Cisco iOS Basics: Modes

I’ll assume you don’t know how to change modes in Cisco iOS environment.

There are three modes:

User EXEC mode – Basic monitoring – Prompt looks like: Switch>

Privileged EXEC mode – Access to other router commands – Prompt looks like: Switch#

Global configuration mode – Commands that affect the entire system – Prompt looks like: Switch (config)#

Moving between modes looks like this:

Router>enable (Allows access from user EXEC to privileged EXEC mode)

Router#disable (Reverts to user EXEC from privileged EXEC mode)

Router#configure terminal (Changes to global configuration mode from privileged mode)

Router(config)#exit (Exits from any configuration mode to privileged mode (Ctrl+Z is keyboard shortcut)

Router(config)#interface <int>  (Changes to interface configuration mode from global configuration mode, you can configure ports, vlans…)

Router(config)#interface <subint> (Enters subinterface configuration mode from global configuration mode)

Router(config)#line <line>  (Enters line configuration mode from global configuration mode, configures virtual terminal line)

Router(config)#router ospf 2 (Enters router configuration mode from global configuration mode)

That’s it for a start. Check my other Cisco Basics articles if you are interested to learn something about Cisco.

Disclaimer