Zero-Touch device provisioning is commonly associated with compute devices, but network devices have had this capability for years. However, this capability has been fairly limited until now. Cisco’s Power on Auto Provisioning (POAP) was designed to provide advanced Day-0 provisioning capabilities using an extensible framework.

POAP includes the ability to execute Python scripts as part of its workflow - this offers an unparalleled level of flexibility. Today, POAP can download and install additional management agents and apply specific configurations based on information such as location in a network topology.

A similar approach is achieved by using PXE – Preboot Execution Environment, which uses a process well known in compute environments. PXE has extended its presence into the network as infrastructure devices are increasingly managed more like servers. NX-OS uses iPXE which leverages an open source network firmware based on gPXE/Etherboot. With PXE, we can leverage existing skillsets and infrastructures developed for compute environments to simplify initial device start-up.

Open source tools like Ignite can also make it easier to automate the Day-0 provisioning.