3-3. Passwords and Password Recovery

  • Passwords provide a layer of protection for the switch to prevent unauthorized use.

  • Catalyst switches have basically two levels of password protection (user level and privileged level).

  • Privileged passwords are encrypted for tighter security.

  • If a password is lost, each OS offers a password recovery process to gain access to the device.

Configuration of Passwords

1.
(Optional; highly recommended) Configure a user-level password:
COS 
												set password
IOS 
(line) login
(line) password
												password
The user-level password prevents anyone who is not authorized from accessing the command-line interface (CLI) from Telnet or console sessions. For COS machines, the command set password enables an applet that queries the ...

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