Forum Discussion
hooleylist
Cirrostratus
CirrostratusForce reload of external datagroup files?
How can I force a reload of external data group files via tmsh?
On 11.1, I've imported a data group file via the GUI under File Management | Data Group File List | Import. I then edited the file on the file system under /config/filestore/files_d/Common_d/data_group_d/:Common:name_value_external_dg_1. But when I reload the config using 'tmsh load sys config' the data group contents are not updated:
cat \:Common\:name_value_external_dg_1
"name1" := "value1",
"name2" := "value2",
"name3" := "value3",
"name4" := "value4",
tmsh load sys config
Loading system configuration...
/defaults/app_template_base.conf
/defaults/config_base.conf
/config/low_profile_base.conf
/defaults/wam_base.conf
/usr/share/monitors/base_monitors.conf
/config/daemon.conf
/config/profile_base.conf
/defaults/fullarmor_gpo_base.conf
Loading configuration...
/config/bigip_base.conf
/config/bigip_user.conf
/config/bigip.conf
tmsh list ltm data-group external name_value* all-properties
ltm data-group external name_value_external_dg {
app-service none
description none
external-file-name name_value_external_dg
partition Common
records {
name1 {
data value1
}
name2 {
data value2
}
name3 {
data value3
}
}
type string
}I checked the tmsh help for external data groups, but don't see anything relevant.
Do I need to recreate the data group from scratch using the updated file?
Also, if I wanted to create the data group exclusively from the CLI and/or just tmsh, how could I import the external data group file?
Thanks, Aaron
hooleylistHere are the steps for future reference:Create a new external data group from the CLI non-interactively
1. Create or copy over to LTM a temporary file containing the external data group contents. If copying, make sure the line terminators are \n only not \r\n.
You can use od to view the unprintable characters in a file:od -c /var/tmp/dos.file 0000000 " n a m e 1 " : = " v a l u 0000020 e 1 " , \r \n " n a m e 2 " : = 0000040 " v a l u e 2 " , \r \n " n a m 0000060 e 3 " : = " v a l u e 3 " ,
If the source file was created on Windows, it most likely has \r\n line terminators, so use tr to remove the \r's:tr -d '\r' < /var/tmp/dos.file > /var/tmp/string_name_value_external_dg.txtod -c /var/tmp/string_name_value_external_dg.txt 0000000 " n a m e 1 " : = " v a l u 0000020 e 1 " , \n " n a m e 2 " : = 0000040 " v a l u e 2 " , \n " n a m e 3 0000060 " : = " v a l u e 3 " ,cat /var/tmp/string_name_value_external_dg.txt "name1" := "value1", "name2" := "value2", "name3" := "value3",
2. Create the new external data group filetmsh create /sys file data-group string_name_value_external_dg_file separator ":=" source-path file:/var/tmp/string_name_value_external_dg.txt type string
3. Create the external data group referencing the filetmsh create /ltm data-group external string_name_value_external_dg external-file-name string_name_value_external_dg_file
4. Save the config from memory to filetmsh save /sys config
----------------------------------------------------------------Modify the external data group file
1. Create a new temporary file containing the updated external data group contentscat /var/tmp/string_name_value_external_v2_dg.txt "name1" := "valueA", "name2" := "valueB", "name3" := "valueC",
2. Modify the system file to reference the new content. Note that the new existing system file content is overwritten with the new file content. A new system file is not created.tmsh modify /sys file data-group string_name_value_external_dg_file source-path file:/var/tmp/string_name_value_external_v2_dg.txt
3. Save the config from memory to filetmsh save /sys config
Moe_JartinCirrus
Shouldn't this accomplish what you are trying to do?
tmsh edit /sys file data-group string_name_value_external_dg_file
should let you edit the file in VI and ask you if you want to save changes when you are done.
Joe M- hooleylistHi Joe,
That would work for manual edits, but I was trying to handle scripted updates to the data group using an external file.
Aaron 
Nicola_DTNimbostratus
In the past i used to cron something like:
tmsh modify /ltm data-group external ext-addresses source-path file:/shared/addresses tmsh save /sys config
Hope it helps, Nicola