Configure Cisco Routers and Switches for Telnet Access

I wanted to start from the basics as this is the first article under the category Networking. A Tutorial on How to Configure Cisco Routers and Switches for Telnet Access. Lets start with some info about the Telnet protocol – Telnet uses port 23, this protocol is used for remote administration of devices through commands. Take note that Telnet sends commands as plaintext over the network so don’t use telnet this unless you’re on a testing environment or 101% sure your network is safe from intruders.

Configuring Cisco Routers for Telnet access

Assuming you’ve configured the interface IP address settings properly just entering the following commands will configure your cisco router for telnet access.

Router>enable
Router#configure terminal
Router(config)#enable secret password
Router(config)#service password-encryption
Router(config)#line vty 0 4
Router(config-line)#password telnetpw
Router(config-line)#login

The command enable secret sets a privilege mode password and stores it in an encrypted format so that it isn’t visible when viewing the running configuration. If you already have a privilege mode password set ignore the command. Replace the word password with your strong password. Similarly after the “line vty” command replace telnetpw with your telnet password. The “service password-encryption” stores the telnet password in encrypted format.

Configuring Cisco Switches for Telnet access

To Configure Switches for telnet access we use the same commands as seen above with one addition. Switches being Layer 2 devices do not have any IP addresses assigned by default, so we’ll assign an IP address to a VLAN interface which I’ll show you how. Follow the commands below

Switch>enable
Switch#configure terminal
Switch(config)#enable secret password
Switch(config)#service password-encryption
Switch(config)#line vty 0 4
Switch(config-line)#password telnetpw
Switch(config-line)#login
Switch(config-line)#exit
Switch(config)#int vlan 1
Switch(config-if)#ip add 10.0.0.1 255.0.0.0
Switch(config-if)#no shutdown

Replace the word password in the “enable secret” command to your preferred privilege mode password, also replace telnetpw with your telnet password. When you configure the VLAN interface enter the VLAN number in which the TELNET CLIENT (this is the system FROM which you will execute the telnet command) is located. If you haven’t configured VLAN just enter 1, as for the IP address it should be in the same subnet as the Telnet client and the IP address should be unique i.e., it should NOT be assigned to any other host on the network.

Go to your system and telnet to the router/switch

PC>telnet 10.0.0.1
Trying 10.0.0.1 ...Open
User Access Verification
Password:
Switch>

Important:- As said earlier Telnet sends commands and passwords in plaintext over the network. The “enable secret” and “service password-encryption” commands only STORE the password in encrypted format