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Getting started

Don't have Ethernet Switch OS on the switch yet? Start with Download instead.

Factory settings

A freshly installed switch starts with this configuration:

Setting Value
Ports lan1 … lan8, all enabled, all untagged members of VLAN 1
VLANs VLAN 1, named default
Management address 192.168.1.1/24 on interface vlan1 (VLAN 1)
DHCP client off
Default gateway none
Spanning tree off
LLDP on, on all ports
SNMP off

So every port is in the same network, and the switch answers on 192.168.1.1 on all of them.

Connecting

  1. Connect your PC to any port.
  2. Give the PC an address in the same network, for example 192.168.1.10 with netmask 255.255.255.0.
  3. Check that the switch answers: ping 192.168.1.1.

Logging in

There are two user accounts:

User Where Password You get
Admin, with a name you choose SSH, serial console, web Chosen in the first-login setup The switch CLI, directly.
root Serial console only None A Linux shell. Type clixon_cli to start the CLI.

First login: create the admin account

A new switch, and one after a factory reset, has no admin account yet. Nobody can log in over SSH until you create it in the web page:

  1. Open https://192.168.1.1/ and accept the certificate (see Web pages).
  2. The page shows only Set up the admin account. Choose a username and a password, then click Create account.
    • Username: a lower case letter or _, then up to 31 lower case letters, digits, _ or -. Names the switch uses itself, such as root, are refused.
    • Password: 8 to 128 characters.
  3. The browser asks for the login next: the username and password you just chose.

The same username and password now log in everywhere:

$ ssh ops@192.168.1.1
ops@192.168.1.1's password:

  --- Random switch joke ---
  The switch is on a strict diet and counts every single byte.
  1500 bytes per meal on weekdays, jumbo frames on the weekend.

switch>

The username stays until a factory reset. Without a browser, a script can create the account with the RESTCONF RPC set-password, and root on the serial console with ethernet-switch-os-set-password.

Every interactive login prints a random switch joke first, marked with a --- Random switch joke --- header.

quit leaves the CLI and closes the SSH session.

On the serial console (115200 8N1), log in at the zyxel-gs1900-8-a1 login: prompt, with the admin username and password, or as root without a password. root cannot log in over SSH.

Create the admin account before connecting the switch to a network

Until the admin account exists, anyone who reaches the switch's web page can create it. Do the setup with only your PC connected.

Changing or resetting the password

  • In the CLI: password asks for the current password and the new one.
  • In the web page: Administration → Change password.
  • Forgotten: a factory reset erases the admin account together with all settings. With a serial cable, root can set a new password instead and keep the settings: ethernet-switch-os-set-password.

In QEMU

In the emulated Zyxel GS1900-8 or the QEMU x86-64 switch, use https://127.0.0.1:8443/ and ssh -p 2222 <username>@127.0.0.1 instead of 192.168.1.1.

Security

Management traffic is encrypted (SSH, HTTPS) and needs the admin login. There is one admin account and no read-only access, and the HTTPS certificate is self-signed. See Limitations.

Web pages

URL Content
https://192.168.1.1/ Status and settings page: firmware version, uptime, management address, ports, VLANs, spanning tree, LLDP neighbors, SNMP, password. See Using the web UI.
https://192.168.1.1/update/ Firmware update (SWUpdate). See Firmware update.

The certificate is made by the switch itself, so the browser warns that it does not know who issued it. Accept it once for the switch's address. On a new switch the page then shows the first-login setup; afterwards the browser asks for the admin username and password.

Three ways to configure

The switch has one configuration, and three ways to change it. All three work on the same data, so a change made in one shows up in the others.

Interface Where Good for
Web UI https://<switch-ip>/ The everyday settings, and the status at a glance.
CLI ssh <username>@<switch-ip>, serial console Every setting, interactively.
RESTCONF https://<switch-ip>/restconf Every setting, from scripts and tools.

Changes take effect at once, but are not saved until you save them: Save configuration in the web UI, save in the CLI, or a copy-config over RESTCONF. A reboot goes back to the saved configuration, which is also how you recover from a change that cut you off. The CLI has one more step before that: changes are collected in a candidate and only take effect with commit.

Each feature has its own page, with an introduction and then one section per interface:

Feature Web UI CLI RESTCONF
System information ✓ ✓ ✓
Management IP address addresses and DHCP client ✓ ✓
Ports ✓ ✓ ✓
VLANs ✓ ✓ ✓
Spanning tree without MSTP and guards ✓ ✓
LLDP ✓ ✓ ✓
SNMP users, on/off ✓ ✓
Password and factory reset ✓ ✓ ✓

Next steps

Most people first want to:

  1. Read Using the CLI, especially the part about commit and save, or Using the web UI.
  2. Give the switch an address in their own network, or turn on the DHCP client: Management IP address.
  3. Set up VLANs: VLANs.