5 Cisco IOS Commands Every Network Admin Should Know

By David Davis October 30, 2006

There are 5 commands that every Cisco network administrator should know These are core administration commands that will hel! you to really know what is "oin" on #$ you are new to Cisco networkin", these are "ood commands to memori%e On the other hand, even i$ you are a seasoned administrator, you may $ind a $ew commands in this article on which you could use a re$resher &e will start the list at the bottom and move to '(

IOS Command #5 show interfaces

#t is im!ortant to know what inter$aces are on your router, im!ortant statistics about those inter$aces, and whether they are u! or down The show inter$aces command is a very verbose command that !rovides a lot o$ out!ut )ou may have to !ick throu"h that out!ut to $ind what you are lookin" $or* +ust about everythin" to do with inter$aces is shown in the out!ut $rom this command ,or e-am!le. errors on an inter$ace, bandwidth utili%ation, and inter$ace s!eed This command can be abbreviated as sh int

IOS Command # co!y runnin"#confi" startu!#confi"

Once you make your con$i"uration chan"es, you need to save those chan"es This command co!ies the con$i"uration in /01 that you have been modi$yin" to the con$i"uration in $lash By co!yin" it to $lash, it will be saved when the router is !owered o$$ and restarted 0 shortcut $or this command is wr 2short $or write memory3

IOS Command #$ show i! route

Once you know that your inter$aces are u! and you have saved your con$i"uration, you need to know i$ you have $ull network reach4ability #n other words, are your routin" !rotocols workin"5 &hat static routes have you entered5 &ith the show i! route command, you can $ind out This command can be abbreviated sh i! ro

IOS Command #% show i! interface &rief

&e saw the show inter$aces command This is the show i! inter$ace brie$ command 6o, you are only showin" in$ormation about the inter$aces as it !ertains to the #7 !rotocol )ou are also askin" $or brie$ out!ut This command "ives you the best summary o$ the status and #7 addresses o$ your inter$aces This command can be abbreviated sh i! int &rie

0nd the '( most im!ortant command that every network administrator should know is8

IOS Command #' show runnin"#confi"

&ith the show runnin"4con$i" command, you see the entire router9s con$i" #t9s that sim!le )ou see the #7 addresses, inter$aces, !asswords 2that are in clear te-t3, routin" !rotocols, and other settin"s This command can be abbreviated sh ru or wr t

Summary
:sin" the Cisco #O6 is all about knowin" what command to ty!e in order to do what you need to do The 5 commands shown in this article are +ust a $ew o$ the thousands o$ !ossible Cisco #O6 commands ;owever, these commands are some o$ the core commands that every network administrator should know