Q: What are your favorite command aliases on Cisco routers and switches?

A:

Alias force

Switches:

alias exec cpu sho proc cpu | include CPU
alias exec mac sho mac- dyn | include
alias exec ip sho arp | include
alias exec sis show interface status
alias exec po show interface status | include Po
alias exec fa show interface status | include Fa
alias exec gi show interface status | include Gi
alias exec vlans show vlan brief | include active

Routers:

alias exec cpu show proc cpu | include CPU
alias exec stat show run | include ip route
alias exec fa show interface status | include Fa
alias exec showtech show tech | redirect tftp://mytftpsrvr/thisrtr_showtech.txt
alias exec mac show mac- dyn | incl
alias exec ip show arp | include
alias exec sis show interface status

I type sis as soon as I log into a switch to see the interface table. I use fa instead on the big switches, when I'm not interested in seeing the Gigabit ports in the table (since they change infrequently). I can type mac 034b to find the switch CAM table entry for the mac containing those four digits. To track down the whereabouts of an IP on the switch fabric, I type ip 10.3.4.5 at the router to find its MAC address, then if the MAC is 1234.5678.abcd, I type mac abcd at the switches to see what switchport it's on.