How to download and install Cisco SDM on a Cisco router

This article describes how to download and install Cisco SDM on a Windows-based PC. It contains information about router's memory requirements, PC requirements, router's configuration for SDM support, and a step-by-step process to download and install SDM in a Windows-based PC. This article is designed for CCNA students, network engineers, and anyone looking to install Cisco SDM (Cisco SDM is part of the CCNA syllabus).
If you're willing to install Cisco SDM in a Cisco router, then make sure the router has 6MB of free memory. You need 2 MB of router's free memory whenever Cisco SDM is installed on a PC.

You can install and use SDM a PC having the following configuration:

Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows 2003 Server (Standard Edition), Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 4, Microsoft Windows ME , Microsoft Windows 98 (second edition), and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation with Service Pack 4.

Web Browser: Internet Explorer version 5.5 and later, Netscape version 7.1 and later, and Firefox. Other browser versions are also supported but not listed here.

Java Runtime Environment: JRE version 1.4.2_05 or later, or Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 5.0.0.3810.

Note: Windows 2000 Advanced Server is not supported. If you're using non-english of Microsoft Windows (Japanese, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Spanish, and Italian language), then make sure to install on these Microsoft Windows versions: Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 or later, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 4 or later.

Installing Cisco SDM on Cisco router is beyond the scope of this post, and it will be covered in the upcoming tutorials. Now, let's see how to configure the router for SDM support:

Step 1: Connect to the router via the Console port or through a VTY connection.

Step 2: Enter the privileged EXEC mode
R1> enable

Step 3: Enter the global configuration mode
R1# configure terminal

Step 4: Enable the router's HTTP server
R1 (config)# ip http server

Step 5: Set the HTTP server's authentication mode to local.
R1 (config)# ip http authentication local

Step 6: Create a user account and set its privilege level to 15.
R1(config)# username admin privilege 15 password cisco

This is the minimal configuration you must have on your router to support SDM.

Downloading Cisco SDM is an easy task, just follow these instructions:

Step 1: Open this link http ://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/sdm.
Step 2: Click on the SDM version you want to download (for example SDM-V25.zip).
Step 3: Click next.
Step 4: Click accept.
Step 5: Enter you CCO credentials, and then click OK in order to start downloading Cisco SDM.