Cisco lab setup

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Ok so this isnt strictly a Cisco Cert question, but there is potential for me in work to setupa Cisco lab and use it to learn CISCO possibly towards some certs at a later date.

Basically, in work we're dealing with a lot of CISO Switches and Routers which will need to be reset to factory defaults. We want to be able to do this in bulk, not 1 unit at a time to save time. is there a way to hook up say 10 x 2811's so that they can be erased and reloaded with thier relevant IOS? can you daisy chain devices and use Hyperterminal or Putty to erase several units in 1 go? And if so how?
I have access to a lot of different devices such as a 6500e, 2811, ASA's etc so it should be no problem source units, just knowibng whats needed and how it inter connects.

Cheers

 

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I would suggest you build one to how you like it and export the config, then you can simply import the config on all the other devices.

Obviously some stuff will still need to be setup manually, possibly IP's set and so forth, but I suspect that's going to be the quickest way to configure a large number of devices quickly.

 

if I assume those switches and routers have an ip addresses assigned then you can be on one terminal and telnet or ssh to all of them, also you can have one know good configuration and just erase startup-conf copy it and then reload.. also remember to erase the vlan conf because it stays there even you reload ....

 

I know of no way to do this in bulk via console. If they were all on the network there is software (solarwinds) that you could use to issue a command to multiple devices.

However, you may be trying to solve a problem that isn't really a problem, as it really doesn't take much time to erase config.....about 10 seconds per device.

Once all devices are powered up,

connect console
get to enable (you may need to type passwords, or just type en)
wr erase {enter}
reload {enter}

move console cable to next router

repeat

 

On some units it dosent take long to erase a config but on others i have to earse any possiblity of any customer data being left on them. For example, i'm working on a CSS11501, i need to erase any profiles, archive files, scripts etc. As i dont have access to new IOS files to put on units, i have to manually delete each file. And on a CSS thats taking forever.
Daniel your Write erase only clears teh NVram, i'm also having to earse the flash cards in some units so takes longer.
IT would be nice to do it over a network but as some units are configured and i wont know what IPs they have, i need to erase that data first as well, then see if teh unit will auto configure itself on our network.

Dunno if what i'm saying makes sense to anyone. But dont want to go into too much as theres a security ascpect involved as well due to company i work for.

 

Are you not able to just Factory reset them all? If its literally just cleaning them off and no config needing to be left, then surely that's the best bet!?!

 

Erase Config or Clear Config, write erase etc all would do, but they leave files behind on the flash disk. Files are stored in an Archive folder on the CSS for example that may potentialy have profiles or IP addresses in them. On an 2811 the flash could still contain html files. All these need to be erased as well.
I havent found a way to erase all teh files on a CSS11501 leaving just the main files required by teh IOS, in one hit. I have to manulally delete files on a 2811 using Delete * then making sure i confirm each one that isnt needed, and when theres an html folder i have tho use dlete /f /r html to wipe this entirley.

When we have 20 or 30 units to do, this takes too long. I dont have access to download and intalled a fresh IOS on each device at the moment (trying to persuade company to get this). So this is teh only way i know of doing it all. Just thinking there should be a quicker easier way.

 

If you have FTP then surely you can take the current image from the box itself, just FTP it off, Delete all files, FTP it back on?

 

If you do not have access to IOS, then you are gonna want to take a back up of the IOS from all devices, before doing anything (as you will be pretty screwed if any of those images corrupt).

Just erase all flash/nvram etc after that.

It isn't going to be possible i don't think to do it automatically. Best you can do is find out the command list required to delete each area, and manually jump to each box and paste the commands.

If you wanted to do it over the network, you could have a standard config template to paste onto boxes which would get them on the network and able to be managed, then get software, but by the time you have done that it is likely to be quicker just getting on each box and erasing stuff yourself.