30-2 
name of the TFTP server from a DHCP response, the device can also resolve the domain name of 
the TFTP server to the IP address of the TFTP server through the DNS server. 
If the DHCP server, TFTP server, DNS server, and the device that performs automatic configuration 
are not in the same segment, you need to configure DHCP relay on a device working as a gateway. 
How Automatic Configuration Works 
Basically, automatic configuration works in the following ways: 
1)  When a device starts up without loading any configuration file, the system sets the first active 
interface (if an active Layer 2 Ethernet interface exists, this first interface is a virtual interface 
corresponding with the default VLAN) as the DHCP client to request from the DHCP server for 
parameters, such as an IP address and name of a TFTP server, IP address of a DNS server, and 
the configuration file name. 
2)  After getting related parameters, the device will send a TFTP request to obtain the configuration 
file from the specified TFTP server for system initialization. If the client cannot get such 
parameters, it performs system initialization without loading any configuration file. 
 
 
z  To implement auto-configuration, you need to configure some parameters on the DHCP server, 
DNS server and TFTP server, but you do not need to perform any configuration on the device that 
starts up without loading any configuration file. The configuration mode depends on the device 
model; it is omitted here. 
z  If you need to use the automatic configuration function, you are recommended to connect only the 
interfaces needed in automatic configuration to the network. 
 
Work Flow of Automatic Configuration 
The work flow of automatic configuration is as shown in Figure 30-2.