By KailinAcheson Part 1 of Device Access Modes blog focuses on the basics: routers, switches, and access modes. These modes are represented by the Switch> prompt or similar. They do not allow for configuration changes. The Switch# prompt (or something similar) is used to represent private EXEC mode. It allows configuration changes.
Today, we’ll take a step further and discuss some configuration modes that you can access via privileged EXEC mode.
Global Configuration Mode
Interface Configuration Mode
Line Configuration Mode
Router Configuration Mode
A brief discussion of context-sensitive assistance is also included at the end.
These details are all covered in the ICND1 exam. It is important if you want to get your CCENT/CCNA certification.
Global Configuration Mode
Global configuration mode can be accessed by entering the configure terminal command in privileged EXEC mode. The process would look like this if you start in user EXEC mode
Switch>enable(authentication information would be entered here, if necessary)Switch#configure terminalSwitch(config)#
Global configuration mode allows you to make configuration changes to the device such as configuring host names, access lists, and enabling/disabling Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP). Figure 1 below shows a selection of switch commands available from global configuration mode.

Figure 1 – Global Configuration Mod Switch Commands
Global configuration mode allows you to return to privileged EXEC by issuing an exit command, issuing the end command or pressing CTRL+Z. You can return to user EXEC by issuing the exit commands from privileged EXEC.
Interface Configuration Mode
Access interface configuration mode can be accessed by entering the interface type/number command into global configuration mode. Below are the commands that you can use to access the FastEthernet interface configuration mode.
Switch>enable(authentication information would be entered here, if necessary)Switch#configure terminalSwitch(config)#interface fastethernet 0/1Switch(config-if)#
You can configure the device’s interface configuration mode to make configuration changes such as configuring an Internet Protocol address, disabling CDP on a specified interface, and many more. Figure 2 shows an example of switch commands available from interface configuration mode.

Figure 2 – Interface Configuration Mod Switch Commands
You can return to global configuration mode from interface configuration mode by issuing an exit command. You can also use the end command to return to privileged EXEC mode.
Line Configuration Mode
console
Switch(config)#line vty 0 4Switch(config-line)#
You can modify the configuration of Telnet or console lines by switching to line configuration mode. You can change the configuration of Telnet, console, or auxiliary lines. Figure 3 shows a selection of switch commands available from line configuration mode.

Figure 3 – Line Configuration Mod Switch Commands
You can return to global configuration mode from line configuration mode by issuing an exit command. You can also return to privileged EXEC mode directly from line configuration mode by issuing an end command
Router Configuration Mode
You can access router configuration mode by typing the router routing-protocol [autonomous-system-number] command from global configuration mode. The previous examples used a switch. Router configuration mode is only for routers.