Before You Begin

To configure a network for device autoinstallation, complete the following tasks:

• Configure a DHCP server on your network to meet your network requirements.

  You can configure a device to operate as a DHCP server. For more information, see Configuring the Device for DHCP.

• Create one of the following configuration files, and store it on a TFTP server in the network:
  • A host-specific file with the name hostname.conf for each device undergoing autoinstallation. Replace hostname with the name of a device. The hostname.conf file typically contains all the configuration information necessary for the device with this hostname.
  • A default configuration file named router.conf with the minimum configuration necessary to enable you to telnet into the new device for further configuration.
• Physically attach the device to the network using one or more of the following interface types:
  • Fast Ethernet
  • Gigabit Ethernet
  • Serial with HDLC encapsulation
• If you configure the DHCP server to provide only the TFTP server hostname, add an IP address-to-hostname mapping entry for the TFTP server to the DNS database file on the DNS server in the network.
• If the new device is not on the same network segment as the DHCP server (or other device providing IP address resolution), configure an existing device as an intermediate to receive TFTP and DNS requests and forward them to the TFTP server and the DNS server. You must configure the LAN or serial interface on the intermediate device with the IP addresses of the hosts providing TFTP and DNS service. Connect this interface to the new device.
• If you are using hostname.conf files for autoinstallation of host-specific configuration files, you must also complete the following tasks:
  • Configure the DHCP server to provide a hostname.conf filename to each new device. Each device uses its hostname.conf filename to request a configuration file from the TFTP server. Copy the necessary hostname.conf configuration files to the TFTP server.
  • Create a default configuration file named network.conf, and copy it to the TFTP server. This file contains IP address-to-hostname mapping entries. If the DHCP server does not send a hostname.conf filename to a new device, the device uses network.conf to resolve its hostname based on its IP address.

    Alternatively, you can add the IP address-to-hostname mapping entry for the new device to a DNS database file.

    The device uses the hostname to request a hostname.conf file from the TFTP server.