Basic Device Management

This chapter describes how to configure, manage, and verify the basic setting on your Cisco NX-OS device.

Finding Feature Information

Your software release might not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest caveats and feature information, see the Bug Search Tool at https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/ and the release notes for your software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the "New and Changed Information"chapter or the Feature History table in this chapter.

Feature History for Basic Device Management

This table lists the release history for this feature.

Table 1. Feature History for File Systems, Directories, and Files

Feature Name

Releases

Feature Information

Device management

4.0(1)

This feature was introduced.

Licensing Requirements for Basic Device Management

The following table shows the licensing requirements for this feature:

Product

License Requirement

Cisco NX-OS

Basic device management requires no license. Any feature not included in a license package is bundled with the Cisco NX-OS system images and is provided at no extra charge to you. For a complete explanation of the Cisco NX-OS licensing scheme, see the Cisco NX-OS Licensing Guide.

Default Settings for Basic Device Parameters

This table lists the default settings for basic device parameters.

Table 2. Default Basic Device Parameters

Parameters

Default

MOTD banner text

User Access Verification

Clock time zone

UTC

Information About Basic Device Management

This section provides information about basic device management.

Device Hostname

You can change the device hostname displayed in the command prompt from the default (switch) to another character string. When you give the device a unique hostname, you can easily identify the device from the command-line interface (CLI) prompt.

Message-of-the-Day Banner

The message-of-the-day (MOTD) banner displays before the user login prompt on the device. This message can contain any information that you want to display for users of the device.

EXEC Banner

Starting with the Cisco NX-OS Release 7.3(0)D1(1), the EXEC banner is displayed after a user logs in to a switch. This banner can be used to post reminders to your network administrators.

Device Clock

If you do not synchronize your device with a valid outside timing mechanism, such as an NTP clock source, you can manually set the clock time when your device boots. For information about NTP, see the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide, Release 5.x.

Clock Manager

The Cisco Nexus chassis may contain clocks of different types that may need to be synchronized. These clocks are a part of various components (such as the supervisor, LC processors, or line cards) and each may be using a different protocol.

The clock manager provides a way to synchronize these different clocks.

Time Zone and Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time)

You can configure the time zone and summer time (daylight saving time) setting for your device. These values offset the clock time from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is International Atomic Time (TAI) with leap seconds added periodically to compensate for the Earth's slowing rotation. UTC was formerly called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

User Sessions

You can display the active user session on your device. You can also send messages to the user sessions. For more information about managing user sessions and accounts, see the Cisco Nexus security configuration guide for your device.

Virtualization Support for Basic Device Management

Basic device management is local to the virtual device context (VDC). For more information on VDCs, see the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Virtual Device Context Configuration Guide.

Changing the Device Hostname

You can change the device hostname displayed in the command prompt from the default (switch) to another character string.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

{ hostname | switchname } name

Example:

Using the hostname command: 

switch(config)# hostname Engineering1
Engineering1(config)#

Using the switchname command: 

Engineering1(config)# switchname Engineering2
Engineering2(config)#

Changes the device hostname. The name argument is alphanumeric, case sensitive, and has a maximum length of 63 characters. The default name is switch.

Note 

The switchname command performs the same function as the hostname command.

Step 3

exit

Example:

Engineering2(config)# exit
Engineering2#

Exits global configuration mode.

Step 4

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

Engineering2# copy running-config startup-config
 (Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring the MOTD Banner

You can configure the MOTD to display before the login prompt on the terminal when a user logs in. The MOTD banner has the following characteristics:

  • Maximum of 80 characters per line

  • Maximum of 40 lines

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

banner motd delimiting-character message delimiting-character

Example:

switch(config)# banner motd #Welcome to the Switch#
switch(config)#

Configures the MOTD banner. Do not use the delimiting-character in the message text.

Note 

Do not use " or % as a delimiting character.

Step 3

exit

Example:

switch(config)# exit
switch#

Exits global configuration mode.

Step 4

(Optional) show banner motd

Example:

switch# show banner motd
 (Optional)

Displays the configured MOTD banner.

Step 5

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch# copy running-config startup-config
 (Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring the EXEC Banner

You can configure the EXEC banner to display a message when a user logs in to a device. The EXEC banner has the following characteristics:

  • Maximum of 254 characters per line including the delimiting characters

  • Maximum of 40 lines

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

banner exec delimiting-character message delimiting-character

Example:

switch(config)# banner exec #Welcome to the Test#
switch(config)#

Configures the EXEC banner. Do not use the delimiting-character in the message text.

Step 3

(Optional) no banner exec

Example:

switch(config)# no banner exec
 (Optional)

Resets the value of EXEC banner to the default value.

Note 

The default value of the EXEC banner is blank.

Step 4

exit

Example:

switch(config)# exit
switch#

Exits global configuration mode.

Step 5

(Optional) show banner exec

Example:

switch# show banner exec
 (Optional)

Displays the configured EXEC banner.

Step 6

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch# copy running-config startup-config
 (Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring the EXEC Banner

This example shows how to configure the EXEC banner. 

# config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
switch(config)# banner exec #Unauthorized access to this device is prohibited!#
switch(config)# exit
switch# show banner exec
Unauthorized access to this device is prohibited!

Configuring the Time Zone

You can configure the time zone to offset the device clock time from UTC.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.
Step 2

clock timezone zone-name offset-hours offset-minutes

Example:

switch(config)# clock timezone EST -5 0

Configures the time zone. The zone-name argument is a 3-character string for the time zone acronym (for example, PST or EST). The offset-hours argument is the offset from the UTC and the range is from –23 to 23 hours. The range for the offset-minutes argument is from 0 to 59 minutes.

Step 3

exit

Example:

switch(config)# exit
switch#

Exits global configuration mode.
Step 4

(Optional) show clock

Example:

switch# show clock
 (Optional)

Displays the time and time zone.
Step 5

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch# copy running-config startup-config
 (Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time)

You can configure when summer time, or daylight saving time, is in effect for the device and the offset in minutes.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.
Step 2

clock summer-time zone-name start-week start-day start-month start-time end-week end-day end-month end-time offset-minutes

Example:

switch(config)# clock summer-time PDT 
1 Sunday March 02:00 1 Sunday 
November 02:00 60

Configures summer time or daylight saving time.

The zone-name argument is a three character string for the time zone acronym (for example, PST and EST).

The values for the start-day and end-day arguments are Monday , Tuesday , Wednesday , Thursday , Friday , Saturday , and Sunday .

The values for the start-month and end-month arguments are January , February , March , April , May , June , July , August , September , October , November , and December .

The value for the start-time and end-time arguments are in the format hh: mm .

The range for the offset-minutes argument is from 0 to 1440 minutes.

Step 3

exit

Example:

switch(config)# exit
switch#

Exits global configuration mode.
Step 4

(Optional) show clock detail

Example:

switch(config)# show clock detail
 (Optional)

Displays the configured MOTD banner.
Step 5

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch# copy running-config startup-config
 (Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Manually Setting the Device Clock

You can set the clock manually if your device cannot access a remote time source.

Before you begin

Configure the time zone.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

clock set time day month year

Example:

switch# clock set 15:00:00 30 May 2008
Fri May 30 15:14:00 PDT 2008

Configures the device clock.

The format for the time argument is hh: mm: ss .

The range for the day argument is from 1 to 31.

The values for the month argument are January , February , March , April , May , June , July , August , September , October , November , and December .

The range for the year argument is from 2000 to 2030.

Step 2

(Optional) show clock

Example:

switch(config)# show clock
 (Optional)

Displays the current clock value.

Setting the Clock Manager

You can configure the clock manager to synchronize all the clocks of the components in the Cisco Nexus chassis.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

clock protocol protocol vdc vdc-num

Example:

# clock protocol ptp vdc 2

Configures the clock manager.

The values for the protocol argument are ptp , ntp , and none .

The following describes the values:

  • ptp —Synchronizes clocks with Precision Time Protocol (PTP) as described by IEEE 1588.

  • ntp — Synchronizes clocks with Network Time Protocol (NTP).

  • none —Use clock set to set supervisor clocks.

    Note 

    When none is used, the clock in the specified VDC must be configured.

    Note 

    Once the protocol is configured, the clock in the specified VDC must use that protocol.

    For example, if the clock protocol ptp vdc 2 command is entered, then PTP should be configured in VDC 2.

The range for the vdc argument is 1 to 8.

Step 2

(Optional) show run clock_manager

Example:

#show run clock_manager
 (Optional)

Displays the configuration of the clock manager.

Managing Users

You can display information about users logged into the device and send messages to those users.

Displaying Information about the User Sessions

You can display information about the user session on the device.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

show users

Example:

switch# show users

Displays the user sessions.

Sending a Message to Users

You can send a message to active users currently using the device CLI.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

(Optional) show users

Example:

switch# show users
 (Optional)

Displays the active user sessions.
Step 2

send [session line] message-text

Example:

switch# send Reloading the device is 10 minutes!

Sends a message to all active users or to a specific user. The message can be up to 80 alphanumeric characters and is case sensitive.

Verifying the Device Configuration

To verify the configuration after bootstrapping the device using POAP, use one of the following commands:

Command

Purpose

show running-config

Displays the running configuration.

show startup-config

Displays the startup configuration.

For detailed information about the fields in the output from these commands, see the Cisco Nexus command reference for your device.

Additional References for Basic Device Management

You can find additional information related to basic device management.

Related Documents for Basic Device Management

Related Topic

Document Title

Licensing

Cisco NX-OS Licensing Guide

Command reference

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Fundamentals Command Reference