The Default Configuration Explanation, part 1

The first line, Current configuration : 1265 bytes, tells us that the current configuration uses 1265 bytes of storage in flash. Of course, as we add commands to the configuration file this number will increase.

The line version 12.2 tells us the version of the IOS that the switch has booted from. In this case, IOS version 12.2-25 SEE(1).

The next line, no service pad, means that by default the service called pad is not enabled. Pad stands for ‘packet assembler/disassembler’. The scope of this document will not cover PAD devices and access servers.

The next two lines, service timestamps debug uptime and service timestamps log uptime deal with the service called timestamps. With debug uptime and log uptime enabled, making a configuration change and then showing the log will show a timestamp of when the change occurred:

Switch#show logging
Syslog logging: enabled (0 messages dropped, 1 messages rate-limited, 0 flushes,
0 overruns, xml disabled, filtering disabled)
Console logging: level debugging, 10 messages logged, xml disabled,
filtering disabled
Monitor logging: level debugging, 0 messages logged, xml disabled,
filtering disabled
Buffer logging: level debugging, 10 messages logged, xml disabled,
filtering disabled
Exception Logging: size (4096 bytes)
Count and timestamp logging messages: disabled
File logging: disabled
Trap logging: level informational, 13 message lines logged

Log Buffer (4096 bytes):

00:03:40: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
Switch#

In this example, the change was made 3 minutes 40 seconds after the switch was booted. Had it been configured with an IP address and timeserver, the second to last line would have looked like this:

Nov 15 13:51:06: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console

That line means that on Nov 15 at 13 hundred hours 51 minutes and 6 seconds the switch configuration was changed from the console by user console. Had this been a user logged in via telnet, the line would have read:

Nov 15 13:51:06: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by vty0 (192.168.1.45)

Not only did it log the date and time, but also the vty line number (0) and IP address of the user.

Logging is important in the overall scheme of managing your network and we’ll cover more logging options later.