Chabot College

ELEC 99.08
autoinstall and SLARP

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 Autoinstall
• Scenario: We plug in and connect a brand-
new router. Wouldn’t it be great if it could
load its configuration file automatically?
• What would the router need to load its config
file over the network from a server that holds
that file?

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 Autoinstall
• Automated process that attempts to find a
router configuation file
• Autoinstall starts automatically if
– A serial interface on a new cisco router with no
config is connected via an HDLC-encapusulated
serial link to another Cisco router.
– the other router is “up”
– the router is running an IOS release of 12.0.4 or
older.

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 Autoinstall
• Step 1 - autoinstall obtains an IP address for the connected serial
interface using SLARP - Serial Line Address Resolution Protocol:

new router existing router

“Give me HDLC
192.168.0.2 192.168.0.1
an IP address”

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 SLARP

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 SLARP
• Interface summary during setup dialog shows results of SLARPing:

First, would you like to see the current interface summary? [yes]:

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol

Ethernet0 unassigned YES unset administratively down down

Serial0 3.0.0.1 YES SLARP up up

Serial1 unassigned YES unset administratively down down

Address resolved via SLARP

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 SLARP
• Interface summary during setup dialog shows results of SLARPing:

First, would you like to see the current interface summary? [yes]:

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol

Ethernet0 unassigned YES unset administratively down down

Serial0 3.0.0.1 YES SLARP up up

Serial1 unassigned YES unset administratively down down

Other interfaces shut down

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 SLARP
• E0 and S1 have been shutdown.
• In order to bring these interfaces back up, the administrator must manually remove the
shutdown command.

First, would you like to see the current interface summary? [yes]:

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol

Ethernet0 unassigned YES unset administratively down down

Serial0 3.0.0.1 YES SLARP up up

Serial1 unassigned YES unset administratively down down

Other interfaces shut down

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 SLARP
• SLARP message during boot of router with no config:

Notice: NVRAM invalid, possibly due to write erase.

SLARP: interface Serial0 resolved. This interface

has been automatically resolved thru the SLARP
process. The router will now attempt to retrieve
its name and configuration file.

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 Autoinstall
• Step 2 - autoinstall writes this line to the default config on the
new router:

version 12.0
service timestamps debug uptime
service timestamps log uptime
no service password-encryption
service config
!
hostname Router
!

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 Autoinstall
• Step 3 - “service config” begins a series of broadcasts to request
that a tftp server load a configuration file to the new router:

new router existing router

HDLC
192.168.0.2 192.168.0.1
“Is there a tftp
server that can send
me a config file?”

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 Autoinstall
• When no tftp server answers these broadcasts, delays and error
messages result:

%Error opening tftp://255.255.255.255/network-confg

(timeout)
%Error opening tftp://255.255.255.255/cisconet.cfg
(timeout)
%Error opening tftp://255.255.255.255/router-confg
(timeout)
%Error opening tftp://255.255.255.255/ciscortr.cfg
(timeout)

• Above, a router that has “SLARPed” is looking on the

network for a generic configuration file.
Use CTRL-SHIFT-6 and then X to stop this process.
CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY
 Disabling Autoinstall
• If your router continues to waste resources
looking for a configuration file on the network,
you can disable the autoinstall function with
this command in config mode:
version 12.0
service timestamps debug uptime
service timestamps log uptime
no service password-encryption
no service config
!
hostname Router
!

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 To prevent autoinstall from
running...
• Don’t connect a V.35 cable to S0 until you’ve
configured the router, or
• Turn off the router on the other end of the serial link.
• We don’t face this issue in our lab...

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY

 In Our Lab...
• In IOS version 12.0(10), autoinstall does not start automatically when your
serial lines are connected.
• The IOS does not add the service config command to the default
configuration, and does not begin the search for a tftp server. -That’s good!
• However the IOS does SLARP and obtain an IP address for one of your
serial ports. - That’s not a problem, if you remember it!

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY