Getting Started

The procedures described in this page assume that you have already installed and powered on your switch according to the instructions in the Hardware Installation Guide, which was shipped with the product.

Due to California Senate Bill No. 327,starting from software version 3.8.2000, Admin and Monitor passwords will need to be typed in manually—no automatic passwords will be created by default.

When the reset button is held for 15 seconds, the management module is reset and the password is deleted. You will then be able to enter without a password and make a new password for the user admin.

Any account created with admin privileges can change all passwords of other user accounts, including other user accounts with admin privileges.

To initialize the switch do the following:

Connect the host PC to the console (RJ-45) port of the switch system using the supplied cable. 

The console ports for systems are shown below.

Make sure to connect to the console RJ-45 port of the switch and not to the MGT port.

DHCP is enabled by default over the MGT port. Therefore, if you have configured your DHCP server and connected an RJ-45 cable to the MGT port, simply log in using the designated IP address.

Configure a serial terminal with the settings described below. 

Using NVIDIA cables is manditory.

This step may be skipped if the DHCP option is used and an IP is already configured for the MGT port.

The boot menu is prompted. 

Select “0” to boot with software version installed on partition #1.Select “1” to boot with software version installed on partition #2.

The boot menu features a countdown timer. It is recommended to allow the timer to run out by not selecting any of the options.

Login as admin and use admin as password. If the machine is still initializing, you might not be able to access the CLI until initialization completes. As an indication that initialization is ongoing, a countdown of the number of remaining modules to be configured is displayed in the following format: “ Modules are being configured”.

Go through the Switch Management configuration wizard.

IP configuration by DHCP:

Perform this step to obtain an IP address for the switch. (mgmt0 is the management port of the switch.)- If you wish the DHCP server to assign the IP address, type “yes” and press .

If you type “no” (no DHCP), then you will be asked whether you wish to use the “zeroconf” configuration or not. If you enter “yes” (yes Zeroconf), the session will continue as shown in the "IP zeroconf configuration" table.

If you enter “no” (no Zeroconf), then you need to enter a static IP, and the session will continue as shown in the "Static IP configuration" table.

Perform this step to enable IPv6 on management ports. The default is "yes" (enabled).

If you enter “no” (no IPv6), then you will automatically be referred to Step 5.

Perform this step to enable stateless address autoconfig on external management port. The default is "no" (disabled).

If you wish to enable it, type “yes” and press .

Perform this step to enable/disable password hardening on your machine. If enabled, new passwords will be checked upon configured restrictions. The default is "yes" (enabled).

If you wish to disable it, enter “no”.

To avoid illegal access to the machine, please type a password and then press .

type in the admin password upon initial configuration. Due to Senate Bill No. 327, this stage is required and cannot be skipped.

To avoid illegal access to the machine, please type a password and then press .

type in the admin password upon initial configuration. Due to Senate Bill No. 327, this stage is required and cannot be skipped.

Confirm the password by re-entering it. Note that password characters are not printed.

The wizard displays a summary of your choices and then asks you to confirm the choices or to re-edit them.

Either press to save changes and exit, or enter the configuration step number that you wish to return to.

To run the command “configuration jump-start” you must be in Config mode.

IP configuration by DHCP for modular switch systems:

Perform this step to obtain an IP address for the switch. (mgmt0 is the management port of the switch.)If you wish the DHCP server to assign the IP address, type “yes” and press .

If you type “no” (no DHCP), then you will be asked whether you wish to use the “zeroconf” configuration or not. If you enter “yes” (yes Zeroconf), the session will continue as shown in the IP zeroconf configuration" table.

If you enter “no” (no Zeroconf), then you need to enter a static IP, and the session will continue as shown in the "Static IP configuration" table.

Perform this step to enable IPv6 on management ports.

If you wish to enable IPv6, type “yes” and press .

If you enter “no” (no IPv6), then you will automatically be referred to Step 5.

Perform this step to enable StateLess address autoconfig on external management port.

If you wish to enable it, type “yes” and press .

If you wish to disable it, enter “no”.

To avoid illegal access to the machine, please type a password and then press .

Confirm the password by re-entering it.

Note that password characters are not printed.

Perform this step to configure the box IPv4 netmask.

If you wish to accept the default value, type “yes” and press .

Otherwise, enter the desired box IPv4 netmask

Perform this step to configure the box IPv6.

If you wish to accept the default value, type “yes” and press .

Otherwise, enter the desired box IPv6

Perform this step to configure the box IPv6 masklen.

If you wish to accept the default value, type “yes” and press .

Otherwise, enter the desired box IPv6 masklen.

The wizard displays a summary of your choices and then asks you to confirm the choices or to re-edit them.

Either press to save changes and exit, or enter the configuration step number that you wish to return to.

To run the command “configuration jump-start” you must be in Config mode.

Static IP configuration:

IP zeroconf configuration:

Do you want to use the wizard for initial configuration? y

Step 1: Hostname? [switch-112126]Step 2: Use DHCP on mgmt0 interface? [no]Step 3: Use zeroconf on mgmt0 interface? [no] yesStep 4: Default gateway? [192.168.10.1]Step 5: Primary DNS server?Step 6: Domain name?Step 7: Enable IPv6? [yes] yesStep 8: Enable IPv6 autoconfig (SLAAC) on mgmt0 interface? [no] noStep 9: Update time? [yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss] Step 10: Admin password (Enter to leave unchanged)?

You have entered the following information:

Hostname: switch-112126Use DHCP on mgmt0 interface: noUse zeroconf on mgmt0 interface: yesDefault gateway: 192.168.10.1Primary DNS server:Domain name:Enable IPv6: yesEnable IPv6 autoconfig (SLAAC) on mgmt0 interface: yesUpdate time: yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ssEnable password hardening: yesAdmin password (Enter to leave unchanged): (unchanged)

To change an answer, enter the step number to return to.Otherwise hit to save changes and exit.

Choice:

Configuration changes saved.

To return to the wizard from the CLI, enter the “configuration jump-start”command from configure mode. Launching CLI... [standalone: master] >

IP zeroconf configuration for modular switch systems:

Do you want to use the wizard for initial configuration? y

Check the mgmt0 interface configuration before attempting a remote (for example, SSH) connection to the switch. Specifically, verify the existence of an IP address.

Zero-touch Provisioning (ZTP) automates initial configuration of switch systems at boot time. It helps minimize manual operation and reduce customer initial deployment cost.

For more information, please refer to section “Zero-touch Provisioning”.

To rerun the wizard:

Enter Config mode. Run:

Rerun the wizard. Run:

Start a remote secured shell (SSH) to the switch using the command “ssh -l ”. 

Once the following prompt appears, the system is ready to use. 

To start a WebUI connection to the switch platform, follow the steps below: 

WebUI access is enabled by default. To disable web access, run the command “no web http enable” or “no web https enable” on the CLI.

Set up an Ethernet connection between the switch and a local network machine using a standard RJ-45 connector.

Open a web browser that is Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Safari.

Make sure the screen resolution is set to 1024*768 or higher.

In order to access WebUI through Sarafi 5.3, enable http:

Type the IP address of the switch or its DNS name in the following format: https://.

Log into the switch (default user name is admin, password admin). 

Read and accept the EULA, if prompted. The prompt will only occur if the switch has never been accessed through the CLI before.

The Welcome popup appears. After reading through the content, click OK to continue.To reach the OS documentation, click on the links under the Documentation heading. The link under What’s New takes leads to the Changes and New Features section of the switch OS Release Notes. You may also tick the box to not show this popup again. To see this window again, click “Product Documents” on the upper right corner of the WebUI. 

A default status summary is displayed. 

Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) automates initial configuration of switch systems at boot time. It helps minimize manual operation and reduce customer initial deployment cost. ZTP allows for automatic upgrade of the switch with a specified OS image, setting up initial configuration database, and to load and run a container image file.

The initial configuration is applied using a regular text file. The user can create such a configuration file by editing the output of a “show running-config” command.

Only a textual configuration file is supported.

The user-defined docker image can be used by customers to run their own applications in a sandbox on their platform. They can therefore also be used for automating initial configuration.

Only one docker container can be launched in ZTP.

There is no explicit command to enable ZTP. It is enabled by default. Disabling it is performed by a user-initiated configuration save (using the command “configuration write”). The only way to re-enable ZTP is to run a “reset factory” command, clearing the configuration of the switch and rebooting the system.

ZTP is based on DHCP. For ZTP to work, the software enables DHCP by default on all its management interfaces. The switch OS requests option 66 (tftp-server-name) and 67 (bootfile-name) from the DHCPv4 server or option 58 (bootfile-url) from the DHCPv6 server, and waits for the DHCP responses containing file URLs. The DHCP server must be configured to send back the URLs for the software image, configuration file, and docker container image via these two options. Option 66 would contain the URL prefix to the location of the files, option 67 would contain the name of files, and option 58 would contain the complete URLs of files. The format of these two options is a string list separated by commas. The list items are placed in a fixed order:

The item value can be empty, but the comma shall not be omitted.

To have DHCP server discern the proper files based on switch-specific information, the OS must provide identifying information for the server to classify the switches. In addition, the OS attaches option 43 (vendor-specific information) and option 60 (vendor class identifier) in DHCPv4 requests and option 17 (vendor-opts) in DHCPv6. Option 60 is set as string “Mellanox” and options 17 and 43 contain the following specific sub-options:

The corresponding subtypes respectively are defined as:

Upon receiving such DHCP requests from a client, the server should be able to map the switch-specific information to the target file URLs according to predefined rules.

Once the OS receives the URLs from the DHCP server, it executes ZTP as follows:

Fetch the configuration file

Apply the configuration file

Fetch the docker image file

Load the docker image

Clean up the docker images with the same name and different tag.

Start the container based on the image

Remove the downloaded docker image file

While performing file transfer via HTTP, the same information as DHCP option 43 is expected to be carried in a HTTP GET request. This switch software supports the following proprietary HTTP headers:

If some sort of failure occurs, the switch waits a random number of seconds between 1 and 20 and reattempts the operation. The switch attempts this up to 10 times.ZTP progress is printed to terminals including console and active SSH sessions.

For modular switch systems, the two management nodes start ZTP individually. Status synchronization is then performed between the two nodes:

In ZTP configuration files, commands between # and # pair are only executed on the master.

Node reboot caused by ZTP is also synchronized:

Software upgrade from non-ZTP versions to ZTP versions and vice versa is supported. When upgrading from a non-ZTP version, ZTP is disabled because ZTP is always assumed to start with an empty configuration, otherwise the final configuration becomes a mixture of the existing configuration from the stored database and new configuration from the server and hence not deterministic.

The following is a URL configuration example for ISC DHCPv4 server:

The following is a DHCPv6 configuration example:

DHCPv6 request is made out of the following components:

no zero-touch suppress-write

Disables suppression of configuration write.

3.6.50003.9.2400: Added note

Related Commands

zero-touch abort

Aborts on-going zero-touch process.

Syntax Description

N/A

Default

Enabled

Configuration Mode

config

History

3.6.5000

Example

Zero-touch failed [Zero-touch is aborted by operator]Zero-touch provisioning will be aborted

Related Commands

show zero-touch

Notes

show zero-touch

Displays zero-touch status.

Syntax Description

N/A 

Default

N/A

Configuration Mode

Any command mode

History

3.6.5000

Example

Related Commands

zero-touch abortzero-touch suppress-write

Notes

The software package can be extended with premium features. Installing a license allows you to access the specified premium features

This section is relevant only to switch systems with an internal management capability.

To install a license via CLI:

Login as admin and change to Config mode. 

Install the license using the key. Run: 

Display the installed license(s) using the following command. Run: 

Make sure that the “Valid” and “Active” fields both indicate “yes”.

Save the configuration to complete the license installation. Run: 

If you do not save the installation session, you will lose the license at the next system start up.

To install a license via WebUI:

Click the Setup tab and then Licensing on the left side navigation pane.

Enter your license key(s) in the text box. If you have more than one license, please enter each license in a separate line. Click “Add Licenses” after entering the last license key to install them. 

If you wish to add another license key in the future, you can simply enter it in the text box and click “Add Licenses” to install it.

All installed licenses should now be displayed.

Save the configuration to complete the license installation.

If you do not save the installation session, you will lose the installed licenses at the next system boot.

To obtain the switch’s chassis serial number:

Retrieve the switch’s chassis serial number using the command “show inventory”. 

For more information about getting started with NVIDIA Switches, please refer to the following Community post:

license delete

Removes license keys by ID.

Syntax Description

N/A 

Default

N/A

Configuration Mode

config

History

3.4.1100

Example

license installshow licenses

Notes

Before deleting a license from a switch which is configured to a system profile other than its default, the user must first disable all interfaces and then return the switch to its default system profile.

license install

Installs a new license key.

Syntax Description

N/A 

Default

N/A

Configuration Mode

config

History

3.4.1100

Example

license deleteshow licenses

Notes

show licenses

Displays a list of all installed licenses.

license deletelicense install

For each license, the following is displayed: