7.1 How ZTP Works End to End¶

Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) automates device onboarding without manual console configuration.

ZTP Flow¶

1. Device powers on with factory default
2. DHCP assigns IP + option 67 (bootstrap server)
3. Device downloads Python/script from TFTP
4. Script configures management IP, DNS, NTP
5. Device registers with the controller (vBond/vManage)
6. Controller pushes day-0 configuration
7. Device joins fabric/SD-WAN overlay

DHCP Configuration¶

option 67 = "http://10.252.100.10/ztp/bootstrap.py"

Bootstrap Script¶

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import cli

# Configure management interface
cli.configurep(["interface GigabitEthernet0/0",
                "ip address dhcp",
                "no shutdown"])

# Set DNS/NTP
cli.configurep(["ip name-server 10.252.100.1",
                "ntp server 10.252.100.2"])

ZTP vs. PnP

This page describes IOS-XE script-based ZTP (DHCP option 67 → download and run a Python script). Catalyst 9k switches onboard via Cisco Network PnP instead (DHCP option 43 → Catalyst Center), and cEdge routers register with vBond/vManage. See 7.3 ZTP Flow Per Device Type for the per-platform method.

Related Sections: - 7.2 Pre-Staging Requirements - 7.4 Simulating ZTP in CML