By David Davis
Wednesday, December 13 2006 09:46 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/techguide/network/0,3800010800,61974368,00.htm

While configuring a new Cisco Catalyst switch isn't necessarily difficult, it can be time-consuming. Why not automate the process with an Excel template? We've created an Excel template that will help you automate the configuration of a new Cisco Catalyst 2950 switch.

What this template does
This template will generate the configuration for a Catalyst 2950 switch according to the information you supply. The template contains two worksheets.

The first worksheet is a reference, which offers a sample configuration that lists the various commands and their purposes. This sample configuration performs the following actions for the switch:

• Enables password encryption.
• Configures a hostname.
• Creates an enable secret password to control administration.
• Configures AAA authentication to use local username/password information to control Telnet and console access.
• Enables the HTTP Web server for remote administration.
• Configures the Web server to use the local authentication database.
• Configures Telnet and console lines to prevent configuration interruption from console logging messages.
• Configures a DNS domain name suffix.
• Configures a specified local DNS server.
• Configures the proper time zone, and points the switch to a local NTP time server for date and time synchronization.
• Configures the local logging system to put date and time stamps on all log entries.
• Creates a local administrative account with a specified username and password.
• Creates an IP address on the VLAN1 interface for switch administration, and enables that interface.
• Creates a default gateway.
• Configures all ports to be access switch ports so they bypass spanning-tree negotiation and come up faster.
• Saves this new running-configuration to the startup-configuration, which preserves the configuration during rebooting.

You can input your configuration information for your network on the second worksheet. If there's a setting you don't need, you remove it.

What you need to know
Here's a list of things you need to know before you download the template:

• Click the Enable Macros button when you open the Excel workbook.
• By default, this configures nothing on Gig-E uplink ports.
• All Fast Ethernet interfaces belong to VLAN 1 only, and it creates no other VLANs.

Get the template
Now that you know what the template can do for you and how to use it, you can get started. Follow these steps:

1. Download the template.
2. Open the Excel file, and fill out the yellow sections on the Variables worksheet.
3. Click the Replace button; it will generate the appropriate configuration on a new worksheet called Cat2950 - 1.
4. Copy the configuration from the Excel file, and paste it into the Cisco CLI. You can copy directly from Excel into a Telnet or SSH session or even the console port.

For more information, see the Cisco's Catalyst 2950 and Catalyst 2955 Switches documentation.

David Davis has worked in the IT industry for 12 years and holds several certifications, including CCIE, MCSE+I, CISSP, CCNA, CCDA, and CCNP. He currently manages a group of systems/network administrators for a privately owned retail company and performs networking/systems consulting on a part-time basis.