Dell FORCE10 Open Automation Configuration

Also see for Force10 MXL Blade: Configuration guide Getting started guide Manual Deployment guide Reference guide

Contents

10 | Open Automation Frameworkw w w . d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l . c o m • Programmatic Management• Web GUI and HTTP serverYou can use these components together or independently to extend and addfunctionality to the FTOS operating system without requiring updates to an FTOSrelease.Figure 2-1. Open Automation FrameworkBare Metal ProvisioningBare Metal Provisioning (BMP) provides the following features:• Automatic network switch configuration and automated configuration updates• Enforced standard configurations• Reduced installation time• Simplified operating system upgradesAutomated bare metal provisioning reduces operational expenses, accelerates switchinstallation, simplifies upgrades and increases network availability by automaticallyconfiguring Dell Force10 switches. BMP eliminates the need for a networkadministrator to manually configure a switch, resulting in faster installation,elimination of configuration errors and enforcement of standard configurations.With bare metal provisioning, after a switch is installed, the switch searches thenetwork for a DHCP server. The DHCP server provides the switch with an IP addressand the location of a file server, such as TFTP. The file server maintains aconfiguration file and an approved version of FTOS, the operating system for DellForce10 switches. The switch automatically configures itself by loading andinstalling an embedded FTOS image with the startup configuration file.Web GUI andHTTP ServerProgrammaticManagementBare MetalProvisioningSmartScripting Virtual ServerNetworkingNote: The Open Automation Framework is referred to as Open Automation in the rest of this document.