Router Interface Configurations
Objective:
- Access and utilize the router to set basic parameters (including: CLI/SDM)
To configure router interfaces, you must be in the Configure tab of the SDM. On the left vertical sidebar, click Interfaces and Connections. This is the first option listed under Tasks. The two tabs on this page are Create Connection and Edit Interface/Connection. Click Edit Interface/Connections to see all of the interfaces that are set up on the router and their current status, as shown in Figure 9.20.
Assigning an IP Address
To assign an IP address to another interface, you can double-click the interface name to open another configuration window. On interfaces where an IP address assignment is applicable, this window includes tabs for Connection, Association, NAT, General, and QoS. The Connection tab shows the current IP address information (if any) of the interface, which you can change. Figure 9.21 shows the configuration window for interface Fast Ethernet 4. The router is configured with a static IP address of 10.10.10.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
Enabling the Interface
If you look back at the top right of Figure 9.20, you see an option to Disable interface Fast Ethernet 4. If you click an interface where the status is currently Down, such as the highlighted interface in Figure 9.22, you can Enable the interface from the SDM.
Saving and Verifying Your Configurations
After any router configuration changes, you must save the configuration by clicking the Save button. The SDM asks if you are sure about the save and then sends a copy running-config startup-config command to the router. As soon as the save is complete, the bottom of the SDM shows this message: “Running config copied successfully to Startup Config of your router.” To verify your router configuration, return to the Home page of the SDM. Click the View Running Config button to open the Show Running Configuration window, as shown in Figure 9.23.
Monitoring
Cisco SDM also offers device monitoring, which you can access by clicking the Monitor tab at the top of the page. The sidebar shows seven monitoring options (see Figure 9.24):
Overview, Interface Status, Firewall Status, VPN Status, QoS Status, NAC Status, and Logging. As we discussed in Chapter 4, “General Network Security,” logging is an important security feature on a network device. CPU, Memory, and Flash usage are shown in this view.
