Deployment for Bare Metal Provisioning, Pt. 2

NetMRI provides Config Templates to support Bare Metal Provisioning for several standard Cisco and Juniper device types.

1. If you plan to create any new config templates for different device models beyond the models built in to the Automation Change Manager release, do so now. Note that the set of variables defined in the config templates are fixed. They are set by the values in the columns in the TAE BMP Device Provisioning list or from the TAE BMP Site Settings list. For more information, see Working with Configuration Templates.

2. In the TAE BMP Switch Model Interface Defs list: If the switch model to be provisioned is already in the table, no information needs to be entered about interface configuration. If you have new model information, add the Vendor Model Key value and interfaces values for the new device types from Juniper or Cisco. Click Save when done.

   Note

   The Vendor Model Key must be named identically to the config template referenced by the system. For example, the Config Template cisco_catalyst295024 matches the corresponding Vendor Model Key field in the list.

   The TAE BMP Switch Model Interface Defs list maps the device model to the ports available on that type of device. The Model column is the name of the device model as reported by the device. The same model name is also used to select the configuration template to be used for the device.

3. In the TAE BMP Site Settings list: this list defines default configurations of switch ports. When you have a standard configuration for (example) Sales Branches, you set that configuration once in this list. Define any new list records you need for new site settings. New table rows may be added for this data set.
Among other settings, ports are assigned to VLANs in this list. Other vital settings include the Site Name, domain name, Syslog and NTP server and the site code. You also use the {} brackets for port ranges in this table. Click Save when done with changes.

4. In the ACM BMP Device Provisioning list: Identify the device(s) to be provisioned, and enter the Factory MAC addresses, site-assigned management IP addresses, mask and gateway information, and the cross-reference to a BMP Site Settings list record (in the Site Settings Name field). If you have a significant number of values to enter, you can import them into the list. Click Save when done.

5. Using a terminal program, open a CLI session on the NetMRI appliance using the admin account, and enter the tftpsync command. The default device config files are copied to the tftpboot directory on the NetMRI appliance.

6. Go to the NIOS appliance and open the Tasks Dashboard.

7. Click the Settings icon for the Bare Metal Provisioning task. The NetMRI instance appears in a new browser tab, displaying the Job History page. You track job execution here or in the NIOS Task Dashboard's Task Viewer. For information, see Viewing the Job History and the Job Viewer.