Automatic Config Archiving

A Cisco router can automatically copy its config to a TFTP server when doing a write memory or on a predetermined interval. It is very handy when combined with Configure Replace.

archive
 log config
  hidekeys
 path tftp://10.10.10.5/$h-autoarchive-$t
 write-memory

$h is automatically replaced with the hostname, and $t with the timestamp.

It automatically keeps the file names of up to 15 revisions.

Example

ROUTER#show archive
The maximum archive configurations allowed is 14.
The next archive file will be named tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-Jun-17-13:53:36.731-EDT-19
 Archive #  Name
   1        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-May-13-22:54:50.924-EDT-9
   2        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-May-14-00:08:13.761-EDT-10
   3        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-May-21-09:11:36.401-EDT-11
   4        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-May-27-09:31:10.138-EDT-12
   5        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-May-29-10:11:35.187-EDT-13
   6        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-Jun--6-22:59:05.218-EDT-14
   7        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-Jun--7-22:25:48.223-EDT-15
   8        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-Jun--7-22:40:00.973-EDT-16
   9        tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-Jun--9-15:08:47.435-EDT-17
   10       tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-Jun-16-22:06:53.605-EDT-18 <- Most Recent

At any time, you can archive your running config without saving it to the startup config:

archive config

Comparing Revisions

The device can also do a diff (compare) of two files.

show archive config differences <file1> <file2>

Example

ROUTER#$show archive config differences tftp://10.10.10.5/ROUTER-autoarchive-Jun--9-15:08:47.435-EDT-17 system:running-config
Loading ROUTER-autoarchive-Jun--9-15:08:47.435-EDT-17 from 10.10.10.5 (via FastEthernet1): !
[OK - 14346 bytes]

Contextual Config Diffs:
+ip dhcp pool BLACKBERRY
   +host 10.10.10.60 255.255.255.0
   +client-identifier 0180.6007.5b21.8c
   +client-name blackberry
-ip dhcp pool BLACKBERRY
   -host 10.10.10.60 255.255.255.0
   -client-identifier 0180.6007.023c.2f
   -client-name blackberry