Using Zero Touch Provisioning

The router provides you the option of having the router auto configure. Field technicians need only mount
the router, connect to the power and attach cables in easily-accessible ports, and initiate zero touch provisioning.
This feature helps operators to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by simplifying the network deployment.

Note ZTP is supported only on the RSP3 module on the NCS 4206-16 Series routers.
ZTP is supported on the NCS 4201-4202 routers.

Note Routers running ZTP must be able to connect to a DHCP server and a TFTP server, download the configuration
template, and begin operation.

Note ZTP must be initiated only from the R0 that has the active RSP module in a dual RSP scenario.

• Prerequisites for Using ZTP, on page 1

• Restrictions for Using ZTP, on page 2
• Information About Using ZTP, on page 2
• Downloading the Initial Configuration, on page 4
• ZTP LED Behavior, on page 5
• Verifying the ZTP Configuration, on page 5

Prerequisites for Using ZTP

• The connection between the DHCP server or relay and TFTP server and router must be established.
• The TFTP server must have the required network configuration file stored and should be accessible to
the router.

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Restrictions for Using ZTP

Restrictions for Using ZTP

• ZTP is not supported on the LAN Management port—Gig0 on the router. ZTP is supported only on the
Ethernet interfaces such as 1—Gige, 10—Gige ports, and so on.
• ZTP is also not initialized when the router is already reloading or if the router is in ROMMON prompt.
• After the ZTP process completes, you must save the configs using write memory and then reload the
router.
• ZTP is not initialized if bootflash has files named as 'router-confg'.
• Disabling gratuitous ARP is not supported.

Information About Using ZTP

Figure 1: Sample ZTP Topology

ZTP is triggered under any of the following conditions:

• A router without a start up configuration is powered on
• The write erase and reload commands are executed
• The test platform hardware pp active ztp init command is executed

The router does not have a ZTP or Reset button.

Router# write erase

System configuration has been modified. Save? [yes/no]: no
Router# reload

Note If you type yes at the prompt, the system configuration is saved in the nvRAM and the ZTP process terminates.

After the ZTP process initializes, the following sequence is initiated:

1. The router waits for any of the following packet types through data ports to detect the management VLAN:
• Broadcast (Gratuitous ARP)
• ISIS hello packets

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Example ZTP Configuration

• OSPF hello packets

• IPv6 router advertisement packets
• VRRP

Note The operations center can initiate any of the above packets over the network to establish a
connection to the DHCP server.

2. When the first packet on any VLAN is detected, the router initiates a DHCP session to a DHCP server
over that VLAN.
3. After a DHCP session is established, the router uses the DHCP option 150 and initiates to download a
configuration file from the TFTP server. The configuration file in the TFTP server should have anyone
of the following naming format:
a. PID-chassis-mac-address
The PID specifies NCS and chassis-mac-address specifies the unique chassis MAC address printed
on the chassis. For example, if the chassis mac-address is 00-01-02-03-04-06, then the config file
would be NCS-00-01-02-03-04-05.
b. network-confg
c. router-confg
d. ciscortr.cfg
e. cisconet.cfg

When the ZTP process initiates, the router creates an Ethernet flow point (EFP) and associates a bridge domain
interface (BDI) on the detected management VLAN.
The router creates the following configuration to establish a connection with the DHCP server and the TFTP
server. The BDI created for this purpose has description ZTP_BDI configured under the BDI interface.

Note Once the configuration file is downloaded successfully, you must save the configuration file (write memory)
and reload the router.

Caution You may choose to remove the ZTP_BDI configuration before reloading the router.

Example ZTP Configuration

Let us assume that GigabitEthernet0/0/1 is connected to the DHCP server and is used to connect to the TFTP
server. VLAN ID 1000 is used as the management VLAN.

Router# show running-config int gi0/0/1

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Downloading the Initial Configuration

Building configuration...
Current configuration : 216 bytes
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/0/1
no ip address
media-type auto-select
no negotiation auto
service instance 12 ethernet
encapsulation dot1q 1000
rewrite ingress tag pop 1 symmetric
bridge-domain 12
!
end
!
interface BDI12
description ZTP_BDI
ip address dhcp
end

Downloading the Initial Configuration

After the VLAN discovery process is complete, the configuration download process begins. The following
sequence of events is initiated.
1. The router sends DHCP discover requests on each Ethernet interface. The serial number of the router is
used as a client identifier.
2. The DHCP server allocates and sends an IP address, TFTP address (if configured with option 150) and
default router address to the router.
3. If the TFTP option (150) is present, the router requests a bootstrap configuration that can be stored in any
of the following files: , network-confg, router-confg, ciscortr.cfg, or cisconet.cfg.

Note Ensure to use hyphenated hexadecimal notation of MAC address (DOM-78-72-5D-00-A5-80) to

name the files.

Effective Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.3.2a, the router tries to learn the reachability to multiple DHCP servers
during ZTP. Hence multiple DHCP discovery messages are sent out during this phase. The router goes through
all the DHCP offer messages received and selects an appropriate DHCP server based on the priority decided
based on below rules:
1. The DHCP server reachable via untagged interface have higher priority than the one via tagged. In case
of tagged, the one reachable via an interface learned using VRRP packets has higher priority.
2. If multiple DHCP servers are reachable via similar interfaces mentioned in previous rule, the one reachable
via higher physical port number has higher priority.

DHCP Server
The following is a sample configuration to set up a Cisco router as a DHCP server:

ip dhcp excluded-address 30.30.1.6

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TFTP Server

ip dhcp excluded-address 30.30.1.20 30.30.1.255

!
ip dhcp pool mwrdhcp
network 30.30.1.0 255.255.255.0
option 150 ip 30.30.1.6
default-router 30.30.1.6

This configuration creates a DHCP pool of 30.30.1.x addresses with 30.30.1.0 as the subnet start. The IP
address of the DHCP server is 30.30.1.6. Option 150 specifies the TFTP server address. In this case, the DHCP
and TFTP server are the same.
The DHCP pool can allocate from 30.30.1.1 to 30.30.1.19 with the exception of 30.30.1.6, which is the DHCP
server itself.

TFTP Server
The TFTP server stores the bootstrap configuration file.
The following is a sample configuration (network– confg file):

hostname test-router
!
{ncs router-specifc configuration content}
!
end

ZTP LED Behavior

Process PWR LED STAT LED

Press ZTP button Green Blinking

Amber

Loading image Blinking Green/Red OFF

Image loaded Green Green

ZTP process running Green Blinking

Amber

ZTP process success and config-file download completes Green Green

ZTP process failure or terminated Green Red

Verifying the ZTP Configuration

To verify if the ZTP configuration is successful, use the following command:
• show running-config

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Verifying the ZTP Configuration

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