I am trying to set up a Z9100-ON as a normal Layer-3 plug and play switch. I want to plug Direct-Attach-Cables or Optics into it, run them to Mellanox 100 GBE cards and let them just work.

But the problem I face is that the default DellEMC OS sets the switch up as a Layer 2 (MAC Address-routing) switch, and the documentation is mind-boggling obtuse and scattered across dozens of documents. They really couldn’t have done a better job of making this switch super difficult to configure if they had tried — and it really looks like they tried very hard.

What documentation I have browsed has said that after I do the no shutdown and switchport commands on each port (one by one, painfully), assigning an IP address to each port (again, one by one) will give it Layer 3 properties.

But.. why should a port on the switch have an IP address? And what network should it have this IP address in? The documentation says very little at its best. It is as reluctant to actually give any helpful advice as possible.

So here I am, hoping someone can either give me some solid advice in this direction or point me to a guide that will take me there, step by step. 🙏