Cisco IOS command modes

You use the CLI to access Cisco IOS software.

Enter a question mark (?) at the CLI prompt to obtain a list of commands that are available for each command mode.

When you log in to the CLI, you are in user EXEC mode. User EXEC mode contains only a limited subset of commands. To have access to all commands, you must enter privileged EXEC mode, normally by using a password. From privileged EXEC mode, you can give any EXEC command; user or privileged mode. Or, you can enter global configuration mode.

These configuration modes are needed for you to change the running configuration. If you later save the running configuration to the start configuration, these changed commands are stored when the software is rebooted. To enter specific configuration modes, you must start at global configuration mode. From global configuration mode, you can enter interface configuration mode and various other modes, such as protocol-specific modes.