Auto-installation of a DMF image uses well-known services like DHCP, TFTP, NFS, and PXE. DMF images are PXE bootable, and using the services above, perform the auto-installation of images on the DMF appliances.

A high-level procedure for auto-installation is described below.

• Configure a DHCP server to provide a DHCP IP address.

• Enter the next-server IP address (This is the TFTP server IP address specified by Option 66 configuration on the DHCP server).

  next-server <TFTP_SERVER_IP>;
  class "pxeclient" {
  match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
  filename "boot/grub/x86_64-efi/core.efi"; # x86 EFI
  }

• Arista recommends binding a static IP to the hardware MAC address of the DMF appliance. The following is a sample configuration using a Linux-based DHCP service.

  group {
  host <DMF_APPLIANCE_HOSTNAME> {
  hardware ethernet <DMF_APPLIANCE_MAC>;
  fixed-address <DESIRED_IP_ADDRESS>;
  }

• On a DMF HW appliance using PXE boot, enable PXE on the management interface NIC card.

  

• For the initial PAVE action, press the F12 key during the initial boot process to manually trigger the PXE boot. This step is typically not required when reinstalling (REPAVE) the DMF appliance images.

  

• Power cycle the DMF HW appliance.
• The DHCP client on the NIC card sends a DHCP discovery request and gets an IP address and next-server (TFTP server) IP address.
• The management NIC gets the bootloader via PXE boot using a TFTP server. A bootloader config file with a filename based on the MAC address of the appliance is configured and saved on the DHCP server.
• The appliance obtains configuration parameters like the NFS mount, where appliance ISO images are stored.
• The appliance boots from the boot loader and obtains the DMF appliance ISO image from the NFS server.
• The appliance boots the ISO image and starts the installation process without user input.
• On reboot, the appliance again acquires a DHCP-based management IP address, sets up initial default user credentials, and waits for auto first-boot configuration via Ansible.
  Note: For repave, the procedure is the same except that the DMF appliance is already running a DMF image and needs to boot from PXE again for re-installation.

Auto-configuring of first-boot parameters uses Ansible and is accomplished by interacting with auto-firstboot-cloud-plugin, which is available in hardware appliances.

• Begin the initial configuration playbook in Ansible. The following is a sample YAML-based Ansible playbook file.

  - name: Test Autofirstboot Properties Provider
  gather_facts: false
  hosts: Controllers
  connection: "local"
  run_once: true
  tasks:
  - name: Provide Autofirstboot Properties to Cluster
  arista.dmf.provisioner:
  config_json: "<Pave-Repave-config.json>"
  timeout: 3600
  log_dir: "logs"

• The configuration playbook obtains the JSON-based configuration file from the server executing the playbook. The JSON file contains specific sections for each DMF appliance that is being installed/re-installed. The following is an example:

  {
  "<ACTIVE-CONTROLLER-IP>": {
  "initial-admin-password": "<ACTIVE-CONTROLLER-CLEAR-TEXT-PASSWD>",
  "initial-config-password": "pxe_temp_password",
  "dhcp-ip": "10.240.156.82",
  "appliance-type": "BMF",
  "firstboot-properties": {
  "admin-password": "<ACTIVE-CONTROLLER-CLEAR-TEXT-PASSWD>",
  "recovery-password": "<ACTIVE-CONTROLLER-CLEAR-TEXT-RECOVERY-PASSWD>",
  "hostname": "<ACTIVE-CONTROLLER-HOSTNAME>",
  "cluster-name": "<CLUSTER-NAME>",
  "cluster-description": "<CLUSTER-DESCRIPTION>",
  "ip-stack": "ipv4",
  "ntp-servers": ["<CLUSTER-NTP-SERVER-1>","<CLUSTER-NTP-SERVER-2>"],
  "dns-servers": ["<CLUSTER-DNS-SERVER-1>","<CLUSTER-DNS-SERVER-2>"]
  }
  },
  "<STANDBY-CONTROLLER-IP>": {
  "initial-config-password": "pxe_temp_password",
  "dhcp-ip": "<STANDBY-CONTROLLER-DHCP-IP>",
  "appliance-type": "BMF",
  "firstboot-properties": {
  "admin-password": "<STANDBY-CONTROLLER-CLEAR-TEXT-PASSWD>",
  "recovery-password": "<STANDBY-CONTROLLER-CLEAR-TEXT-RECOVERY-PASSWD>",
  "hostname": "<STANDBY-CONTROLLER-HOSTNAME>",
  "cluster-name": "<CLUSTER-NAME>",
  "cluster-to-join": "<ACTIVE-CONTROLLER-IP>",
  "ip-stack": "ipv4"
  }
  },
  "<MANAGED-APPLIANCE-IP>": {
  "initial-config-password": "pxe_temp_password",
  "dhcp-ip": "<STANDBY-CONTROLLER-DHCP-IP>",
  "appliance-type": "BMFSN",
  "firstboot-properties": {
  "admin-password": "<MANAGED-APPLIANCE-CLEAR-TEXT-PASSWD>",
  "recovery-password": "<MANAGED-APPLIANCE-CLEAR-TEXT-RECOVERY-PASSWD>",
  "hostname": "<MANAGED-APPLIANCE-HOSTNAME>",
  "ip-stack": "ipv4",
  "controller_ip": "<ACTIVE-CONTROLLER-IP>",
  "ntp-servers": ["<NTP-SERVER-1>","<NTP-SERVER-2>"],
  "dns-servers": ["<DNS-SERVER-1>","<DNS-SERVER-2>"]
  }

  Note: The ansible script uses the initial-config-password to access the DMF appliance via SSH for the first time.
• Ansible pushes initial configuration data to the appliance via SSH using the default credential configured in the JSON file in the steps above.
• The appliance completes the initial configuration (first-boot).
• The appliance confirms to Ansible that the initial configuration is complete.

ansible-playbook sample_playbook.yml --limit="10.240.156.82,10.240.156.84" -v
[DEPRECATION WARNING]: Ansible will require Python 3.8 or newer on the controller starting
with Ansible 2.12. Current version: 2.7.18 (default, Jul 1 2022, 12:27:04) [GCC 9.4.0].
This feature will be removed from ansible-core in version 2.12. Deprecation warnings can be
disabled by setting deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.
/root/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/arista-dmf-vQFV2Q4_-py2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/
ansible/parsing/vault/__init__.py:44: CryptographyDeprecationWarning: Python 2 is no longer
supported by the Python core team. Support for it is now deprecated in cryptography, and
will be removed in the next release.
from cryptography.exceptions import InvalidSignature
Using /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg as config file
PLAY [Test Autofirstboot Properties Provider]
*************TASK [Provide Autofirstboot Properties to Cluster]
*************Targeting all hosts specified in config [u'10.240.156.84', u'10.240.156.82']
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Waiting for SSH connection.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Waiting for SSH connection.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Established SSH connection.
[WARNING]: It is NOT recommended to disable SSL verification. Please upload a valid SSL
certificate to the https://10.240.156.84:8443 API server.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Established SSH connection.
[WARNING]: It is NOT recommended to disable SSL verification. Please upload a valid SSL
certificate to the https://10.240.156.82:8443 API server.
[WARNING]: [10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Detected BIOS firmware. The BIOS PXE boot trigger has
been found to be unreliable. Upgrade to UEFI is recommended.
[WARNING]: [10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Appliance already configured. Attempting PXE boot to
repave.
[WARNING]: [10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Appliance already configured. Attempting PXE boot to
repave.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Expecting appliance to reboot with IP = 10.240.156.84.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Expecting appliance to reboot with IP = 10.240.156.82.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Verified repave succeeded.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Waiting for active to be configured.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Verified repave succeeded.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Successfully provided config to appliance.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Waiting for appliance to apply config. Expecting final IP = 10.
240.156.82.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Successfully retrieved firstboot logs.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Config applied.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Attempting to reset recovery password.
[10.240.156.82 BMF (active)]: Successfully reset recovery password.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Active configured. Proceeding with configuration.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Successfully provided config to appliance.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Waiting for appliance to apply config. Expecting final IP = 10.
240.156.84.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Successfully retrieved firstboot logs.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Config applied.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Attempting to reset recovery password.
[10.240.156.84 BMF (standby)]: Successfully reset recovery password.
changed: [10.240.156.82] => {"changed": true, "success": true, "summary": {"10.240.156.82": {
"appliance-type": "BMF", "expected-dhcp-ip": "10.240.156.82", "role": "active"}, "10.240.156.
84": {"appliance-type": "BMF", "expected-dhcp-ip": "10.240.156.84", "role": "standby"}}}
PLAY RECAP
******************56.82 : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0