Service Manual

Bare Metal Provisioning

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

the S4810, S4820T, S3048–ON, , S4048–ON, S5000, S6000, S6000-ON, Z9500, C9010, 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