How to use a password to protect a Cisco Router

I have learned some useful questions about the password of a Cisco router. So I have studied how to use the password to protect a Cisco router. I would like to share it with you here and hope it will be useful to you. The most serious cause of security problems is often because people ignore the most basic security measures. In this article, David Davis will discuss with you the importance of using passwords to secure Cisco routers and explain the three modes of Cisco Internet Operating System, and how to configure five passwords to protect the network.

Why do I need to use a password to protect the router? The question you may want to ask is: Does a Cisco router have no preset password? The answer is yes, but no. The Cisco Router does not have automatic password protection. For Cisco managers, this is a question that needs to be carefully considered. It is very important and easy to set a password.

We will first discuss different models of Cisco's Internet Operating System. Different modes mean that different users have different access modes and different privileges. Therefore, you need to set different passwords for different modes. To learn more about vro security, read another article in The TechRepublic community, "five ways to secure Cisco routers and vswitches: basics ".

What are the three modes of Cisco's Internet Operating System?

Before discussing how to use a password to protect a vro, let's take a look at what the three modes of Cisco's Internet Operating System are. They are: User Mode: in user mode, the router displays the basic interface information. The Cisco Certified Network Engineer, the famous writer of CCNA, Todd lammon, has always called the user mode "useless", because in this mode, you cannot perform any operations on the configuration, you cannot see any important information. The user mode is also called the user experience mode. Privileged mode: it is also called a privileged experience mode or only a priv mode). In this mode, you can adjust and view configurations. In my opinion, this is the first place to set a password. Although in user mode, you should also set a password ). To switch from user mode to privileged mode, run the following command: Global mode: from privileged mode, we can enter global mode. In this mode, you can change the entire configuration of the vro. If you need to change the configuration, you need the following command. This is an example of how to enter the global mode.

By default, if you do not set a password for the Cisco vro console, you can access the user mode. If you do not set a password in other modes, you will go to the next mode ). You can use the Console port to configure a new router. It is vital to set a password to protect the Console port, because this prevents someone from accessing the user mode or even having higher permissions when connected to a Cisco router ).

Because each Cisco router has only one Console port, you need to use the command line command in global mode to enter the console, and then use the logon and password settings commands to complete the configuration. The logon Command tells the vro to set the console password. The password setting command is used to set the actual password. The following is how to set the command:

Router # config t
Router (config) # line console 0
Router (config-line) # password SecR3t! Pass
Router (config-line) # login

Auxiliary Port

The secondary port is a physical access port of the router. Not all Cisco routers have this port. The Auxiliary port can be used to enter the backup configuration port on the console. Therefore, it is also very important to set a password. The following is how to set the command:

Router # config t
Router (config) # line aux 0
Router (config-line) # password SecR3t! Pass
Router (config-line) # login

Virtual Terminal

A virtual terminal is not a physical connection, but a virtual connection. You can use Telnet or SSH commands to configure SSH on a Cisco router. For more information, see my article "how to configure SSH on a Cisco router "). Of course, you still need an active LAN or WAN port during the time of use for operations. Different vrouters and vswitches can have different numbers of virtual terminal ports. Therefore, you must determine the number of ports before configuring them. The method for determining is simple, as long as you enter line in privileged mode? Command to get the answer.