The way that a LANCOM device operates is determined by its configuration. The configuration is defined by the user and stored to a special portion of the flash memory that remains intact even when the device is restarted (configuration memory). When shipped, the configuration memory is empty because it does not yet have a user-defined configuration. Once in operation, the configuration memory can be deleted again by carrying out a configuration reset. If a device with an empty configuration memory is restarted or rebooted, the parameter values are taken from a boot configuration containing default values for the respective model.
A configuration is only written to the configuration memory if at least one parameter has been changed. The full configuration is written to the configuration memory. Even if only the device name is changed, current values for all of the parameters available to the device are stored to the user-defined configuration. Values for unchanged parameters are taken from a boot configuration.
LANCOM devices can make use of three different boot configurations:
- LANCOM factory settings: These are the default values for the model as shipped, i.e. the LANCOM standard. The standard boot configuration is contained in the device's firmware.
- Customer-specific standard settings: These are the customer's own standard settings for the model in question. These are used when the configuration memory is empty but the LANCOM default settings should not be used. This function provides LANCOM devices with persistent settings (i.e. remaining available however many times the device is rebooted or reset) that contain customer-specific standard settings for the boot procedure. Customer-specific standard settings are not deleted by a configuration reset. Customer-specific standard settings are stored to the first boot memory space.
- Rollout configuration: This configuration is useful for large-scale rollout scenarios where multiple devices need a boot configuration that differs from the LANCOM default configuration. The rollout configuration is activated by pressing the reset key for a particular length of time. The specialized rollout configuration is stored to the second boot memory space.