Cisco Enable Password
Most CCNA students are familiar with two privilege levels, which are the privilege level 1(user EXEC mode) and the privilege level 15(privileged EXEC mode). Cisco IOS software offers 16 privilege levels numbered from 0 to 15. The privilege level 0 is the most restricted level (you cannot configure anything and you cannot display the router configuration). The privilege level 15 is the least restricted (you can do anything on the router).
The Cisco IOS software gives you the ability to attach a set of command to each privilege level according to you network administrators’ needs. To secure access to a privilege level, you’ve to use the enable command in global configuration mode.
The enable command the following syntax:
enable {password | secret} [level level] {encryption-type encrypted-password}
In this article we”ll use a customized syntax of the enable command to set the password for the privilege level 15 as follows:
enable { password | secret } {password}
The enable secret command creates a highly secure password (the password is encrypted using a non-reversible encryption algorithm). But, the enable password command creates an unencrypted password unless the service password-encryption command is issued. The first command takes precedence over the second they are both configured on the router.
Note that the password is case sensitive and can contain up to 25 characters (uppercase and lowercase alphanumeric characters). Additionally, the password can have as first character a number. In these videos, you’ll to configure the enable password using both methods above.
Setting the password using enable password command
Use the following configuration to set the enable password using the enable password command. To remove the password use the no enable password command.
R1#conf t
R1(config)# enable password cisco
R1(config)# end
R1#
Setting the password using enable secret command
Use the following configuration to set the enable password using the enable password command. To remove the password use the no enable secret command.
R1#conf t
R1(config)# enable secret cisco
R1(config)# end
R1#
Note that if the enable password is not already set either using the enable password command or the enable secret command, and the console password is already configured, you”ll have to supply this password after you issue the enable command whenever you start a VTY session.
Related posts
Filed under study guides by on Mar 2nd, 2010. 