Administrator Guide

Configure BMP

BMP supports two types of Reload modes: BMP mode and Normal mode.

Reload Modes

This section describes the following Reload modes:

• BMP Mode

• Normal Mode

BMP mode is the default boot mode configured for a new system arriving from the Dell factory. This

mode obtains the Dell Networking OS image and configuration file from a network source (DHCP and file

servers).

To boot up the switch with the management port in No Shutdown mode, use Normal mode. If the

management IP address is present in the start-up configuration file, it is assigned. If the management IP

address is not present in the start-up configuration file, no IP address is assigned to the management

interface.

• BMP mode (default) — the switch automatically configures all ports (management and user ports) as

Layer 3 physical ports and acts as a DHCP client on the ports for a user-configured time (DHCP

timeout). Set BMP mode using the (conf-reload-type)# boot-type bmp-reload command.

• Normal mode — the switch loads the Dell Networking OS image and startup configuration file stored

in the local Flash. New configurations require that you manually configure the Management IP and

Management Interface. Set Normal mode using the (conf-reload-type)# boot-type normal-

reload command.

BMP Mode

In BMP mode, there are two types of contexts: factory-default context and normal context.

Factory-Default Context

BMP is enabled with the default parameters (no dhcp-timeout and config-scr -download). In this

context, you cannot enter CLI commands. By default, the BMP syslog messages are disabled. When BMP

is about to start, the following message displays:

This device is configured to enter Bare Metal Provisioning (BMP).

BMP will now attempt to download an image, configuration file or boot script

using DHCP.

You can only interact with the switch using the console. If you open the console and enter any key, the

input is discarded and the following message displays:

This device is in Bare Metal Provisioning (BMP) mode.

BMP is attempting to download an image, configuration file or boot

script using DHCP.

To continue with the standard manual interactive mode, it is

necessary to abort BMP.

Press A to abort BMP now.

Press C to continue with BMP.

Bare Metal Provisioning