet should be avoided in favor of SSH for the same reason

Rollover Cable Rollover cables allow a managed switch to connect through its console port One end will connect to the switch through an RJ45 connection and the other end will connect to the PC with a serial connection Since serial ports are an older technology, many console cables have a USB connection instead When using these, you would need to install a USB driver to communicate with the switch

Terminal Emulation Software After creating a physical connection to the switch, you must create a logical connection as well PuTTY, SecureCRT are two popular emulation softwares out of many By default a Cisco switch will not have authentication information set on it, therefore they will not need a username or password the first time it is accessed Cisco switches (one of the most popular brands) have two modes when access them by terminal

User Mode and Privileged Mode When first entering the system you will be in user mode It is designated by having “>” as the text prompt User mode allows you to see basic information, but not configure settings or access sensitive information The command to switch modes is “enable” Privileged mode allows for customization and full access to switch data It is designated with “#” as the text prompt

Running-config vs Startup-config Running-config is the current configuration for the switch Once the switch turns off and its RAM is cleared, the running configuration is lost Startup-config is the configuration for the switch that gets loaded up when the switch is turned on If we want any changes to be permanent they have to be loaded into startup configuration

User mode passwords There are many different user mode passwords available for us to set, but we’re going to focus on two differentiated on how the switch is being accessed Console password This is the password to access the switch from the console port Virtual terminal passwords This is the password to access the switch using In-Band management remotely

Enable Mode Passwords We may want a separate password for privileged mode to protect our switch from being configured from a non-authorized user Enable Mode Password This password will restrict access to enable mode, but it is unencrypted Enable Mode Secret Password This password will restrict access to enable mode, and is encrypted If both enable mode secret password and enable mode password are set, the secret password will take priority and be necessary. Because of this, the secret password is usually set alone

Initial Terminal Settings for a Cisco Switch When initially connecting to a Cisco switch, make sure you use the following settings