Administrator Guide

Bare Metal Provisioning

Bare metal provisioning (BMP) is included as part of the Dell Networking OS image and is supported on

the S4810, S4820T, S5000, S6000, Z9000, Z9500, IOA, and MXL platforms.

Introduction

BMP improves operational efficiency to your system by automatically loading pre-defined configurations

and Dell Networking OS images using standard protocols such as dynamic host configuration protocol

(DHCP) and common file transfer mechanisms.

Bare metal provisioning:

• Reduces the time to install and configure the network device.

• Helps eliminate configuration errors and ensure consistent configurations.

• Functions on a single system or on multiple systems.

• Includes simple network management protocol (SNMP) support.

• Includes support for pre- and post-configuration scripts.

How it Works

With BMP, the system retrieves a configuration file or a preconfiguration script indicated in the DHCP

offer.

Using the preconfiguration script, you can:

• Verify the integrity of the boot image the DHCP offer downloads.

• Decide what type of configurations you want to apply based on your network reachability, port status,

and neighbor discovery.

• Monitor your CPU, memory utilization, port traffic status, or perform link and topology checks with

the link layer discovery protocol (LLDP).

• Retrieve and apply the configuration from a central repository.

If you disable BMP, Normal mode provides Autoexec support. Using the Autoexec feature, you can apply

script-based configurations at system start-up.

Prerequisites

Before you use BMP to auto-configure your Dell Networking switch, configure the following:

• External DHCP server (required) — a network device offering configuration parameters.

• File server (required) — a network device for storing and servicing files.

• Domain name server (DNS) (optional) — a server that associates domain names in the network with IP

addresses.

Bare Metal Provisioning