CISCO SWITCH – INTERNAL/EXTERNAL HARDWARE
SWITCH BOOT PROCESS
SWITCH FIRST TIME ACCESS PROCESS
SWITCH-CONFIG MODES
TRAINER : RAMU CH
SWITCH EXTERNAL (VISIBLE) HARDWARE
• CONSOLE PORT
• SWITCH LED INDICATION STATUS
• POWER CONNECTIVITY
SWITCH PORTS & CONVENTION
• Fast Ethernet = 100Mbps
• Gigabit Ethernet = 1000Mbps
• 10Gig Port
• POE = Power over Ethernet Ports
CISCO SWITCH LED INDICATION
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juv--Y1xGlo
• SYST
• RPS
• STAT
• DUPLEX
• SPEED
• POE
• UTIL
• MASTER
INTERNAL HARDWARE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v88Y9x_Owyo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Oq52yDNv0
Network Racks
Console connection to Switch
SWITCH INTERNAL COMPONENTS
Types of memory
Generally Cisco routers and switches contain four types of
memory:
• Read-Only Memory (ROM)
• Flash Memory:
• Random-Access Memory (RAM):
• Non-volatile RAM (NVRAM):
CONFIGURATION FILES
• Configuration Files
- Startup configuration File
- Running configuration File
• VLAN Database
Types of memory
Read-Only Memory (ROM):
ROM stores the Switch’s
• bootstrap startup program,
• Mini operating system software, and
• power-on diagnostic test programs (POST).
Types of memory
Flash Memory:
Generally referred to simply as “flash”,
• the IOS images are held here.
• Flash is erasable and reprogrammable ROM.
• Flash memory content is retained by the router/Switch on reload.
• Flash memory is read / writable , permanent storage.
Random-Access Memory (RAM):
• Stores operational information such as routing tables and the running
configuration file.
• RAM contents are lost when the router / Switch is powered down or reloaded.
• By default, routers/Switches look here first for an Internetwork Operating System
(IOS) file during boot.
Types of memory
Non-volatile RAM (NVRAM):
• NVRAM holds the router/Switch ’s startup configuration
file.
• NVRAM contents are not lost when the router/Switch is
powered down or reloaded.
Types of memory
• RAM is a volatile memory so contents are lost on reload,
where NVRAM and Flash contents are not.
• NVRAM holds the startup configuration file, where RAM
holds the running configuration file.
• ROM contains a bootstrap program called ROM Monitor
(or ROMmon).
• When a router / Switch is powered on, the bootstrap runs
a hardware diagnostic called POST (Power-On Self Test).
CISCO IOS
• IOS : Internetwoking Operting System
• Cisco IOS is the proprietary operating system for Cisco devices.
• IOS provides group of commands used for monitoring, configuring
and maintaining cisco devices.
• For security and easy administration, IOS commands are divided in
the set of different command modes.
• Each command mode has its own set of commands. Which
commands are available to use, depend upon the mode you are in.
SWITCH – BOOT PROCESS
Boot Process
• The router/Switch is powered on.
• The bootstrap program (ROMmon) in ROM runs Power-On Self Test (POST)
• POST checks the CPU subsystem. It tests the CPU, DRAM, and the portion of the flash device that makes up the flash file system.
• The boot loader is a small program stored in ROM and is run immediately after POST successfully completes.
• The boot loader initializes the flash file system on the system board
• The bootstrap (Boot Loader) checks the Configuration Register value to specify where to load the IOS.
• The switch attempts to automatically boot by using information in the BOOT environment variable. If this variable is not set, the switch attempts to loadin
hexadecimal),
• the router/switch first looks for “boot system” commands in startup-config file.
• If it finds these commands, it will run boot system commands in order they appear in startup-config to locate the IOS.
• If not, the IOS image is loaded from Flash . If the IOS is not found in Flash, the bootstrap can try to load the IOS from TFTP server or from ROM (mini-IOS).
• Step 1. First, the switch loads a power-on self-test (POST) program stored in ROM. POST checks the CPU subsystem. It tests the CPU, DRAM, and the portion of
the flash device that makes up the flash file system.
• Step 2. Next, the switch loads the boot loader software. The boot loader is a small program stored in ROM and is run immediately after POST successfully
completes.
• Step 3. The boot loader performs low-level CPU initialization. It initializes the CPU registers that control where physical memory is mapped, the quantity of
memory, and memory speed.
• Step 4. The boot loader initializes the flash file system on the system board.
• Step 5. Finally, the boot loader locates and loads a default IOS operating system software image into memory and hands control of the switch over to the IOS.
• The boot loader finds the Cisco IOS image on the switch using the following process:
• The switch attempts to automatically boot by using information in the BOOT environment variable.
• If this variable is not set, the switch attempts to load and execute the first executable file it can by performing a recursive, depth-first search throughout the
flash file system.
• In a depth-first search of a directory, each encountered subdirectory is completely searched before continuing the search in the original directory.
• On Catalyst 2960 Series switches, the image file is normally contained in a directory that has the same name as the image file (excluding the .bin file extension).
• The IOS operating system then initializes the interfaces using the Cisco IOS commands found in the configuration file, startup configuration, which is stored in
NVRAM.
Boot Process
• After the IOS is found, it is loaded into RAM.
• The IOS attempts to load the configuration file (startup-config)
from NVRAM to RAM.
• If the startup-config is not found in NVRAM, the IOS attempts to
load a configuration file from TFTP.
• If no TFTP server responds, the router/Switch enters Setup Mode
(Initial Configuration Mode).
Boot Process
SUMMARY
Summary : Boot Process
Summary : bootprocess
In short, when powered on the router needs to do:
• Run POST to check hardware
• Search for a valid IOS (the Operating System of the router/Switch)
• Search for a configuration file (all the configurations applied to this
router/Switch)
