Show Running-Config
‘running-config’ consists of a list of commands that, taken together, result in the currently running system
configuration. This list of commands is usually not 100% identical to the list of commands a user has
input to configure the device. That is because ‘running-config’ is a textual representation of the system
configuration which is stored in binary form in the RAM memory of the device.
Since the effective device configuration is huge, ‘running-config’ in the majority of cases only lists the
delta between default settings and current settings. This significantly reduces the amount of output and
greatly improves readability of the configuration, but it does require that you know what the default
settings are. You can specify that defaults be included by appending the keyword ‘all-defaults’ to the
‘show running-config’ command.
Example: Default vs. Non-default vs. All Defaults
In this example if the speed and duplex settings of an Ethernet interface are at default values (auto-
negotiation). then nothing will be output. If the user then changes the speed to be fixed at 1Gbps then that
value is now non-default and will be output. Duplex is also output, since it is forced to ‘full’ when the
speed is fixed at 1Gbps.
! Display current configuration for an interface. All settings are at default:
SWI2210-XXXX# show running-config interface GigabitEthernet 1/4
Building configuration...
interface GigabitEthernet 1/4
!
end
! Now set the speed to 1Gbps and display the configuration again:
SWI2210-XXXX# configure terminal
SWI2210-XXXX(config)# interface GigabitEthernet 1/4
SWI2210-XXXX(config-if)# speed 1000
SWI2210-XXXX(config-if)# end
SWI2210-XXXX# show running-config interface GigabitEthernet 1/4
Building configuration...
interface GigabitEthernet 1/4
speed 1000
duplex full
!
end
! Include all default settings for that interface:
SWI2210-XXXX# show running-config interface GigabitEthernet 1/4 all-defaults
Building configuration...
interface GigabitEthernet 1/4
switchport voice vlan mode disable
no switchport voice vlan security
switchport voice vlan discovery-protocol oui
loop-protect
no loop-protect action
loop-protect tx-mode
switchport access vlan 1
switchport trunk native vlan 1
switchport hybrid native vlan 1
! ... much output omitted for brevity ...
Note how the output of ‘show running-config’ can be restricted to a specific interface. There are several
other such filters, described below.
show running-config [ all-defaults ]
This displays the entire currently running system configuration.