Extreme Networks Feature Brief
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Extreme Networks, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Specifications are subject to change without notice. 1727_02 12/10
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Corporate
and North America
Extreme Networks, Inc.
3585 Monroe Street
Santa Clara, CA 95051 USA
Phone +1 408 579 2800
Europe, Middle East, Africa
and South America
Phone +31 30 800 5100
Asia Pacific
Phone +65 6836 5437
Japan
Phone +81 3 5842 4011
The Benefits
The ability to drop-ship ExtremeXOS-based switches
into customer premises
Helps eliminate operating expenditures (OPEX) and costs involved in staging and any initial
commissioning or provisioning.
Customers can choose to enable auto-provisioning
in central equipment handling locations before
switches are shipped to the appropriate branches
for deployment
Allows for minimal or no IT/network personnel in branch locations to deploy the switches.
Standards-based classification using Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP) helps administrators
craft flexible and easy-to-manage configurations
Reduces costs incurred for customization of configuration, with the ability to classify switches
according to function, hardware type, or location.
The Technology
Regardless of the procurement and deployment procedure
adopted by customers, Extreme Networks Auto Configuration
may help customers reduce, and in many cases, eliminate both
direct and indirect costs which are normally incurred during
the initial staging and commissioning process.
Extreme Networks Auto Configuration feature provides a
simple method to enable or disable the automatic configuration
of ExtremeXOS-based switches, as well as the ability to
drop-ship Extreme Networks switches into customer premises
with the feature enabled in advance either by channel partners,
System Integrators (SIs), or Value-Added Resellers (VARs).
Standards-based solutions make the most effective use of
protocols such as DHCP, and Trivial File Transfer Protocol
(TFTP). DHCP is used for dynamic configuration of network
parameters, and TFTP is used for the configuration download.
The Extreme Networks Auto Configuration feature also enables
configuration file downloads in the standard ExtremeXOS
configuration format (.cfg), as well as script files (.xsf).
Extreme Networks Auto Configuration works with existing
DHCP and TFTP infrastructure in the network, with minimal
customization, and has the ability to create the classification of
switches based on hardware/platform type. This classification is
done outside of the ExtremeXOS realm, giving customers
greater deployment flexibility.
5503-01
DHCP DISCOVER
[Options 1, 3, 43, 60]
DHCP OFFER
DHCP REQUEST
[Options 1, 3, 43, 60]
TFTP GET
[Download configuration file via TFTP]
END OF TFTP TRANSACTION
• Store configuration file or configuration script
• Configure ExtremeXOS to use downloaded config file, OR
execute configuration script and save
DHCP ACK
[TFTP Server IP Address,
Configuration Filename, SNMP
Trap Receiver IP Address]
Branch Office
REBOOT
ExtremeXOS
®
Switch
TFTP Server
DHCP Server
CONSOLE
CONSOLE
MGMT =
MGMT =
FAN =
FAN =
PSU-I =
PSU-I =
PSU-E =
PSU-E =
STACK NO
Stack
Ports
Stack
Ports
St-1
St-1
St-2
St-2
11
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44
55
66
77
88
99
10
10
11
11
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24
Headquarters
Figure 1: Example of Deployment Automation Using DHCP
