Basic Router Configuration

Managing a handful of routers quickly becomes a large task, and managing thousands of routers is even worse. You can minimize your administrative burden by configuring your routers carefully, completely, and consistently. I strongly recommend that you use every helpful item possibleeven if the configuration item is not required. Every moment spent doing configuration groundwork translates into many hours saved when you are troubleshooting or performing maintenance tasks. When you try to solve a network problem at 2 A.M., the importance of properly configured routers becomes painfully clear.

This chapter covers most of the configuration items that make routers more manageable and easier to tame.