ArubaOS-CX – Managing Configuration with Checkpoints
The new ArubaOS-CX has some interesting features. Configuration checkpoints is one of them.
What is a checkpoint
A checkpoint is a snapshot of the current configuration. Checkpoints are stored in database format instead of text files. Because of that, they contain a state of the configuration. You can read a checkpoint as a text file or in JSON notation. The second will give you more details, including factory defaults that are still in effect.
Because they are stored as “states” moving between checkpoints is usually easy, fast and safe. The only caveat is that checkpoints created with one software version may not work properly on another.
Checkpoint creation
Checkpoints can be created manually or automatically.
- Manually created checkpoints: copy running checkpoint <checkpoint-name>
- Automatically created checkpoints: If you make changes to the configuration but do not save them, 5 minutes (configurable) after the last change, a checkpoint is created by the system. Its name will include date and time of the creation (CPC20180709164306).
Checkpoints and configuration auto-rollback
An additional feature, is configuration auto-rollback. If, before starting a configuration change, you enter: checkpoint auto <number of minutes>, two minutes before the end of the number of minutes, you will be prompted to confirm the changes. If you do not, at the end of the period, the configuration will return to its previous state. For this purpose a hidden checkpoint is used.
The main purpose of this option is to recover from a configuration mistake that disconnected you from the device (especially if accessing it remotely).
Ruben Iglesias
