EEM Script for backing up configs

Patrick McHenry · ‎11-16-2012

Hi,

I've seen posts where people say you should use the archive command instead of EEM for backing up configs but, I don't see an option for doing this when a config change is made:

Archive configuration commands:
default           Set a command to its defaults
exit                Exit from archive configuration mode
log                 Logging commands
maximum      maximum number of backup copies
no                  Negate a command or set its defaults
path               path for backups
rollback         Rollback parameters
time-period    Period of time in minutes to automatically archive the

running-config

write-memory Enable automatic backup generation during write memory

I want to write an EEM script that will issue a "write mem" everytime a change is made to a device. Is there a way to do this silently so, the person on the console doesn't see the command "write mem" issued and the the tranfer of the SCP file to the SCP server?

I think this would get annoying to see everytime you made a change - especially when you are making changes to switchports.

Thanks, Pat.

Joe Clarke · ‎11-23-2012

No, the config archive feature doesn't support persisting each change when they are made. That could be dangerous. If a bad change is made such that the device reloads (but enough time is given to save the change), then the router may enter a reboot loop.

However, if you're sure you want to do this, then EEM can do it by reacting the SYS-5-CONFIG_I syslog message, or the PARSER-5-CFGLOG_LOGGEDCMD syslog message (generated by the archive feature).

Patrick McHenry · ‎11-24-2012

Joseph,

what I have done is backup the config each time someone does a write mem and also once a day (1440) minutes. This is probably insurance enough that we are saving changes.

I don't quite follow what you mean by "If a bad change is made such that the device reloads (but enough time is given to save the change), then the router may enter a reboot loop."

could you provide an example?

Thanks, Pat.

Joe Clarke · ‎11-24-2012

What you describe is fully doable with config archive. The config change I meant was more of an idea than something specific. If you encounter a bug that could trigger a crash, you may commit the change before the device crashes. Then this could trigger a reload loop.

A more probable example could be a change that locks you out of the device (maybe if the device is remote). If the change is persisted, then a reload wouldn't recover. In that case, you'd have to have someone onsite to fix the problem.