Cisco Router TIPS - 10 'show' commands to get information out of your network device

One of the most important abilities of a network administrator can have is the know-how to get the information out of his network devices so he can find out what is going on with the network. The basic of information gathering has been the "show" command. Here are the ten top most commands to know and memorize:

1. show version - Start simple, Display the up time info about your software and hardware and a few other details like ISO version, memory size, etc. etc.
2. show IP interface brief - This command is for showing up/down status of your router interfaces, as well as what the IP address is of each interface. It is mostly useful for displaying critical info about a lot of interfaces on one easy to read page.
3. show interface - Display detailed statistics for all interfaces configured on the router or access server.
4. show IP interface - Display a brief summary of the interfaces on a device and tells you how the interface is behaving. These include the switching mode, ACL,s, header compression, ICMP redirection, accounting, NAT, policy routing, security lever, etc... etc.
5. show IP route - Display your routing table. A summary of the routing table or route information for specific IP addresses, network mask or protocols.
6. show arp - Display ARP information.
7. show running-config - Display the configuration information currently running on the router, the configuration for a specific interface, or map class information.
8. show port - Display port status information on a switch.
9. show vlan - To view virtual LAN ( VLAN) sub interfaces.
10. show tech-support - Display general information about the router when it reports a problem.