IOS vs. CatOS: Basic Configuration

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CatOS

CatOS is the operating system used on Cisco's Catalyst switches before changing over to IOS. Before purchasing the technology from Crescendo in 1993, CatOS was called XDI. CatOS is a Unix-like operating system for many legacy Cisco switches. CatOS runs on the following switch series: 1200, 4000, 4500, 5000, 5500, 6000 and 6500. Some of the high end switches such as the Catalyst 6500 series still run CatOS.

On this page we will be comparing two switches; a Catalyst 4006 running CatOS and a Catalyst 2960 running IOS.

Commands

Commands entered in CatOS are committed to NVRAM instantaneously. In IOS, the user is required to issue a command to save to NVRAM.

IOS configuration modes used below:

(enable) - Priviledged Exec mode. command: enable

(config-t) - Global Configuration mode. command: config terminal

configuration modes entered in (config-t):

(config-if) - Interface configuration mode. Switchports, EtherChannel groups, VLAN interfaces. command: interface interface"module/port". Example: interface fastethernet0/20

(config-vlan) - VLAN configuration mode. vlan "number"

(config-line) - Console, Auxillary, VTY. line "line-mode" "number". Example: line con 0

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	IOS Command	CatOS Command
Privileged	Enable	Enable
Interface	(config-t)interface int (which puts you into interface configuration mode)	(enable)set port command mod/port
Set Console Password	(config-line)password password	(enable)set password (you will be prompted to change password)
Turn on ports	(config-if)no shutdown	(enable)set port enable mod/port
Turn off ports	(config-if)shutdown	(enable)set port disable mod/port
Banner-MOTD	(config-t)banner-motd # banner here #	(enable)set banner motd # banner here #
System / Hostname	(config)hostname name	(enable)set system name name
Bandwidth	(config-if)bandwidth number in kb	(enable)set port speed speed in megabits
Setting up a domain name for VTP	(config-t)vtp domain domain-name	(enable)set vtp domain domain-name
Enabling VLANS	(config-t) vlan number (will put switch into sub-config mode, but the vlan will become active)	(enable)set vlan number state active
VLAN names	(config-vlan)name name	(enable)set vlan vlan number name name

Troubleshooting

	IOS Command	CatOS Command
	Ping
	tracert
	show ip route
	show int int
	show run
	copy run start
	erase start

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== WIP ==