Cisco Routers and Switches
Phoenix Cisco User Group (PCUG) Tools, tips, and tricks you never knew
Hello!
Jeremy D. Cioara - CCIE, MCSE, CNE AdTEC Networks - Chief Information Officer Cisco IP Telephony Specialist Network Engineer, Author, and Trainer
Topic Breakdown
IOS Navigation Remote Auto-Configuration Network Monitoring Mesmerizing Utilities
IOS Navigation
Disabling DNS Lookup Limiting EXEC Interruptions Filtering Command Output Creating Aliases Erasing Interface Configurations The Wonderful Do Command Adjusting the TCP Timeout
Disabling DNS Lookup
By default, Cisco router attempts to resolve DNS hostnames to IP addresses The result: Any mistyped command in privileged mode causes 30-45 second delay
Disabling DNS Lookup (cont.)
The Solution: Disable DNS lookups
Limiting Exec Interruptions
By default, Cisco devices allow console and line messages to interrupt typed text
Limiting Exec Interruptions
To prevent this feature, do the following:
The line is automatically repainted
Filtering Command Output
Many commands output excessive information to the screen. Unix-like filtering options can aid in device management
Filtering Command Output
Router# show <argument> | begin <argument>
Filtering Command Output
Router# show <argument> | include <argument>
Filtering Command Output
Router# show run interface <interface>
Getting Fancy with Filtering
Router# show process cpu | exclude 0.00%__0.00%__0.00%
The Alias Command
In the world of Cisco, you may find yourself typing the same commands again and again The alias command can help alleviate a little carpal tunnel syndrome Commands I use all the time: show ip interface brief show running-config show ip route show ip <ospf/eigrp> neighbor show ip bgp
The Alias Command
Syntax:
Router(config)# alias <mode> <alias> <command>
The Alias Command
Verifying your aliases
Erasing an Interface Config
Router(config)# default interface <int>
The Wonderful do Command
Allows you to execute privileged mode commands from any mode
IOS 12.2(8)T versions and later
Shrinking the TCP Timeout
When you telnet to a mistyped or unavailable IP address, the router hangs for 30 seconds before you can get a prompt back
Shrinking the TCP Timeout
To adjust this timer, use the following command:
Router(config)# ip tcp synwait-time <5-300 seconds>
Be careful - this adjusts the timer for all TCP windows
Remote Router Auto-Configuration
Remote Router Auto-Configuration
Scenario: You are deploying four remote offices for your corporation; however, you are the only Cisco-competent employee
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Remote Router Auto-Configuration
Concepts: 1. A router (out-of-the-box) will attempt to receive an IP address via DHCP (on LAN interfaces) or SLARP (on serial interfaces) 2. If they receive an IP address, they will begin broadcasting for a file called [Link]. This file tells the router its name 3. The router will then broadcast for a file called <router_name>.config
Remote Router Auto-Configuration
Step 1: Set up a TFTP Server at the central location
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Remote Router Auto-Configuration
Step 2: Create an ASCII text file on the TFTP server called [Link] containing the name-to-ip mappings for the new routers
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[Link] phoenix seattle detroit TFTP kansas Server [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]
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Remote Router Auto-Configuration
Step 3: Create an ASCII text file on the TFTP server for each router called <rtr_name>.config - routers will broadcast for this filename
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[Link]
[Link] version 12.4 service config service timestamps debug datetime msec service timestamps log datetime msec service password-encryption ! hostname Router ! boot-start-marker boot-end-marker ! enable secret 5 $1$ptS9$XjhiveqHFJPlGL/1.GXAZ1 ! no aaa new-model ! resource policy ! clock timezone ARIZONA -7 ip cef
TFTP Server
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Remote Router Auto-Configuration
Step 4: Add an ip helper-address command on each WAN interface of the HQ router pointing to the TFTP server
Router(config-if)#
ip helper-address <tftp_ip>
TFTP Server
Network Monitoring
Using Built-in Network Monitoring
Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) Netflow
Using Cool, Free SNMP Monitoring
Multi-Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) Paessler-Router Traffc Grapher (PRTG)
Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR)
NBAR is a application recognition utility originally designed for QoS Allows QoS mechanisms to match an manipulate: VoIP traffic Peer-to-Peer file sharing Multiple common applications (such as ftp, http, realaudio, etc...) Also included in NBAR is a spiffy traffic monitoring feature
Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR)
Enabling NBAR Requires cisco express forwarding (cef) Activated on a per-interface basis
Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR)
Monitoring NBAR - many options
Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR)
Monitoring NBAR - top protocols
IP Netflow
Netflow is an EXTREMELY advanced and complex system Cisco devices can use to track data flows Many commercial systems have been created to take advantage of netflow statistics
IP Netflow
IP Netflow
MRTG and SNMP
The Multi-Router Traffic Grapher is a utility that has been around for eons
Available as a free download from [Link] Creates HTML pages graphing specified SNMP counters
MRTG and SNMP
The Multi-Router Traffic Grapher is a utility that has been around for eons
Available as a free download from [Link] Creates HTML pages graphing specified SNMP counters
High-level View of SNMP
SNMP is a protocol that allows you to perform GET and SET operations on Management Information Base (MIB) objects on a network device
GET operations retrieve information SET operations change information Every informational item on a Cisco device has a MIB identifier
Replacing Passwords Using SNMP
snmpset -t 10 -r 5 -c communityname hostname .[Link].[Link].[Link].150.1 octetstring [Link] Where: [Link] is the address of the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server hostname is the hostname of the router (or its IP address) [Link] is the file containing the configuration commands that you wish to implement (this file must be in a directory reachable by TFTP to the TFTP server) Example of [Link] no enable secret enable secret newpassword end
PRTG
Freeware / Commercial MRTG-like product
Installs on Windows Free version comes with 3 counters Commercial version is relatively inexpensive Automatically comes with MIB counters pre-configured for most Cisco devices
Available at [Link]
PRTG
Freeware / Commercial MRTG-like product
Installs on Windows Free version comes with 3 counters
Mesmerizing Utilities
Get Pass Rip Generator Switch Inspector Kiwi Syslog / Cattools
Mesmerizing Utilities
Boson GetPass 1.1 - Crack level 7 encryption
[Link]
Boson Rip Route Generator
[Link]
Mesmerizing Utilities
Netxar SwitchInspector
[Link]
Allows you to identify the devices attached to each of the switch ports in your organization
Mesmerizing Utilities
Mesmerizing Utilities
Mesmerizing Utilities
Mesmerizing Utilities
Mesmerizing Utilities
Mesmerizing Utilities
Mesmerizing Utilities
Kiwi Syslog
[Link]
Mesmerizing Utilities
Kiwi Cattools - config dif, multi commands
[Link]
Mesmerizing Utilities
Really Awesome New Cisco confIg Differ (rancid)
[Link]
Simalr to CatTools, but completely free
Questions?
Check out: [Link]