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Catalyst2950 and Catalyst2955 Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter8 Administering the Switch
Configuring a System Name and Prompt
Configuring a System Name and Prompt
You configure the system name on the switch to identify it. By default, the system name and prompt are
Switch.
If you have not configured a system prompt, the first 20 characters o f th e syste m na me a re u sed a s t he
system prompt. A greater-than symbol [>] is appended. The prompt is updated whenever the system
name changes, unless you manually configure the prompt by using the prompt global c onfigura tion
command.
Note For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this section, refer to the Cisco IOS
Configuration Fundamentals Command Reference for Cisco IOS Release 12.1 and the Cisco IO S IP and
IP Routing Command Reference for Cisco IOS Release 12.1.
This section contains this configuration information:
Default System Name and Prompt Configuration, page 8-16
Configuring a System Name, page 8-16
Configuring a System Prompt, page 8-17
Understanding DNS, page 8-17

Default System Name and Prompt Configuration

The default switch system name and prompt is Switch.

Configuring a System Name

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to manually configure a system name:
When you set the system name, it is also used as the system prompt. You can override the prompt setting
by using the prompt global configuration command.
To return to the default hostname, use the no hostname global configuration command.
Command Purpose
Step1 configure terminal Enter global configuration mode.
Step2 hostname name Manually configure a system name.
The default setting is switch.
The name must follow the rules for ARPANET host names. They must start
with a letter, end with a letter or digit, and have as interior characters only
letters, digits, and hyphens. Names can be up to 63 charact ers.
Step3 end Return to privileged EXEC mode.
Step4 show running-config Verify your entries.
Step5 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.