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Catalyst 2950 Desktop Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 4 Assigning the Swi tch IP Address and De fault Gate way Assigning Switch Information

Default Switch Information

Table 4-1 shows the default switch information.

Understanding DHCP-Based Autoconfiguration

The DHCP provides configuration information to Internet hosts and internetworking devices. This
protoc ol co nsis ts of two c omp onent s: on e f or d elivering co nfigurati on p aram eters f ro m a DHC P ser ver
to a device and a mechanism for allocating network addresses to devices. DHCP is built on a
client-se rver model , in which des ignated D HCP servers alloca te network addresses an d deliver
configurati on para m eters to d ynami call y configur ed devices.
During DH CP-based a utoconfiguration , your switc h (DHCP cli ent) is automa tically configured at
startup wi th IP addre ss informa tion an d a configurati on file.
With DHCP-base d autoconfigurat ion, no D HCP client- side configur ation is nee ded on your sw itch.
Howe ver , you need to configure the DHCP server for various lease options associated with IP addresses.
If you ar e using D HCP t o relay t he c on figurati on file l oca tio n on th e net work, you mig ht a lso ne ed t o
configure a Trivial File Transfe r Protocol (T FTP) server and a Do main Name System (DNS) server.
The DHCP server can be on the same LAN or on a different LAN than the switch. If the DHCP server
is runn ing o n a differen t LA N, yo u sh ould configur e a DH CP r elay. A rela y d evice forward s b roa dca st
traffic between two direc tly conn ecte d LANs. A ro uter doe s not forward br oadcast packets, but it
forwards packets based on the destination IP address in the received packet.
DHCP-based autoconfiguration replaces the BOOTP client fu nctionality on you r switch.
Table 4-1 Default Switch Information
Feature Default Setting
IP add ress and sub net ma sk No IP addr ess or su bnet m ask are defined.
Default gateway No default gateway is d efined.
Enable sec ret pa ssword No password is de fined.
Host name The factory-assigned default host name is Switch.
Telnet password No password is defined.
Cluster com mand switch functionality Disabled.
Cluster n ame No clust er n ame is d efined.