Before we start installing and configuring our SONiC switch, we will look at the different ways to get access to the switch.

Let’s start with the physical connections that are available on each open network switch so we can talk to it. These switches usually have a console port for serial connections and a management port for an Ethernet connection. Most of the time, both of them are RJ45 sockets, although some switches may have different connectors, for example, a micro USB port for the console connection.

The console port is something you will always need, at least as a backdoor connection, so be careful not to mess with it. Usually, it is set up for a speed of 115,200 baud, but of course this could be changed in the BIOS of the switch. To establish a connection to this console port, you would typically use a serial-to-USB cable that you could plug into your laptop or a similar device. Use a terminal program like PuTTY to interact with your switch.

The management port is a normal Ethernet port, and as such, you can reach the switch on this port through your local network. It is set up for auto-negotiation, so it can connect at any speed from 10 megabits to 1 gigabit. Some switches even have 10 gigabit management ports. A new switch will try to obtain an IP address on this port with DHCP, so you will have to check your DHCP server to find the address the switch has received. Alternatively, you could peek in on the console port and check the IP address there. On the next slide, we will learn exactly how we can access the switch via the management port after we have found out its IP address.

If you have connected and powered up a new white box switch for the first time, it will boot ONIE, the Open Network Install Environment. We will learn more about ONIE in the next lesson. The switch will also boot into ONIE if you have uninstalled a previously installed OS.

A switch that has booted into ONIE can be reached either via Telnet or SSH. Of course, a serial console connection will also work. A username or password is not required to log in. If you use SSH, you should specify root as the username when connecting. A password will still not be required.

Once you have installed SONiC, you can reach the switch via SSH or your serial console connection. Telnet will not work with SONiC. The default user is admin and the password is “YourPaSsWoRd”, in this creative capitalization as shown on the slide. This applies to both console and SSH connections. In some versions of SONiC, this password is set to expired after installation, and you will have to change it at your first login.