Reverting to Default Configuration

It is possible to reset the system to a default configuration in two ways:

• Deleting startup-config and rebooting

• Instructing the software to discard the current configuration and reset to defaults without rebooting

Deleting startup-config doesn’t change running-config until the system is rebooted, at which time the defaults are loaded.

Conversely, discarding the current configuration does indeed affect running-config but does not touch startup-config. An explicit copy running-config startup-config is necessary to make the change persistent.

Rebooting and resetting the default configuration is accomplished with the reload command:

reload cold [ sid switch_id ]

reload defaults [ keep-ip ]

The reload cold version reboots the system. If the system is stacking, a specific switch can be rebooted as well by supplying its switch ID.

The second method loads configuration defaults. If the keep-ip keyword is given, then the system attempts to keep the most relevant parts of the VLAN 1 IP setup in order to maintain management connectivity (the IP address setup and the active default route).

There is no guarantee, however, that the above is sufficient for reverting to default configuration: it depends on the actual network properties and the system’s total IP configuration. In some cases, it may be preferable to explicitly un-configure the system using ‘no’ commands, or prepare a suitable configuration and download it to the system’s startup-config and reboot.