About This Guide

This section describes the objectives, audience, organization, and conventions of the Router Products Getting Started Guide. For information about related publications, refer to the Documentation Roadmap.

Document Objectives

This guide describes the setup command facility and its role within the installation and configuration process. It discusses first-time startup and familiarizes you with the process of setting up the router, including hardware installation, planning your configuration, and implementing that configuration. Some configuration parameters discussed in this document (and shown on the configuration worksheets) apply only to routers that have the protocol translation option. If your router does not have protocol translation, the interactive setup command facility does not prompt you for these parameters.

Audience

The Router Products Getting Started Guide is for customers who are responsible for the initial setup and configuration of a router. This document provides a step-by-step approach to planning and executing the first-time configuration in response to the setup command facility, a specially designed user interface for performing basic configuration procedures on all router products. Users can also use the setup command facility for basic changes at any time.

This guide is written for customers who have little or no experience with the router. These users might be completely new to networking, or they might be familiar with basic concepts and terminology. It is assumed that users

• Understand the purpose for which their router was purchased

• Know which protocols they will route

• Are familiar with the interfaces they will use

• Know whether they will use bridging

This document complements the following publications:

• Router Products Configuration Guide

• Router Products Command Reference

• Protocol Translator Configuration Guide and Command Reference.

Document Organization

The organization of this guide reinforces the ease-of-use of the setup command facility and reflects the order in which tasks should be performed. It is organized as a step-by-step planning tool that walks you through the process of setting up a router for the first time, describes how to make simple changes to the setup, and directs you to the appropriate documentation to further configure the router. Worksheets are included as planning and information-gathering tools for first-time startup.

The guide is organized as follows:

• Chapter 1, "Overview," provides a general description of the hardware installation and software configuration process.

• Chapter 2, "Preparing for First-Time Startup," helps you plan your configuration.

• Chapter 3, "First-Time Startup," explains how to use worksheets to run through a setup session.

• Chapter 4, "Where to Go from Here," provides information about using the setup command facility to alter a basic configuration after first-time startup; how to use the streamlined setup command facility if your interfaces are down and you want to netboot; and where to find information so you can perform advanced configuration on the router.

• Appendix A, "Blank Worksheets," provides blank worksheets for you to complete during the planning phase and to use during a setup command facility session.

Document Conventions

This document uses the following conventions to convey instructions and information:

• Ctrl- represents the key labeled Control. For example, the key combination Ctrl-C means hold down the Control key while you press the C key.

• A string is defined as a nonquoted set of characters. For example, when setting up a community string for SNMP to "public," you do not type the quotes around the string.

Command descriptions follow these conventions:

• Examples that contain system prompts denote interactive sessions, indicating that the user enters commands at the prompt. The system prompt indicates the current command mode. For example, the prompt router(config)# indicates that you are in global configuration mode.

• Commands and keywords are in boldface.

• Arguments for which you supply values are in italic font.

• Optional elements are shown in square brackets ([ ]).

• Alternate optional elements are separated by vertical bars ([ | ]).

• Alternate but required elements are grouped in braces ({ }) and separated by vertical bars (|).

Examples follow these conventions:

• Terminal sessions and information the system displays are in screen font.

• Information you enter is in boldface screen font.

• Nonprinting characters, such as passwords, are in angle brackets (< >).

• Default responses to system prompts are in square brackets ([ ]).

• Exclamation points (!) at the beginning of a line indicate a comment line.

Caution Means reader be careful. In this situation, you might do something that could result in equipment damage or loss of data.

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Note Means reader take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to materials not contained in this manual.

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