Multiple appliance management by pushed configuration files

Pushing configuration files versus automatic configuration

An alternative to multiple appliance management by automatic configuration is to manually push an updated global configuration to target appliances.

From a source server, you can use the CLI cp command to manually push a configuration file to a location on a target appliance. The target appliance can be configured to use the settings in the copied configuration file.

Note
This operation is not automated. Subsequent modifications to the global configuration file on the source server must be manually copied to the target appliance.

For information about...	See...
Procedures for setting up and carrying out a global configuration push	This section, Multiple appliance management by pushed configuration files
Procedures for backing up and restoring appliances using pushed global configuration files	Backing up and restoring pushed configuration files
Supporting local appliance configurations that append to, rather than overwrite, global configuration file settings	Configuring local settings that do not overwrite global settings

Setting up a pushable configuration file

To set up a source server to target appliance configuration file pushing, complete the following steps.

Step	Action
1	At the source server, generate or create a configuration text file containing the configurations that you want to push to target appliances. Use the procedures described in Create or generate the global configuration files.
2	Accessing the CLI console of each target appliance where you want to push a configuration file, make sure that no local values have been configured for those settings through the Appliance Manager or the CLI. If local settings have been set, use the `clear` command to reset that configuration to default. For example: `clear config.autosupport.recipients.note`
3	Accessing the CLI console of each target appliance, use the `cp` command to copy the configuration file to the local directory on the appliance. Use the following syntax: `cp {ftp\|http}://[`usr:pw@]/srvr/path/sfile /nc_path/nc_file Note Enter the preceding syntax on one line with a space separating the /sfile and /nc_path variables. usr:pw is the login name and password, if any, necessary to access the source server where the configuration file was created. srvr/path/sfile is the host name, directory, and file name of the configuration file on the source server. nc_path/nc_file is the target directory location and file name on the appliance where you want the configuration file copied. For example: `cp ftp://usrA:pw@srvrA//cfg/pushedfile.cfg /tmp/pushedfile.cfg`
4	Accessing the CLI console of each target appliance, use the `config.admin.config.list` setting to add this file to the local appliance's active configuration. Remember to do the following: Include a local directory path. List the configuration file just before the local.cfg file. For example, the following command line directs the local appliance to apply the settings in the pushedfile.cfg file just before the local.cfg settings. `set config.admin.config.list \\ default.cfg /tmp/pushedfile.cfg local.cfg \\`
5	Accessing the CLI console of each target appliance, use the CLI `set config.admin.config.refresh`* commands to schedule times at which the target appliance will refresh its active settings with any new settings in the pushed configuration file. Follow the procedure described in Schedule the appliances to refresh their configurations.
6	To apply your configuration immediately, enter the following at the CLI console of the target appliance: config -n
7	Push any subsequent changes to the configuration file to the target appliance, following the procedure in Step 3. Note At each target appliance, never use the Appliance Manager or the CLI to modify the local appliance settings specified by the copied configuration file.

Backing up and restoring pushed configuration files

Restoration of pushed configuration files can only be performed locally, to the appliance being restored. The CLI commands to carry out backup and restoration are described in the following paragraphs.

Backing up configuration files

To back up the local.cfg file and the pushed global configuration file on an appliance, use one of the following CLI command lines:

config -c backup_file
config_backup backup_file

Restoring configuration files

To restore a backed-up local.cfg file and a pushed global configuration file to an appliance, use one of the following CLI command lines:

config -r backup_file
config_restore backup_file

If your appliances are not picking up all pushed values

On each target appliance, the settings in the system default local configuration file, local.cfg (which contains any settings you have made on the local appliance through either the Appliance Manager or the CLI), overwrite the values of any matching configurations in global configuration files applied previously. This means that conflicting option values will be set to the value defined in local.cfg.

To view local changes that were made by administrators to the appliance through the Appliance Manager or CLI, enter the following command from the local appliance CLI:

show $local.cfg:config.*

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