Automatic Configuration; Typical Application Scenario; How Automatic Configuration Works - HP 3100 v2 Series Configuration Manual

Automatic configuration

Automatic configuration enables a device without any configuration file to automatically obtain and
execute a configuration file during startup. Automatic configuration simplifies network configuration,
facilitates centralized management, and reduces maintenance workload.
To implement automatic configuration, the network administrator saves configuration files on a
server and a device automatically obtains and executes a specific configuration file.

Typical application scenario

Figure 39 Network diagram
As shown in
following servers:
• DHCP server—Assigns an IP address and other configuration parameters such as the
configuration file name, TFTP server IP address, and DNS server IP address to the device.
TFTP server—Saves files needed in automatic configuration. The device gets the files needed
•
from the TFTP server, such as the host name file that saves mappings between host IP
addresses and host names, and the configuration file.
DNS server—Resolves between IP addresses and host names. In some cases, the device
•
resolves its IP address to the corresponding host name through the DNS server, and then uses
the host name to request the configuration file with the same name (hostname.cfg) from the
TFTP server. If the device gets the domain name of the TFTP server from the DHCP response,
the device can also resolve the domain name of the TFTP server to the IP address of the TFTP
server through the DNS server.
If the DHCP server, TFTP server, DNS server, and the device are not in the same network segment,
you need to configure the DHCP relay agent on the gateway, and configure routing protocols to
enable each server and the device to reach one another.

How automatic configuration works

Automatic configuration works in the following manner:
1. During startup, the device sets the first up interface (if up Layer 2 Ethernet ports exist, the VLAN
interface of the default VLAN of the Ethernet ports is selected as the first up interface.) as the
Figure 39, the device implements automatic configuration with the cooperation of the
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