Dell OS10 Factory Reset: Two Methods and Post-Reset Setup

Dell PowerSwitch SmartFabric OS10 does not carry the single restore factory-defaults stack-unit all clear-all command that OS9 administrators grew used to, which is exactly why resets get botched. There are two supported routes back to a clean switch: a two-command CLI wipe of the startup configuration, and a deeper Linux-kernel reset that also removes the Redis database holding the running state. This guide covers both, what the switch looks like afterwards, and how to get management reachability back before you lose your session.

What factory defaults actually give you

After a successful reset, the switch boots with hostname OS10, username and password admin/admin, SSH enabled and Telnet disabled, spanning tree in RPVST+ mode, only default VLAN 1 present, and the out-of-band management interface (mgmt1/1) set to DHCP. Every VLT domain, port channel, VLAN and local user is gone.

Capture the configuration first

Whatever method you choose, record the state you are about to delete — the VLT domain and management route are the two fields people forget when the switch is re-racked into a new role:

OS10# show running-configuration | no-more
OS10# show running-configuration vlt
OS10# show vlan
OS10# show running-configuration spanning-tree
OS10# show version
OS10# copy config://startup.xml config://backup-2026-10-12.xml

Compare the before and after with show vlan: a production switch shows several active VLANs bound to ports and port channels, a defaulted switch shows only VLAN 1 with no ports.

Method 1: delete startup-configuration and reload

This is the fastest official path and works from SSH, Telnet or console. Be aware that the reload ends a remote session immediately:

OS10# delete startup-configuration
Proceed to delete startup-configuration [confirm yes/no(default)]: yes
OS10# reload
System configuration has been modified. Save? [yes/no]: no
Proceed to reboot the system? [confirm yes/no]: yes

Answering no at the save prompt is essential. Answer yes and the running configuration is written back to startup on the way down, so the switch reboots into exactly the state you were trying to erase.

Method 2: full Linux-kernel wipe

Use this when a startup file is corrupt, the switch will not boot cleanly, or you need certainty that no residual state survives — for example before returning hardware to a vendor. It must be done from the console, because both SSH and the management address disappear with the configuration:

OS10# system bash
admin@OS10:/home/admin$ sudo -i
[sudo] password for admin: <admin password>
root@OS10:~# ls -l /config/etc/opt/dell/os10/db_init/startup.xml
root@OS10:~# ls -l /config/var/lib/redis/dump.rdb
root@OS10:~# rm -f /config/etc/opt/dell/os10/db_init/startup.xml
root@OS10:~# rm -f /config/var/lib/redis/dump.rdb
root@OS10:~# sync
root@OS10:~# reboot -f

Deleting startup.xml removes the startup configuration; deleting dump.rdb clears the Redis-backed running database that OS10 uses for its object model. Verify both paths are empty with ls -l before rebooting. Dell documents this as customer-executed and irreversible — a wrong path inside the bash shell can damage the filesystem.

Verifying the reset

OS10# show running-configuration
OS10# show running-configuration vlt
OS10# show interface port-channel summary
OS10# show vlan
OS10# show running-configuration spanning-tree
OS10# show version

Expect no output from the VLT and port-channel commands, only VLAN 1 in show vlan, and spanning tree reporting rapid-pvst. If any customer configuration is still visible, repeat the file deletion and re-check the startup.xml path.

Restoring management and the default gateway

mgmt1/1 comes back on DHCP. To pin it statically — and to give the switch a route off the management subnet, which is the step most often missed — apply:

OS10# configure terminal
OS10(config)# interface mgmt1/1
OS10(config-if-mgmt1/1)# no ip address dhcp
OS10(config-if-mgmt1/1)# ip address 192.168.1.2/24
OS10(config-if-mgmt1/1)# exit
OS10(config)# management route 0.0.0.0/0 192.168.1.1
OS10(config)# end
OS10# write memory

Then confirm reachability with show ip route management and ping from a host on the management network. Requests to a data-plane VLAN will fail until those VLANs and their routed interfaces are rebuilt.

Choosing between the two methods

• Re-purposing a working switch: delete startup-configuration plus reload. Two commands, and you can re-apply management before rebooting.
• Recovering a locked or half-booted switch: delete startup.xml and dump.rdb from Linux, then reboot to defaults.
• Returning hardware: use the Linux method, then verify with show running-configuration that nothing residual remains.

For the CLI method in more depth see OS10 reset and management gateway configuration and the Linux kernel reset walk-through; to harden the rebuilt switch afterwards, see OS10 storm control configuration.

Troubleshooting a reset that did not take

If the switch reboots back into its previous configuration, work through these in order:

1. The save prompt. Answering yes to "System configuration has been modified. Save?" writes the running configuration back to startup and the reset is a no-op. This is the single most common cause.
2. The delete did not confirm. delete startup-configuration waits for yes; pressing Enter accepts the default (no) and nothing is deleted.
3. A backup startup file exists. On OS10 systems with a configured backup boot configuration, check show boot — if the primary startup file is missing the device may fall back to an alternate image or configuration.
4. Wrong file path from the bash shell. Confirm with ls -l /config/etc/opt/dell/os10/db_init/ that startup.xml is gone, and with ls -l /config/var/lib/redis/ that dump.rdb is gone, before rebooting.

A useful confirmation step is to check that the hostname reverts: an OS10 switch that comes back up still called Core01 was not reset.

Firmware state after a reset

The factory reset removes configuration, not software. show boot after the reboot reports the active and standby images and which one is scheduled for the next boot — a reset switch that has been in service may still carry an old standby image, and the resequenced boot order is worth verifying before the switch is returned to production in a new role. Reconcile the versions first, then rebuild the configuration, so you are validating a known software baseline rather than discovering a stale image during a change window.

原文链接：https://dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000212446/how-to-reset-dell-os10-switch-back-to-factory-default