Cisco IOS CLI – How to Identify the Interface Being Configured

cisco-ioscli

I'm used to the Juniper and Extreme worlds more than Cisco. I'm able to get by OK, but some basic cli issues arise that have finally frustrated me enough.

Inside a Cisco ASA 5505/5510 running 8.3+ or a Cisco 2901 router running 15.2.

Is there a way to setup the IOS prompts so that you know which interface's config you are in, or which sub-menu you are in? For instance if I type "interface vlan 1" it will change to (config-if) but it sure would be nice to be able to know which interface submenu I'm in at that point that way I don't accidentally change something on the wrong interface, like if I had accidentally typed "interface vlan 2". Something like: (config-if/vlan1) would be nice.

Or am I simply looking at it from the wrong perspective and there's a good reason for the prompt syntax convention as is?

Best Answer

AFAIK, the answer is NO. I never understood how this valuable feature has escaped IOS for so many years or I manged to never discover it. ;-)

I use the following technique in some cases when I want to be absolutely sure I'm configuring the interface that I think I am. Comments (!) shown. I know this technique is long-winded for the net vets, but it fits perfectly with the paranoid crowd which is sometimes both.

conf t
do sh run int g1/1
! Look over int config and note description
int g1/1
 desc GiveMeThisInterfaceOrGiveMeDeath
 do sh run int g1/1
 !Confirm the int you think you're inside configuring is the one intended
 <config-if commands here>
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