3.4     Configuration and Backup


Configuration backup of devices are done via a set of commands corresponding to the model of the device. IOS devices, for example, can 

be backed up via the following sequence of commands:


copy  running-config tftp copy startup-config tftp show access-lists

show diag...


What netLD does is to automates these command-line sequences. Since these commands vary among the vendors, maintenance of large

number of devices by hand is quite inefficient, and there are many reinventions of wheels in each developer’s personal shell scripts.

.

To take the backups of all the devices in Inventory, simply click on Device

→ Backup without selecting any device.  If you want to backup certain devices

only, select the devices prior to clicking the button. Alternatively,  you can run the

backup via the right-click  menu which shows up when you select the devices and

right-click the selected entries on the Device View.


 Figure  3.4.1: Via the menu button

blob1477697545642.png 



Once the backup is successfully performed, the information in Device View/Inventory is updated.


 

3.4.1   Status Summary


Status icons in status pane show the status of the last backup performed. Each icon means the following:

 

Status

Description

Available Action in Status 

Summary

 blob1477697560935.png

Successes w/ Changes

The backup  was successful and

 

 

more than one change was found

 

 

in the configuration.

 blob1477697569847.png

Success w/o Changes

The backup  was successful but

 

 

there is no change in the config-

 

 

uration from the last backup.

 blob1477697576304.png

Invalid Credentials

The  icon indicates that  the

 

 

backup was inhibited during the

 

 

authentication, which means the

 

 

registered credential  set was in-

 

 

correct. If you click on the row,

 

 

the error log shows up in the bot-

 

 

tom. If you double-click on the

 

 

icon then the Credentials dialog

 

 

shows up, which is identical to

 

 

what you find in Inventory  →

Credentials, and you can check

 

 

the current  credential  informa-

 

 

tion.

 blob1477697582191.png

Failures

The icon indicates that netLD

 

 

has failed to backup the config-

 

 

uration due to the other causes.

 

 

If you click on the row, the er-

 

 

ror log shows up in the bottom.

 

 

See Section 10-4 Status after Per-

 

 

forming Backup for clearing each

 

 

error.

3.4.2   Status after Performing Backup


Status icons in the leftmost column in the device list show the backup status. You can see the detail by double-clicking  on the icon.


Status Description

Reason

 blob1477697776901.png    Backed Up

 

blob1477697790033.png     Configuration Mismatch

 

 

blob1477697806464.png     Invalid Credential

 

 

 

 

 

 

        


           Backup Failed

The configuration is backed up 

success- fully.

The         running-config           and

startup-config were  different. (Sec.

3.4.6)


The credential set for the device was

in- correct.  If you double-click on the 

icon, Backup Error Detail dialog shows 

up. Review credential settings in 

Inventory

→ Credentials menu for the device.

blob1477697854457.png   Unavailable Protocol

 

 

 

 

 

blob1477697897760.png  Unexpected response

 

 

 

 

   

 

blob1477697923123.png      Device Memory Error

 

 

 

Compliance



netLD  could not access devices with 

  certain protocols. Review the 

  configuration or check the hardware, 

  and also the Ethernet connection.


The unintended  answers are  returned from the 

device. If you still have any 

  troubles  accessing the devices  even 

  after checking Credentials  and 

  Protocols, please contact to 

  our support.

.


The startup-config is missing on the 

  device

blob1477697943456.png     Compliance Warning

 

 

 

 

blob1477697953251.png    Compliance Error

The configuration contains a violation 

of compliance, which signaled a 

severity level Warning. Details  are

described in the later sections. (see 

Sec. 3.10)


The configuration contains a violation 

of compliance, which signaled a 

severity level Error.


 

 

 3.4.3   Restoring the Configuration


netLD allows you to restore the past configuration of a device. double-clicking on a device in Inventory shows its backup history in the status pane. Select a configuration to restore and click on Restore the configuration buttonblob1477698047662.png .

 

 

blob1477698042683.png


Once you click on the OK button in the confirmation dialog, it starts restoring the configuration.


 

blob1477698056532.png

At this point, internally, netLD  issues copy  tftp  startup-config command to copy the selected configuration to the device’s startup-config. After reloading the device, restored configuration is applied. See Also:  Sec. 2.3.2                                                                                                 

 


3.4.4   Device Property


Details of device hardware information and configuration backup are available by double-clicking on the device row. Information included in device property contains information that netLD has collected from the device in the backup and neighbor information. Latest information can be obtained explicitly, by performing the backup or correcting the neighbor information.


Uploading a configuration again relies on the protocol settings.Therefore you must specify the correct protocol to upload the configuration prior to the restoration.

   (SeeSec. 2.3.2 (Protocols) for details.) For example, you need to enable TFTP in Inventory → Protocols  menu for Cisco IOS configuration.

However, if you did not change the protocol from the default settings you do not have to care much about that because all protocols are enabled in the default Protocol settings.

 

 

Figure  3.4.2: Via the right click

blob1477698120253.png


Figure  3.4.3: Opening  a device property in the status pane.


blob1477698132913.png


General Tab

General tab displays the configurations or specifications of the devices. Note that information shown in this tab is based on the last backup netLD performed.


blob1477698151221.png

 

 

Compliance Tab


Compliance tab shows the violation contents if the device has violation against enabled policy. For more details, please refer to the compliance section Sec. 3.10, p. 116.

 

 

blob1477698156617.png


Hardware Tab


Hardware tab shows the hardware information of the device based on the last backup information.

 

blob1477698164658.png


Interfaces Tab


Interfaces tab shows the interface status of the devices based on the last backup information.


blob1477698175472.png


 

ARP/MAC/VLAN Tab


ARP/MAC/VLAN tab shows ARP table, MAC table and VLAN member ports information of the device. Note that information shown in this tab is based on 

the last collect neighbor job netLD performed.


Before collecting the neighbor information, nothing is shown in left sub pane. Click on the Run Neighbor Collection Now to run the neighbor search.


blob1477698188752.png

 

And the result information is shown here.

 

 

blob1477698193562.png


 

3.4.5   Comparing the configurations


There are two style of comparison available: comparison among devices or along the history (the timeline). If you compare the configurations of two devices 

(in the different or the same timestamp),  then you should initially select two devices. Otherwise, you compare the configurations of single device at the

different timestamps and you should select one device in this case.


While selecting the device/s to compare, click on the Device → Compare con- figurations or in the right-click menu.

Access this feature via the tools menu.

 

 

blob1477698207567.png


Alternatively, access the feature using the right-click  menu.


blob1477698226510.png


Select the configurations to compare and click on the Compare Configuration button. When you compare the historical configurations, check on Show Historical Configurations and the old configurations would appear in the list.


blob1477698231370.png


More conveniently, we can also compare the configurations on the Device Information. Select two of them in the list and click on the upper-left icon. 

Currently  we do not provides right-clicks on the device information.


blob1477698248375.png

The configuration diffis displayed in colors; red = removed, yellow = modified, and green = added.


blob1477698251882.png


3.4.6    Checking the Mismatch in startup-config and running- config


Configuration Mismatch is signaled when you have a device that has two configurations called running-config and startup-config, and the two configurations

differ to each other. startup-config is a configuration that is used when a device is rebooted, and it is supposed to be used in the regular operations, while 

the running-config is a temporary configuration.  If someone made changes to the startup-config but forgot to restart the device, it is highly likely that your 

net- work is handled incorrectly.  Also, If someone made changes to the running-config though they think the changes should be permanent, then the 

changes will be reset upon startup, and again the network is configured incorrectly.


If the device status indicates the configuration mismatch, double-click on the icon to display configuration comparison in the status pane. Click 

on the buttons at the upper right corner of the screen to overwrite the startup configuration with the running configuration, to revert the running 

configuration to the startup configuration, or revert the running configuration to the startup configuration using the change adviser.

Figure  3.4.4: Comparison  pane of a startup-config and running-config.


blob1477698278918.png

This feature is not available for all devices because some devices do not have running-config and startup-config.  netLD does not show this icon for some devices even if there is a compliance violation.