How Do I Telnet to a Cisco MDS 9216i?

Network adminstrators can access and support Cisco switches from nearly any location on the planet using Telnet over the Internet.

Cisco MDS 9216i switches are specifically designed to support fiber channel SAN (Storage Area Networks) and also feature standard Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) services such as telnet. Once telnet is enabled on a MDS 9216i, administration can be performed over the network rather than locally through a serial console port. Use Telnet to check status and change configurations remotely on a Cisco MDS 9216i.

Things You'll Need

• Telnet credentials for the Cisco MDS 9216i switch obtained from the switch administrator
• Privileged Exec password for the Cisco MDS 9216i switch obtained from the switch administrator
• Cisco serial console cable included with the MDS 9216i switch

Instructions

1. Click the "Start" button and type "Command Prompt" in the text box at the bottom of the menu that appears. Press the "Enter" key. The command-line window will display.

2. Enter "pkgmgr /iu:"TelnetClient"" in the command line window that appears and press the "Enter" key. Click "Continue" if a "User Account Control" window appears and then wait for the command prompt to reappear.

3. Plug the nine-pin connector end of the Cisco serial console cable into the serial COM port on the Windows 7 computer. Plug the eight-pin RJ45 jack connector on the other end of the Cisco serial console cable into the port labelled "Console" on the Cisco MDS 9216i switch.

4. Download either PuTTY or PuTTYtel (chiark.greenend.org.uk) to the Windows 7 computer and save the file. Navigate to and double-click on the downloaded file. Click the "serial" item in the left pane of the window that appears. Enter "COM1" or the name of the COM port to which the Cisco serial console cable is connected, into the "Serial line to connect to" text box. Click the "Flow control" drop-down box and click "None" in the list that appears. Click the "Open" button.

5. Tap the "Enter" key until the Cisco command prompt appears. Type "enable" at the command prompt and press the "Enter" key. Enter the Privileged Exec password if prompted and tap the "Enter" key.

6. Type "config term" on the command line and press the "Enter" key. Enter "feature telnet" at the command prompt and touch the "Enter" key. Write "copy running-config

   startup-config" on the command line and press the "Enter" key to save the configuration.

7. Enter "exit" at the command prompt and tap the "Enter" key. Type "show IP int brief" and press the "Enter" key. Note the IP address listed in the command-line output for one of the switch interfaces.

8. Enter "telnet 1.2.3.4" at the command prompt, replacing "1.2.3.4" with the IP address of the Cisco MDS 9216i switch noted earlier. Tap the "Enter" key.

9. Type the Telnet user name and password for the Cisco MDS 9216i switch if prompted. Press the "Enter" key and the command prompt for the MDS 9216i switch will appear. The Telnet connection to the MDS 9216i is established.

References

• Cisco: Cisco MDS 9000 Family NX-OS Fundamentals Configuration Guide -- Basic Device Management
• Microsoft Windows: Telnet Frequently Asked Questions
• Cisco: Cisco MDS 9200 series Hardware installation Guide