How to Use Putty on Cisco Routers and Switches

This practical guide walks through how to use putty on cisco routers and switches, explains the main requirements, and highlights common issues that may appear along the way.

Here's how to use PuTTY on Cisco routers and switches.

Prepare

Click on the following link here to download PuTTY.

Make sure you have the correct console connection to the Cisco router or switch. Connect the RJ45 jack of the console cable to the console port of the router or Cisco switch. Connect the other end to the Serial port of the computer.

How to use PuTTY on Cisco routers and switches

Step 1. After downloading PuTTY, connect the console cable to the Cisco router or switch, double click putty.exe to execute it. Expand Connection> Serial . Enter the port number inside the "Serial line to connect to" text box . The port number is COM4 in the example below. The port number may be different on your computer. Enter the correct port number when you connect from your computer. Enter other values ??as shown below.

• Bits per sec: 9600
• Data bits: 8
• Parity: none
• Stop bits: 1
• Flow control: none

Step 2. Click Session and select Serial. Verify that you can see the port number and baud rate ( 9600 ) you selected earlier. Click "Open" to connect to the Cisco router or IOS switch.

Click "Open" to connect

Step 3. PuTTY is now connected to Cisco IOS and you can now configure, monitor or manage Cisco routers or switches using PuTTY.