How to Enable a Port on a Cisco Switch

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: June 16, 2024 Fact Checked

This wikiHow teaches you how to turn on any port on your Cisco switch. In most cases, your Cisco switch's ports will all be enabled by default unless you've specifically disabled them.

Activating a Port

To activate or enable a port on your Cisco Switch, connect to your Switch and type "show interface status" to see which ports are enabled and which are disabled. Type enable, then use configuration commands to set up the port you want to enable.

Steps

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You can use PuTTY or any other SSH or telnet app to make a serial connection. The process of making the connection varies depending on the model you're using, so check your manual for specific instructions.^{[1]
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This displays a list of all ports, as well as their logical IDs.^{[2]
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Research source} Once you know the ID of the port you want to enable, you can run the command to enable it.

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If your switch has a password, you'll be prompted to enter it now. If not, you'll just be taken to the next line.
This puts the switch into configuration mode.^{[3]
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Replace port-id with the ID of the port you want to enable, for example, interface fastEthernet 0/1 or interface Gi1/10. Now your switch knows which interface to configure.^{[4]
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Type no shutdown and press ↵ Enter. This turns the port on.^{[5]
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- If you want to turn the port off, you'd use shutdown instead.
This overwrites the startup configuration file with the new changes.^{[6]
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This exists configuration mode.