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Catalyst 2950 Desktop Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 7 Adminis tering the Switch Configuring a System Name and Prompt

Configuring a System Prompt

Beginning i n privileged EX EC mode , follow th ese s teps t o ma nual ly c on figure a s yst em prom pt:
To retu rn to t h e de fault p rompt , use t h e no prompt [string] global configuratio n command .

Understanding DNS

The DNS protocol controls the Domain Name System (DNS), a distrib uted database with which you can
map host names to IP addresses. When you configure DNS on your switch, you can substitute the host
name for the IP address with all IP commands, such as ping, telnet, connect, and related Telnet support
operations.
IP defines a hierarchical naming scheme that allows a device to be identified by its location or domain.
Domain names are pieced together with periods (.) as the delimiting characters. For example, Cisco
Systems is a commercial organization that IP identifies by a com domain name, so it s domain na me is
cisco.com. A specific device in this domain, for example, the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) system is
identified as ftp.cisco.com.
To k eep track o f domain names, I P has def ined th e concept of a doma in name server, which h olds a ca che
(or dat aba se) o f name s m appe d to IP addr esse s. To map dom ain na mes to I P a ddr ess es, y ou mus t first
identi fy t he ho st na me s, spe ci fy t he na me ser ver tha t i s prese nt on you r n etwork, and e nabl e th e D NS.
This se ctio n c onta ins thi s configu ratio n inf or mat ion:
•Default DN S Configuration, page 7-50
•Setting Up DNS, page 7-50
•Displayin g the DNS Configurat ion, page 7-5 1
Command Purpose
Step 1 configure terminal Enter g l obal c onfigura tion m od e.
Step 2 prompt string Configure the command- line pro mpt to override the set ting from t he
hostname command.
The default prompt is either switch or the name defined with the
hostname gl obal configu rat ion c om mand , foll owed by an an gle
bracket (>) for user EXEC mode or a pound sign (#) for privile ged EXEC
mode.
The prompt can consist of all printing characters and escape sequences.
Step 3 end Return to privileged EXEC mode.
Step 4 show running-config Verify yo ur entries.
Step 5 copy running-config startup-config (Optio nal) Save your e ntr ies in the con figurati on file.