The Cisco Networking Services Zero Touch feature provides a zero touch deployment solution where the device contacts a Cisco
Networking Services configuration engine to retrieve its full configuration automatically. This capability is made possible
through a single generic bootstrap configuration file common across all service provider end customers subscribing to the
services. Within the Cisco Networking Services framework, customers can create this generic bootstrap configuration without
device-specific or network-specific information such as interface type, line type, or controller type (if applicable).
The Cisco Networking Services connect functionality is configured with a set of Cisco Networking Services connect templates.
A Cisco Networking Services connect profile is created for connecting to the Cisco Networking Services configuration engine
and to implement the Cisco Networking Services connect templates on a Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) device. Cisco Networking
Services connect variables can be used as placeholders within a Cisco Networking Services connect template configuration.
These variables, such as the active DLCI, are substituted with real values before the Cisco Networking Services connect templates
are sent to the device’s parser.
To use the zero touch functionality, the device that is to be initialized must have a generic bootstrap configuration. This
configuration includes Cisco Networking Services connect templates, Cisco Networking Services connect profiles, and the
cns
config
initial command. This command initiates the Cisco Networking Services connect function.
The Cisco Networking Services connect functionality performs multiple ping iterations through the device’s interfaces and
lines, as well as any available controllers. For each iteration, the Cisco Networking Services connect function attempts to
ping the Cisco Networking Services configuration engine. If the ping is successful, the pertinent configuration information
can be downloaded from the Cisco Networking Services configuration engine. If connectivity to the Cisco Networking Services
configuration engine is unsuccessful, the Cisco Networking Services connect function removes the configuration applied to
the selected interface, and the Cisco Networking Services connect process restarts with the next available interface specified
by the Cisco Networking Services connect profile.
The Cisco Networking Services Zero Touch feature provides the following benefits: