Router config backups: TFTP, SCP and a restore

The idea

officeRouter, a Router, carries a laptop's traffic on to a branch web server, and backupServer keeps copies of its config. A router runs one config and boots from another; back the saved one up to a tftp server or over SSH, and diff it when something breaks.

Steps

1. Running config and saved config

   A change you type is not yet safe, so first see where it lives. officeRouter has no route to the branch. In vtysh, FRR's shell (close to Cisco IOS), add one, then read the saved file.

   officeRouter:~# vtysh
   officeRouter:~# cat /etc/frr/frr.conf
   laptop:~# curl -s -m 3 -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' http://10.0.2.10

2. Unsaved changes do not survive a reload

   Routers reload after power cuts and updates, and only what was saved comes back. The router reloads (here, FRR restarts). Check the page, then add the route again and save it, and reload once more.

   laptop:~# curl -s -m 3 -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' http://10.0.2.10
   officeRouter:~# vtysh
   laptop:~# curl -s -m 3 -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' http://10.0.2.10