Cisco Systems 2960 Ease-of-Use and Ease-of-Deployment Features

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Catalyst 2960 Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
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Chapter1 Overview
Features
Ease-of-Use and Ease-of-Deployment Features
•Express Setup for quickly configuring a switch for the first time with basic IP inform ation, contact
information, switch and Telnet passwords, and Simple Network Management Protocol (SN MP)
information through a browser-based program. For more information about Exp ress Setup, see the
getting started guide.
•User-defined and Cisco-default Smartports macros for creating custom switch configurations for
simplified deployment across the network.
•An embedded device manager GUI for configuring and monitoring a single switch through a web
browser. For information about launching the device manager, see the getting started guide. For more
information about the device manager, see the switch online help.
•Cisco Network Assistant (hereafter referred to as Network Assistant ) for
– Managing communities, which are device groups like clusters, except that they can contai n
routers and access points and can be made more secure.
– Simplifying and minimizing switch and switch cluster management from anywhere in your
intranet.
– Accomplishing multiple configuration tasks from a single graphical interface without needing
to remember command-line interface (CLI) commands to accomplish specific tasks.
– Interactive guide mode that guides you in configuring complex features such as VLAN s, ACLs,
and quality of service (QoS).
– Configuration wizards that prompt you to provide only the minimum required information to
configure complex features such as QoS priorities for video traffic, priority levels for data
applications, and security.
– Downloading an image to a switch.
– Applying actions to multiple ports and multiple switches at the same time, such as VLAN and
QoS settings, inventory and statistic reports, link- and switch-level monitoring and
troubleshooting, and multiple switch software upgrades.
– Viewing a topology of interconnected devices to identify existing switch clusters and eligible
switches that can join a cluster and to identify link information between switches.
– Monitoring real-time status of a switch or multiple switches from the LEDs on the front-panel
images. The system, redundant power system (RPS), and port LED colors on the images are
similar to those used on the physical LEDs.
•Switch clustering technology for
– Unified configuration, monitoring, authentication, and software upgrade of multiple,
cluster-capable switches, regardless of their geographic proximity and interconnec tion media,
including Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Fast EtherChannel, small form-factor pluggable (SFP)
modules, Gigabit Ethernet, and Gigabit EtherChannel connections. For a list of cluster-capable
switches, see the release notes.
– Automatic discovery of candidate switches and creation of clusters of up to 16 switches that can
be managed through a single IP address.
– Extended discovery of cluster candidates that are not directly co nnected to the command switch.