Multiple appliance management by automatic configuration

About automatic configuration

The appliance automatic configuration setup, in which centralized global configuration file settings are periodically pulled into the active configurations of target appliances, is the most automated means of multiple appliance management.

For information about...	See...
Configuring automatic configuration	This section, "Multiple appliance management by automatic configuration"
A scenario in which automatic configuration is employed	Scenario 1: Multiple cache administration at multiple POP sites
The Appliance Manager page that supports automatic configuration	Scenario 2: Applying uniform ACL rules over multiple appliances
Backing up and restoring automatic configuration files	Backing up and restoring local configuration files
Supporting local configurations that append to, rather than overwrite, global configuration file settings	Configuring local settings that do not overwrite global settings

Create or generate the global configuration files

On one centrally located and accessible appliance, create your global configuration files by doing one of the following:

Manually create a text file with the CLI commands you want to apply over multiple-appliances.
Redirect show command output of an existing appliance configuration to a configuration file. For example:
```
show config.* > ftp://serverA//cfg/globalcfg1.cfg
```

For details about creating global configuration files, see Ways to create a global configuration file.

Configure the appliances to use the global configuration files

In the CLI console of each target appliance on which you want to carry out global multiple-cache management, use the set config.admin.config.list command to specify the global file or files to read.

Setting to read global configuration files from a source server

The following sample entry specifies that after it reads the default.cfg file, the target appliance reads global configuration files located on ServerA:

set config.admin.config.list \\

default.cfg

ftp://serverA//cfg/globalcfg1.cfg

ftp://serverA//cfg/globalcfg2.cfg

local.cfg

\\

Note
The default.cfg and local.cfg files are existing files that must not be directly edited. In the set config.admin.config.list command line, always list default.cfg first and local.cfg last.

The preceding command line example applies the settings in the configuration files in the order in which they are listed.

The settings in globalcfg2.cfg will overwrite any conflicting settings in default.cfg and globalcfg1.cfg.
The settings in local.cfg overwrite any conflicting settings in any of the other three files.

Setting to read global configuration files from a source appliance

The following sample entry specifies that after reading the default.cfg file, the target appliance reads, global configuration files located on the source appliance:

set config.admin.config.list \\

default.cfg

http://admin:appliance@applianceA.mycorp.com:3132/tmp/globalcfg1.c
fg

local.cfg

\\

Note
You can also specify global configuration files to read through the Automatic Configuration page of the Appliance Manager on each appliance. See Scenario 2: Applying uniform ACL rules over multiple appliances.

Schedule the appliances to refresh their configurations

In the CLI of each appliance on which you want to carry out multiple-cache management, set up either periodic or scheduled refresh.

Periodic refresh

A periodic configuration refresh ensures that the appliance configuration is refreshed with the global configuration file settings at a simple time interval specified in minutes.

To set up a periodic configuration refresh, enter commands similar to the following:

set config.admin.config.refresh.trigger periodic

set config.admin.config.refresh.rate 3600

Scheduled refresh

A scheduled configuration refresh refreshes each appliance configuration at a specified time following a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule.

To set up a daily configuration refresh schedule, enter commands similar to the following:

set config.admin.config.refresh.trigger scheduled

set config.admin.config.refresh.sched_type daily 

set config.admin.config.refresh.schedule 23

To set up a weekly configuration refresh schedule, enter commands similar to the following:

set config.admin.config.refresh.trigger scheduled

set config.admin.config.refresh.sched_type weekly 

set config.admin.config.refresh.wdays 2 4 6

set config.admin.config.refresh.schedule 23

To set up a monthly configuration refresh schedule, enter commands similar to the following:

set config.admin.config.refresh.trigger scheduled

set config.admin.config.refresh.sched_type monthly 

set config.admin.config.refresh.mdays 1 7 14 21

set config.admin.config.refresh.schedule 23

Note
You can also schedule configuration refreshes through the Automatic Configuration page of the Appliance Manager on each appliance. See Scenario 2: Applying uniform ACL rules over multiple appliances.

Modify the global configuration files as required

Modifications that you make to your global configuration files on a source server or a source appliance are periodically propagated to the target appliances configured to read them.

Modifying configuration files located on a server

If the global configuration file is located on a source server, you can modify the global configuration file by opening the configuration file directly in a text editor and edit the setting you want to change.

Your changes to the target global configuration file will take effect on each appliance configured to read that file when the next automated refresh takes place.

If you want to display global configuration file settings through the CLI

Using the show command, you can display global configuration file settings directly from the command line by prepending the show command with the full network and directory pathname to the file whose settings you want to display. Use the following syntax:

show ${ftp|http}://[usr:pw@]path/file:config.opt_str

usr:pw is the login name and password, if any, required to access the server on which the configuration file is located.

path is the FTP URL or HTTP URL path to the global configuration file, including the server host name and any directory path.

file is the name of the global configuration file.

config.opt_str is the configuration option string you want to display.

For example:

show $ftp://serverA//cfg/globalcfg2.cfg:

config.http.ports

If you want to clear most nondefault settings from the local.cfg file

If you want to clear most local.cfg file nondefault configuration settings on each appliance, use the CLI config -z command. The config -z command resets the configuration values on the appliance to their default settings (except as noted in the following table). All configuration values specified in configuration files are also reset. Note that all references to global configuration files (configuration files pulled from remote locations) are also cleared from the configuration file list.

The following table lists the configuration values that are not reset when you click Reset Configuration.

Option	CLI equivalent
All the Setup tab > Network > Interfaces options	config.system.vinterface.* config.system.interface.*
Nameservers option (Setup tab > DNS > General page)	config.system.dns.nameservers
Default Gateway (Setup tab > Network > Routing)	config.system.gateways.ip
Route Discovery Enable option (Setup tab > Network > Routing)	config.system.routed.rdisc
Appliance Host Name option (Setup tab > System > Host Name)	config.system.hostname

If you want to refresh global configurations immediately

If you want to refresh the global configuration on a managed appliance immediately, before the time that you scheduled through the set config.admin.config.refresh.* command lines, you can force the refresh by entering config -n in the CLI console.

Avoiding local.cfg file overwrite

On each target appliance, the settings in the system local configuration file, local.cfg overwrite the values of any matching configurations in global configuration files applied previously.

The local.cfg file contains any settings you have made on the local appliance through either the Appliance Manager or the CLI.

If you want local configurations that merely append to, not overwrite, settings in global configuration files, see Configuring local settings that do not overwrite global settings.

Persistency of the running configuration

On each appliance, the running configuration is the combination of the default.cfg, local.cfg, and global configuration file settings. The running configuration is persistent. If you are forced to reboot the appliance, it will restart using the configuration that was running when it was last shut down.

Consequently, you can include in your global configuration files many settings normally associated with startup, such as the DNS server settings or gateway settings.