Cisco Login Banners

One thing you see a lot when working with routers and switches are the banners at the top of the page or window when you telnet or console into them.

Some of the funnier things I've see where:

Warning! You are about to enter the Matrix. There is still time to take the Blue pill and disconnect from this madness.

another one I remember:

Incorrect passwords will result in a virus being uploaded into your computer. Please type carefully...

Password:

and the oh so simple:

I do not like you. Go away.

If you ever wanted to add a banner to your router or switch it is a simple thing to do. You must use delimiter character such as # or $ before and after the message. This character (*) can out line your text for some extra flavor.

After consoling into the device and enabling it type:

(Example)
router#config t
router(config)#banner motd #
**********************************
This is where you put in your message
**********************************#

After some playing around you'll get the layout correct and have yourself a very witty banner for all to see in no time.

J