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IntermediatePublished 2026-07-04

Blocking Brute-Force Logins and Adding a Banner on R1

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Harden the management plane of a single IOS router by throttling brute-force login attempts and presenting a legal-warning banner. You will enable SSH-based management, configure login block-for and delay to resist password-guessing, and verify behavior from an ADMIN Linux workstation.

Track
Est. time
35 minutes
Difficulty
Intermediate
Topics

Learning objectives

  • Enable SSH-only management with a local user on a single IOS router
  • Throttle brute-force attempts using global login controls
  • Display a legal-warning banner before authentication
  • Verify quiet-mode behavior and failed-attempt tracking with show commands
  • Validate end-to-end access from an ADMIN Linux workstation

Troubleshooting focus

  • SSH key generation prerequisites missing (hostname/domain-name)
  • VTY lines not using local login or still allow Telnet
  • Incorrect login block-for or delay syntax not taking effect
  • Banner delimiter errors preventing banner from being saved
  • Quiet-mode blocks all logins longer than expected due to fresh failures

Topology

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How this lab is graded
  • Build it your way. Where a lab lets you choose a value — a VLAN name, an interface description — grading checks that you configured it, not which name you picked. Names that another line has to reference, like an ACL applied with access-class, are stated in the guide and do have to match.
  • Addresses, modes and protocol keywords are exact. An IP address, a subnet mask, switchport mode trunk, an encapsulation — these carry the meaning of the lab, so they are graded as written in the guide.
  • Grading reads your saved configuration. Export the lab from CML after you have configured it, and make sure anything you set is in the running-config — a change that only exists in a terminal session never reaches the grader.
  • You can submit as many times as you like. Your best score stands, and each attempt tells you which checks passed so you can work the gaps.
  • Scored something you believe is correct? Use Report an issue on this page — that is exactly how the grading fixes in the changelog got found.

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