Switch - Dell PowerConnect 5524 Initial Setup

Switch - Dell PowerConnect 5524 Initial Setup

This article will guide us on how to quickly setup a Dell switch powerconnect 5524.

0) Factory Reset

First thing, we will erase all configurations from the device.

console# delete startup-config
console# reload

1) Enable Password

First, let's enable password authentication for elevated privileges console access.

console> enable
console# configure
console(config)# enable password level 1 YOUR_PASSWORD
console(config)# enable password level 15 YOUR_PASSWORD
level 1 - User Exec Mode | level 15 Privileged Exec Mode

Next time we try to login to the elevated privileges console we will be prompted with a password box.

console> enable 
Password:********
01-Oct-2006 16:57:15 %AAA-I-CONNECT: User CLI session for user unKnown over console , source 0.0.0.0 destination  0.0.0.0 ACCEPTED

2) Adding Users

Let's add an administrator user.

console# show users accounts 

   UserName    Privilege  Password        Lockout   
                          Expiry date               
-------------- --------- -------------- ----------- 

Listing the current users.
console# configure
console(config)# username admin privilege 15 password YOUR_PASSWORD
Adding an user.
console(config)# do show users accounts 

   UserName    Privilege  Password        Lockout   
                          Expiry date               
-------------- --------- -------------- ----------- 
    admin         15           -             -      

Checking the current list of users.

3) Enabling Console Local User Authentication

We do not want that anyone with a console cable connected to the device are able to issue any command without logging in.

console(config)# aaa authentication login default local
console(config)# line console 
console(config-line)# login authentication default

4) Enable HTTP Access

First, we need to change the port we will be connecting our laptop into a routed interface and not a regular switchport.

console(config)# interface gi1/0/1
console(config-if)# no switchport 
console(config-if)# 01-Oct-2006 17:08:22 %LINK-W-Down:  Vlan 1

Let's assign an IP address to port gi1/0/1.

console(config)# interface gi1/0/1
console(config-if)# ip address 192.168.10.2 255.255.255.0
console(config-if)# exit    
console(config)# do show ip interface 


    IP Address         I/F       Type     Directed   Precedence   Status    
                                          Broadcast                         
------------------- --------- ----------- ---------- ---------- ----------- 
192.168.10.2/24     gi1/0/1   Static      disable    No         Valid 

I have connected my laptop to port gi1/0/1 and assigned the IP address 192.168.10.1/24 to it. And, we should be able ping the switch.

tiago@HP-8470 ~> ping 192.168.10.2
PING 192.168.10.2 (192.168.10.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.10.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.908 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.924 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.2: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.961 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.10.2: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.962 ms
^C
--- 192.168.10.2 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3011ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.908/0.938/0.962/0.023 ms

By default the HTTP server is enabled and listening on port 80. We can check with the command :

console(config)# do show ip http
HTTP server enabled. Port: 80
Interactive timeout: 10 minutes, 0 seconds.

5) Firmware Upgrade

Check this page to verify if the device is outdated and if a new firmware version is available. Download and extract the firmware file to a folder in your PC.

console> show version

       Unit             SW version         Boot version         HW version      
------------------- ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- 
         1               4.1.0.12            1.0.0.14            00.00.02     
Command to check the device running version of the OS and bootloader.
console# copy running-config startup-config 
Overwrite file [startup-config] ?[Yes/press any key for no]....01-Oct-2006 17:41:39 %COPY-I-FILECPY: Files Copy - source URL running-g
01-Oct-2006 17:41:43 %COPY-N-TRAP: The copy operation was completed successfully
Copy succeeded
Saving the current configuration before the reload.

Navigate to System > File Management > File Download

And under Download Protocol select HTTP that will enable the browse button. Therefore allowing the firmware to be uploaded.

powerconnect_55xx-41024.ros

Once the upload completes we will see the below :

We now need to navigate to System > File Management > Active Images and select the newly uploaded version and hit the apply button.

Go to the console and reload the device.

console# reload

After the reload we can verify the version and confirm that we are running the latest.

console# show version 

       Unit             SW version         Boot version         HW version      
------------------- ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- 
         1               4.1.0.24            1.0.0.14            00.00.02 

We should repeat the process above with the bootloader that in my case was the same version already running on the device.

The upload of the bootloader only worked after a switch reload.

Conclusion

The steps above are a basic initial set up to have the switch with minimal security and up to date firmware. In future articles, we will delve into more advanced configurations.

Resources

Support for PowerConnect 5524 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell UK