BIG-IP Configuration backup/restore

There is more than one way to do it. I am paranoid about configuration changes and the need to revert to a known good configuration. So I have set up a server so that I can ssh into the server from the BigIP without using a password. This is as safe as the root account on the BigIP is safe.

Then I have a cron job that fires once a day which generates a backup and then copies the resulting file to the server.

!/bin/bash
 backup the configuration
b config save /config.ucs
 Copy the configuration to the server
scp /config.ucs USERNAME@SERVER:/PATH/`hostname`-`date +%Y%m%d%H%m%S`.ucs

The `hostname` and `date +%Y%m%d%H%m%S` are some UNIXisms which creates a file with the hostname and a timestamp in the filename. The format of the time stamp makes it easy to sort lexigraphically.

Note that it is not enough to rely on the partner of a pair to save the configuration because there are configuration items which are common and some configuration items which are specific.

Jeff Silverman

j.silverman@f5.com