Zero Touch Deployment

Zero Touch Deployment enables a switch to be deployed automatically with ExtremeCloud IQ but you still need to onboard the switch on the ExtremeCloud IQ side. When the switch powers on, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Client obtains the IP address and gateway from a DHCP Server, and discovers the Domain Name Server, connecting the switch automatically to ExtremeCloud IQ ‑ Site Engine or to ExtremeCloud IQ cloud management application.

The switch integrates with ExtremeCloud IQ using IQAgent.

Zero Touch Provisioning Plus (ZTP+) provides ExtremeCloud IQ ‑ Site Engine connectivity to the switch.

For more information about ExtremeCloud IQ Agent, see ExtremeCloud IQ Agent. For more information about ZTP+, see Zero Touch Provisioning Plus .

To use zero touch functionality, your switch must be in a Zero Touch Deployment-ready configuration mode, which means the switch cannot have existing primary or secondary configuration files loaded. Factory shipped switches are Zero Touch Deployment ready because they deploy without configuration files. However, existing switches require manual preparation before Zero Touch Deployment can function.

To prepare an existing switch for Zero Touch Deployment, the switch must boot without a configuration file. Perform one of the following actions:

• Rename existing primary and secondary configuration files. Use the mv command to rename the existing configuration files. For example, mv config.cfg config.cfg.backup.

  This is the preferred option as it ensures that the primary and secondary files are removed while making a backup of them at the same time. This option also ensures that the switch uses the default config.cfg file for the final configuration after it has successfully onboarded.

• Boot from non-existent configuration files. Use the boot config choice command to configure the primary and backup configuration files to reference files that do not exist on the switch:

  boot config choice primary config-file nonexistent1.cfg

  boot config choice primary backup-config-file nonexistent2.cfg

  This option also works, however, after the switch has successfully onboarded, it does not use the default config.cfg file but uses the alternative configuration file name provided instead, which might not be desired.

• Delete the existing primary and secondary configuration files. Create a backup of these files before you delete them.