Reference Guide

Bare Metal Provisioning 2.0 | 237

Bare Metal Provisioning 2.0

Bare Metal Provisioning 2.0 is included as part of the FTOS image. It is supported on the following

platform:

Bare Metal Provisioning (BMP) improves accessibility to the switch by automatically loading pre-defined

configurations and boot images that are stored in file servers. BMP can be used on a single switch or on

multiple switches.

For more information on using BMP and the different types of modes, refer to the

Open Automation Guide.

BMP eases configuration by providing the following key features:

• Boot images and running configurations are specified in a DHCP server.

• Files are automatically downloaded from a file server and applied by the switch.

• Switch access is allowed through all ports (management and user ports) with or without DHCP-based

dynamic IP address configuration of a switch.

• Booting up in Layer 3 mode with interfaces already in no shutdown mode and only enabling some

basic protocols to protect the switch and the network.

BMP is enabled on a brand new, factory-loaded switch. For switches that do not have BMP already

enabled, use the following steps to enable the feature:

1. Configure an auto-configuration mode using the

reload-type command.

2. Reload the switch in the configured mode using the

reload command.

Prerequisites

Before you use BMP 2.0 to auto-configure a supported Dell Force10 switch, you must first configure a

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server and a file server in the network. Optionally, you can

also configure a Domain Name Server (DNS). For more information, refer to DHCP Server, Domain

Name Server, and File Server.

Note: If the switch is connected to upstream aggregation switches that have VLT enabled and the DHCP

and file servers are reachable through the VLT LAG interface, you must configure the VLT members with

the lacp ungroup member-independent vlt command. This allows the bottom switch to establish

communication with the VLT switches.