diff --git a/dash-pipeline/dpapp/dpapp.sh b/dash-pipeline/dpapp/dpapp.sh
index 235fa41e2..53e0cb5ce 100755
--- a/dash-pipeline/dpapp/dpapp.sh
+++ b/dash-pipeline/dpapp/dpapp.sh
@@ -5,13 +5,4 @@
 sysctl vm.nr_hugepages=512
 sysctl vm.max_map_count=1548
 
-/usr/bin/vpp -c ${1:-/etc/vpp/startup.conf} &
-sleep 3
-
-# Create a host interface which connects p4 bmv2 simple_switch
-HOST_INTERFACE=${HOST_INTERFACE:-veth5}
-vppctl create host-interface name $HOST_INTERFACE
-vppctl set interface mac address host-$HOST_INTERFACE 02:fe:23:f0:e4:13
-vppctl set interface state host-$HOST_INTERFACE up
-vppctl set interface promiscuous on host-$HOST_INTERFACE
-vppctl
+/usr/bin/vpp -c ${1:-/etc/vpp/startup.conf}
diff --git a/dash-pipeline/dpapp/init.config b/dash-pipeline/dpapp/init.config
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b83e84dd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dash-pipeline/dpapp/init.config
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Create a host interface which connects p4 bmv2 simple_switch
+create host-interface name veth5
+set interface mac address host-veth5 02:fe:23:f0:e4:13
+set interface state host-veth5 up
+set interface promiscuous on host-veth5
diff --git a/dash-pipeline/dpapp/startup.conf b/dash-pipeline/dpapp/startup.conf
index cb9330037..aa8e51dd9 100644
--- a/dash-pipeline/dpapp/startup.conf
+++ b/dash-pipeline/dpapp/startup.conf
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ unix {
   full-coredump
   cli-listen /run/vpp/cli.sock
   gid vpp
+  startup-config /dash/dash-pipeline/dpapp/init.config
 }
 
 api-trace {