ZTP and ZTC Fabric Attach Enhancements

Version 33.5.2 adds enhancements to Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) and Zero Touch Configuration (ZTC) to support large-scale SD-WAN fabric deployments without Network Access Control (NAC) intervention.

Issue: Large fabric SD-WAN deployments with Fabric Engine cores and Switch Engine access switches required fully zero-touch deployment capabilities. Existing ZTP and ZTC implementations had gaps preventing this deployment model.

Resolution: Multiple enhancements have been implemented to enable seamless zero-touch fabric deployments:

ZTP Enhancements:

Fabric Attach message authentication is now enabled by default.
New authentication mode visibility in CLI output.

ZTC Enhancements:

Dynamic VLANs created for FA management are automatically added to default STP domain (s0)
Automatic fallback management VLAN configuration: when no mgmt-VLAN TLV is received from FA server LLDP communication, the management VLAN defaults to VLAN 4048 with I-SID 15999999 and automatically issues a DHCP request
FA clients without message authentication keys can now interoperate with servers that have authentication keys enabled

New CLI Capability: The show fabric attach command now includes authentication mode information to help administrators understand the current authentication state:

show fabric attach ports 2:20-2:23 authentication

Port       Authentication  Mode
---------  --------------  ----
2:20       Disabled        S    
2:21       Enabled         S    
2:22       Enabled         D    
2:23       Auto            U

Authentication Modes:

(S) Static: Authentication mode explicitly configured by administrator
(D) Dynamic: Authentication mode automatically changed based on server state
(U) Unconfigured/Auto: Authentication mode not yet configured or modified (default state)

The system intelligently adapts authentication settings based on server configuration while preserving user-configured settings when present. When no configuration exists and no neighboring server dictates authentication requirements, ports operate in "Auto" mode.

Supported Platforms

All platforms