Cisco Catalyst Express 500 - Is there a CLI interface available?

Overall the Cisco CatalystExpress 500 is not designed to be used as a command-line configured switch. It is ideally designed for small-business/home office style solutions and runs a whole bunch of features automatically that are typically manually configured on the more enterprise level Catalyst switches. This is generally "OK" provided your customer doesn't want to get too fancy and doesn't have a mixed Catalyst and CatalystExpress switching environment. Overall, I'm not a big fan.

One thing that has come to be a requirement for myself is compare the configuration of a CE500 against a typical Catalyst switch (say a Cisco 2960) this is impossible using the CE500's GUI.... until you know about the hidden URL to get a CLI-like interface with the router. :)

To get to the CLI GUI:

"http://x.x.x.x/level/15/exec/"

I would strongly advise against trying to configure the switch "fully" through this interface as it is not designed to be used for this purpose (you will break the GUI and/or future GUI use will break your config). This CLI part of the GUI is best used to get an understanding for the underlying IOS commands configured on this not-quite-a-Catalyst switch. Happy tinkering...