Basic IOS Navigation

When navigating Cisco devices there are some very helpful and important things to know.  Cisco considers themselves industry leaders (rightfully so) and they also consider themselves a software company.  Sure the physical infrastructure and hardware device you have are important, but if you don't understand the software running it all things might get very very expensive.  To navigate Cisco software proficiently takes practice and a willingness to learn.  Long before getting into more complicated concepts it is best to learn how to navigate the software and how it works so you don't have to reference a manual over and over.  In reality this part is not that complicated - it's like learning how to navigate DOS or Linux structures.

Basic Prompts

The prompt that you see will tell you exactly where you are and what type of privileges you have in the device.  You can read about user levels here http://ciscoccent.blogspot.com/2013/10/user-levels.html but there is a little more to it.

The first prompt you'll likely see is the User Exec and it is always displayed as hostname>

The prompt I find myself working in most often is the Privileged Exec - this is where you'll verify much of the configuration and troubleshooting.  It is always displayed as hostname#

When you are adding, removing, or editing most types of configurations you'll be in the Global Configuration mode and it is always displayed as  hostname(config)#

There are many versions and additions to the Global Configuration prompt that will tell you where you are at, but not necessarily exactly what you are editing.  There are also many cases where the prompt will not have enough room to display everything you are editing.  The two cases below show an Interface Config (does not display which interface you are in, but you should be able to figure that out) and two different line configs (one for vty lines 0-4 and one for the console line)

Shortcut Keys

Like every piece of software, Cisco has a few shortcut keys that will save you a lot of time over your career of configuring their equipment.

• ←/ → Move the cursor back or forward one space
• ↑ Scroll backward through previously entered commands - mode sensitive
• ↓ Scroll forward through command history
• Ctrl+A  Move cursor to beginning of line
• Ctrl+E  Move cursor to end of line
• Ctrl+L  Reprint the current line
• Ctrl+U  Erases the line
• Ctrl+W Erases the previous word
• Ctrl+K  Erase characters following the current cursor position
• Ctrl+X  Erase all characters preceding the current cursor position
• Ctrl+C  Exit configuration mode (goes to Privileged Exec)
• Ctrl+Shift+6  Aborts the current command - helpful for time intensive things such as IP Domain Lookup (acts like a ctrl+c does in Windows CLI) 

Shortcut keys for commands

• TAB completes a partial word
• ? shows potential commands that begin with the preceding letter(s)
• Uses:  
• en? displays all commands currently available in your location that begin with the letters "en"
• enable ? displays available commands that can follow "enable" and also generates information regarding what the following syntax is
• This image walks you through the first use of the "?" as displayed above and demonstrates using it to query what the next part of the command should be as explained in the second use - this is a powerful tool that you should become very familiar with unless you have the world's most impressive memory.