The Cisco MDS NX-OS Setup Utility is an interactive command-line interface (CLI) mode that guides you through a basic (also called a startup) configuration of the system. The setup utility allows you to configure only enough connectivity for system management. The setup utility allows you to build an initial configuration file using the System Configuration dialog. The setup starts automatically when a device has no configuration file in NVRAM. The dialog guides you through initial configuration. After the file is created, you can use the CLI to perform additional configuration.

You can press Ctrl+C at any prompt to skip the remaining configuration options and proceed with what you have configured up to that point, except for the administrator password. If you want to skip answers to any questions, press Enter. If a default answer is not available (for example, the device host name), the device uses what was previously configured and skips to the next question. Figure 11-1 shows how to enter and exit the setup script.

You use the setup utility mainly for configuring the system initially, when no configuration is present. However, you can use the setup utility at any time for basic device configuration. The setup utility keeps the configured values when you skip steps in the script. For example, if you have already configured the mgmt0 interface, the setup utility does not change that configuration if you skip that step. However, if there is a default value for the step, the setup utility changes to the configuration using that default, not the configured value. Be sure to carefully check the configuration changes before you save the configuration.

Figure 11-1 Setup Script Flow

Before starting the setup utility, make sure you perform the following steps:

Step 1. Connect the console port on the supervisor module to the network. If you have dual supervisor modules, connect the console ports on both supervisor modules to the network.

Step 2. Connect the Ethernet management (mgmt) port on the supervisor module to the network. If you have dual supervisor modules, connect the Ethernet management ports on both supervisor modules to the network.

The first time that you access a switch in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family, it runs a setup program that prompts you for the IP address and other configuration information necessary for the switch to communicate over the supervisor module Ethernet interface (mgmt). This information is required to configure and manage the switch. The IP address can only be configured from the CLI. You can configure out-of-band management on the mgmt0 interface.

The in-band management logical interface is VSAN 1. This management interface uses the Fibre Channel infrastructure to transport IP traffic. An interface for VSAN 1 is created on every switch in the fabric. Each switch should have its VSAN 1 interface configured with either an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address in the same subnetwork. A default route that points to the switch providing access to the IP network should be configured on every switch in the Fibre Channel fabric.