10 | About This Guide
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Audience
This guide assumes you are knowledgeable in Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking technologies, that you 
have an understanding of the SFTOS software base and have read the appropriate specification for the 
relevant switch platform.
This document is primarily for system administrators configuring and operating a system using SFTOS 
software. It is intended to provide an understanding of the configuration options of SFTOS software.
In addition, software engineers who will be integrating SFTOS software into their router or switch 
product can benefit from a description of the configuration options.
How to Use this Guide
This guide is structured so that you can look up not only command syntax, but also how commands are 
related. Related commands are generally grouped together, and, in addition, some command statements 
contain links to descriptions of related commands.
While you can infer a lot about the use of a command from its syntax statement, you are better served 
to see if the SFTOS Configuration Guide uses the command, because you can learn more about the 
context of its use.
Regarding RFCs and MIBs (management information base files) supported in S-Series systems, syntax 
statements in this guide and related instructions in the SFTOS Configuration Guide cite the relevant 
RFCs. Also, an appendix in that guide contains a list of the RFCs and MIBs.
This guide is structured in this sequence:
• New Features on page 3 is a quick way to access new and changed commands. 
• Chapter 2, SFTOS Overview briefly introduce the S-Series hardware and SFTOS software. 
• Chapter 3, Quick Start is an introduction to how to start and configure the S-Series using SFTOS 
software.
• Information on how this guide presents the CLI modes, syntax, conventions, and terminology is in 
Chapter 4, “Using the Command Line Interface,” on page 23. 
• The CLI command syntax statements begin in Chapter 5, System Management Commands. 
Chapters 6 through 11 describe commands that manage the system, while the later chapters 
describe commands specific to particular networking protocols. Beginning with Release 2.3, the 
CLI syntax statements that are new or changed include a Command History table.
Related Documents and Sources of Additional Information
The following documents provide information on using Dell Force10 S-Series switches and 
SFTOS software. All of the documents are available on the Documents tab of iSupport (the 
Dell Force10 support website): http://www.force10networks.com/support:
•SFTOS Command Reference
•SFTOS Configuration Guide
•SFTOS and S-Series Release Notes