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Introduction

The command line interface (CLI, see-ell-i) is the traditional way of interacting with single network equipment like switches and routers. Today more advanced graphical NETCONF-based tools are available that allows for managing entire fleets of installed equipment.

Nevertheless, when it comes to initial deployment and debugging, it is very useful to know how to navigate and use the CLI. This very short guide intends to help you with that.

Key Concepts

The two modes in the CLI are the admin-exec and the configure context. When logging in to the system, be it from console or SSH, you land in admin-exec. Here you can inspect the system status and do operations to debug networking issues, e.g. ping. You can also enter configure context by typing: configure

The system has several datastores (or files):

  • factory-config consists of a set of default configurations, some static and others generated per-device, e.g., a unique hostname and number of ports/interfaces. This file is generated at boot, if it does not exist, i.e., only on first boot or after factory reset.
  • startup-config is created from factory-config at boot if it does not exist. It is loaded as the system configuration on each boot.
  • running-config is what is actively running on the system. If no changes have been made since the system booted, it is the same as startup-config.
  • candidate-config is created from running-config when entering the configure context. Any changes made here can be discarded (abort, rollback) or committed (commit, leave) to running-config.

To save configuration changes made to the running-config so the system will use them consecutive reboots, use the copy command:

admin@infix-12-34-56:/> copy running-config startup-config

In configure context the following commands are available:

Command Description
set foo bar val Set bar leaf node in foo subcontext to val
no foo bar Clear/delete configuration made to bar in foo
edit foo baz Enter baz sub-sub-context in foo subcontext
abort Abort changes in configuration, return to admin-exec
exit Exit one level sub-context, or abort from top-level
leave Save changes to running-config, return to admin-exec
show [foo] Show configured values (optionally in subcontext)
diff [foo] Show uncommitted changes in candidate
do command Call admin-exec command: do show log
commit

Example Session

Remember to use the TAB and ? keys to speed up your navigation. See help keybindings for more tips!

In this example we enter configure context to add an IPv4 address to interface eth0, then we apply the changes using the leave command.

We inspect the system status to ensure the change took effect. Then we save the changes for the next reboot.

admin@infix-12-34-56:/> configure
admin@infix-12-34-56:/config/> edit interfaces interface eth0
admin@infix-12-34-56:/config/interfaces/interface/eth0/> set ipv4 <TAB>
      address     autoconf bind-ni-name      enabled
	  forwarding  mtu      neighbor
admin@infix-12-34-56:/config/interfaces/interface/eth0/> set ipv4 address 192.168.2.200 prefix-length 24
admin@infix-12-34-56:/config/interfaces/interface/eth0/> show
type ethernetCsmacd;
ipv4 address 192.168.2.200 prefix-length 24;
ipv6 enabled true;
admin@infix-12-34-56:/config/interfaces/interface/eth0/> diff
interfaces {
  interface eth0 {
+    ipv4 {
+      address 192.168.2.200 {
+        prefix-length 24;
+      }
+    }
  }
}
admin@infix-12-34-56:/config/interfaces/interface/eth0/> leave
admin@infix-12-34-56:/> show interfaces brief
lo               UNKNOWN        00:00:00:00:00:00 <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP>
eth0             UP             52:54:00:12:34:56 <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>
admin@infix-12-34-56:/> show ip brief
lo               UNKNOWN        127.0.0.1/8 ::1/128
eth0             UP             192.168.2.200/24 fe80::5054:ff:fe12:3456/64
admin@infix-12-34-56:/> copy running-config startup-config

One of the ideas behind a separate running and startup configuration is to be able to verify a configuration change. In case of an inadvertent change that, e.g., breaks networking, it is trivial to revert back by:

admin@infix-12-34-56:/> copy startup-config running-config

Or restarting the device.