restore from backup

[Theo]

Hello,

I am attempting to do a backup and restore on my Extreme stack (2x X440, and 2x X450). How do I save the running config on each switch, and do I have to do that on each individually or can I back them up and restore as a whole stack?

I am familiar with the cisco ios commands below that is performed on each individual switch.

backing up running config:
hostname# copy running config start-up config

restore start-up to running config:
hostname# copy start-up config running config

[Sumit_Tokle]

Config backp:


There are 2 ways we can backup the configuration of the Extreme switch.



1. Using “upload configuration” command.

2. Using “tftp put” command.



Upload configuration:

The command “upload configuration” takes the configuration backup in “.xsf” format. .xsf formatted files are easy to read.



Tftp put:

Before drilling down to “tftp put”, let’s look into the switch and see how the switch saves the configuration file.

Below is the output of “ls”. The configuration files are always stored in switch’s NVRAM which can be viewed using the linux “ls” command.



* X250e-24p.8 # ls

-rw-rw-rw- 1 root 0 100162 Jun 2 primary.cfg

Switch keeps the configuration saved in “.cfg” format. “.cfg” formatted files are XML files which can’t be easily interpreted by us.

The reason why switch keeps the configuration saved as XML file is, XML files take less time to load. For example, if the customer has around 2,000 VLANs, then the command “config vlan test add port 1 tag” may take approximately 1 sec. similarly, to load the entire configuration, it may take hours for the switch to load the configuration. Whereas, the same config, if XML formatted, can be loaded in few seconds.

We have taken the backup using either of the above 2 ways. Now, how to restore the configuration?



The only way to transfer the taken backup files to the switch is using the command “tftp get”. We can tftp the file to the switch’s NVRAM. (You should always use the .cfg extension whenever you use .cfg files.)



If the config is .cfg (taken using “tftp put”) à then tftp the file to the switch’s NVRAM (you can verify using “ls” once the transfer is completed) and then use the command “use config primary” (if you hit “tab” key after typing “use config”, you will see the file name of the newly transferred file in the list). You need to reboot the switch for the new config to take effect. (while rebooting, the switch will ask you to save the config. DONOT HIT YES AT THIS TIME > doing so, will override the newly loaded config file with the currently running config of the switch and you may end up with a blank switch after the reboot .



If the config is .XSF (taken using “upload config”) à tftp the file to the switch’s NVRAM (you can verify using “ls” once the transfer is completed) and then use “load script test.xsf”. If the config has many lines, then you will have to keep your fingers crossed, scanning for any conflict errors (conflict with currently running config) the switch may throw and wait for the process to complete. You don’t need a reboot while doing this.

EXAMPLE:

The following command transfers a saved, not currently used configuration file named XOS1.cfg from the switch to the TFTP server:

tftp put 10.1.2.3 vr “VR-Mgmt” XOS1.cfg

The following command retrieves and transfers the file test.pol from a TFTP server with an IP address of 10.1.2.3 and renames the file august23.pol when transferred to a removable storage device:

tftp get 10.1.2.3 vr “VR-Mgmt” test.pol memory-card august23.pol




In stacking, you have to take the config backup only from master switch.