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Jon_Combe_46146's avatar
Jon_Combe_46146
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Dec 07, 2010

UCS file differences

I am trying to setup an automated process to regularly download the configuration of an F5 BIG IP device which is then stored in a CVS repository so that we always have the latest configuration file available, but also previous versions and I have come accross a problem.

 

 

If I run

 

 

bigpip config save config

 

 

I end up with a file with the file called /var/local/ucs/config.ucs

 

 

I then download this via SCP. This works however I've come accross the problem that everytime I download this file it's different (e.g. you do an md5sum on the file and get a different result) even if the devices configuration has NOT changed in any way. I have found that these files are actually a ".tar.gz" file with a different extension.

 

 

What is happening is that all but one of the files are identical but the modification time of some of the files (which I have listed below) change and a tar file stores the modification time of the file within it and so the UCS file appears different each time because of these updated modification times.

 

 

/config/.ucs_base_mac

 

/config/ucs_version

 

/config/bigip_local.conf

 

/config/BigDB.dat

 

/config/bigip.conf

 

/config/bigip_sys.conf

 

/config/bigip_base.conf

 

 

However there is also a file within the UCS file called SPEC-Files which also differs every time because it also includes the modification times on some of the lines, for example:-

 

 

N /config/.ucs_base_mac a4a62a1ba3e8dfc7c5d1fa16b1da580a 33188 0 0 34 1291654090 -

 

 

Are these differences important? Is there an easy way for me to tell if the config has actually changed as it seems that downloading the UCS file and running a diff on it is not possible?

 

 

Also I noticed that the UCS file contains some symlinks, but the links point to files that are not within the UCS file. For example /config/ntp.conf is a symlink to /var/run/config/ntp.conf but this file is NOT in the UCS file which seems odd?

 

 

 

ve
virtualization
  • hoolio's avatar
    hoolio
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
    Dec 07, 2010
    Hi Jon,

     

     

    When you run a config save, the config running in memory is saved to the files and then wrapped up in a tar ball. If you aren't running GTM, WAM or ASM, you could probably use a Single Configuration File (SCF) to do a config diff more simply. As the name implies, the SCF contains the full LTM configuration in a single text file. The one notable exception is the SSL certs/keys.

     

     

    You can create an SCF file using 'b export `/bin/hostname`.scf'. The output is written to /var/local/scf/ by default.

     

     

    See SOL8453 for details:

     

     

    SOL8435: Overview of the single configuration file (SCF)

     

    http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/8000/400/sol8435.html

     

     

    Aaron