Working with the Cisco router is a great experience because of its exclusive features and high-end specifications. You will get to know a lot about networking concepts and gear. This also helps you in your career development.
While setting up the Cisco router, you will get some hands-on Cisco Internetworking Operating System (IOS) experience. Moreover, a Cisco router is always known for its greater flexibility compared to other routers present in the market recently.
If you have received your Cisco router and have no idea how to configure a Cisco router, then you have landed on the right page. Read this article properly and apply the steps accordingly to configure the router properly.
Essential Things to Know for Cisco Router Configuration:
Before going to the procedures on how to configure a Cisco router, first, you need to know what equipment is needed. Here, we are listing the all equipment that is used to configure the router. Check them out.
- To configure the router, the first thing you need is a Cisco router with at least two Ethernet interfaces.
- The second thing is a Cisco console cable which is also known as a rollover cable. Then a computer with a DB-9 serial port.
Follow the Overall Procedure on How to Configure a Cisco Router:
Here, we are going to explain the process to configure a router in the Cisco Packet Tracer. But for that, first, you need to know what is the Cisco Packet Tracer.
Cisco Packet Tracer is a network-simulating tool developed and designed by Cisco Systems. However, this is a cross-platform visual simulation tool designed and available for Linux, Android, iOS, and Windows as well.
Basically, the software permits the users to simulate the configuration of Cisco routers and switches by using a stimulated command-line interface. Moreover, Packet Tracer makes use of a drag-and-drop user interface which allows the users to add and remove stimulated network devices.
Therefore, follow the instructions that are mentioned in the section below on how to configure a Cisco router step by step manner.
Step 1: Connect the Cisco Router to the Computer and Start a Terminal Emulation Program
First, connect the system to the console cable. After that, fire up the terminal emulation program. Now, start with the command Enable to get extra benefits in the EXEC mode. Then enter the command erase startup-config and hit the Enter button. It will lead you to a blank configuration. In the next steps, restart the Cisco router. You need to ensure that you say No when the iOS prompts on the system screen.
Step 2: Identify the Router’s Interface
To identify the Ethernet ports that you are using, you need to look at the back of the router. The first port will connect to the WAN device and the other one is connected to the LAN. In most of the Cisco routers, you will find 4 port switches. If you do not find the interface, you need to identify by entering the following command.
show IP interface brief
You will find the name from the privileged EXEC mode.
Step 3: Configure IP Addresses
From this set, the actual setup process starts. If you are still in the privileged EXEC mode, then start the terminal configuration mode by entering the following commands.
configure terminal
No IP domain lookup
To prevent iOS from attempting any spelling mistakes that you make while converting into a domain name. If you enter the right domain name, then you can skip this step.
After that, you need to set up the IP address for the LAN interface. To assign the interface an IP address, you need to type the following command:
IP address.
While setting the IP address properly, you need to set the WAN interface to use DHCP to identify its IP address at the same time. To obtain this, enter the below-mentioned commands which state,
interface FastEthernet4
IP address DHCP
Step 4: Set up the Access List
To set up the access list, you need to use both inbounds and outbounds terms where inbound refers to the traffic that is entering the interface frequently. On the other hand, outbound refers to the traffic that is leaving the interface.
You will find two access lists. The first one is applied for the LAN interface and another one is applied for the WAN interface.
Step 5: Test the Configuration
After successfully saving the configuration, you need to type, “copy running-config startup-config” in order to save the work to non-volatile memory. After that, make sure that the configuration is retained across the router. Finally, enter the following command “show running-config”. For later reference, you can copy and paste the configuration into the text editor. Lastly, connect the Ethernet cable to the router’s WAN port.
This is the way you can set up the Cisco router and get on the internet.
Closing Comments
Well, this is the process of how configuring a Cisco router in a step-by-step manner. Hope you have successfully applied the methods and get success in order to configure the router. You need little technical knowledge while applying the methods. But you might get any problems while reading this article.
If you face any difficulties while applying them, just post your queries in the comment section below.
