# Automatic Backup and trasferring the UCS file to FTP server . **URL:** \ **Category:** Technical Forums\ **Tags:** management, application-delivery, ltm, cisco\ **Created:** [March 9, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195 "2014-03-09T11:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indrajit\_Basak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/59ef9b/32.png) [@Indrajit\_Basak](https://community.f5.com/u/Indrajit_Basak)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195/1 "2014-03-09T11:28:14Z")
Hi, Can anybody help me to write script for automatic transfer of backup files to FTP server . My Automatic backup i sworking fine and it is stored locally . Now i want to transfer those UCS files to FTP server . ---
**Author:** ![boneyard](https://d1p9zq3aats0t8.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.f5.com/boneyard/32/20419_2.png) [@boneyard](https://community.f5.com/u/boneyard)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195/2 "2014-03-09T12:19:11Z")
there are several scripts available already, have a look at them and you will find the code you need to ftp. > **[DevCentral - An F5 Technical Community](https://community.f5.com/)** > > DevCentral is an online technical community where engineers and practitioners collaborate, share knowledge, and solve problems related to F5 technologies and industry trends. ---
**Author:** ![Patrik\_Jonsson](https://d1p9zq3aats0t8.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.f5.com/patrik_jonsson/32/20827_2.png) [@Patrik\_Jonsson](https://community.f5.com/u/Patrik_Jonsson)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195/3 "2014-03-09T12:20:50Z")
Hi! Have you considered using scp? There’s available automated backup scripts transferring files to remote locations right here at devcentral. Personally I’m using a older, but modified, version of Colin Stubbs script: > **[DevCentral - An F5 Technical Community](https://community.f5.com/)** > > DevCentral is an online technical community where engineers and practitioners collaborate, share knowledge, and solve problems related to F5 technologies and industry trends. Works like a charm! Otherwise the F5 unit has both ftp and ftps. There’s a good guide on how to transfer files via scrips here: > **[Using ftp in a shell script](https://bruceediger.com/scripting.ftp.html)** > > Unix shell script code using ftp client Good luck! /Patrik ---
**Author:** ![Patrik\_Jonsson](https://d1p9zq3aats0t8.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.f5.com/patrik_jonsson/32/20827_2.png) [@Patrik\_Jonsson](https://community.f5.com/u/Patrik_Jonsson)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195/4 "2014-04-26T02:31:27Z")
It did not work for me either in v11 without modifications, but if you follow these steps it should work. Make sure you’re root. Run this to create the scp config file: ```tcl echo 'Host * User f5archive PasswordAuthentication no StrictHostKeyChecking yes IdentityFile /root/.ssh/f5archive_dsa Port 22 Protocol 2 Ciphers aes128-cbc,aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc' > /root/.ssh/f5archive_config ``` Create the directories used to store the script and the backups ```tcl mkdir /var/local/bin mkdir /var/local/backups ``` Schedule the script in cron (this example schedules it at 05:00, every day): ```tcl echo 'SHELL=/bin/bash PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin HOME=/var/tmp 0 5 * * * root /bin/bash /var/local/bin/f5backup.sh 1>/var/tmp/f5backup.log 2>&1' > /etc/cron.d/f5backup ``` Create the keys and copy them to your server (replace user and IP): ```tcl ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /root/.ssh/f5archive_dsa -N '' ssh-copy-id -i /root/.ssh/f5archive_dsa.pub myuser@10.10.10.10 ``` A modified version of the script can be found below. Change this row to whatever you need (this is the remote server + path where you will store your backups): ```tcl SCP_DESTINATION="myuser@10.10.10.10:/my/path/to/bigipbackups/${HOSTNAME}" ``` Then copy the modified version of the script below to /var/local/bin/f5backup.sh. ```tcl !/bin/bash f5backup.sh Copyright (C) 2010 Colin Stubbs This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see Additional files you'll need to create, example content: /etc/cron.d/f5backup SHELL=/bin/bash PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin MAILTO=user@somewhere HOME=/var/tmp 0 0 * * * root /bin/bash /var/local/bin/f5backup.sh 1>/var/tmp/f5backup.log 2>&1 EOF /root/.ssh/f5archive_config Host * User f5archive PasswordAuthentication no StrictHostKeyChecking yes IdentityFile /root/.ssh/f5archive_dsa Port 22 Protocol 2 Ciphers aes128-cbc,aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc UserKnownHostsFile /root/.ssh/f5archive_host EOF REQUIRES: F5 BIG-IP 10.2.x Debug ? Set to non-blank if so. DEBUG= Current date/time stamp DATETIME="`date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S`" Base f5backup.sh working directory OUT_DIR='/var/tmp' Unique temporary output location TEMP_DIR="`mktemp -d ${OUT_DIR}/f5backup.XXXXXXXXXX`" Backup options Export a UCS archive DO_UCS='1' Export a single config file DO_SCF= Export SCF with oneline bigpipe statements DO_SCF_ONELINE='0' Use SCP with pubkey to export to remote system DO_SCP_EXPORT=0 SCP options must be set if you want to use this SCP_OPTIONS="" Destination list, can be a list of username:IPorHostname if you want to transfer to multiple destinations. Same public key used for auth to all. ** MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE :<%DIRECTORY%> HERE SCP_DESTINATION="myuser@10.10.10.10:/my/path/to/bigipbackups/${HOSTNAME}" All SCP options should be encapsulated in a special config file SCP_CONFIG="/root/.ssh/f5archive_config" UCS output location UCS_FILE="${TEMP_DIR}/ucs.${DATETIME}.backup" Logfiles output location LOGZIP_FILE="${TEMP_DIR}/log.${DATETIME}.tar.bz2" ** If blank this will not be used Encrypt UCS archive with passphrase UCS_PASSPHRASE= SCF output location SCF_FILE="${TEMP_DIR}/scf.${DATETIME}.backup" Local archive location ** If this variable is blank, or the destination is not writable then this script will not copy the backup to the local archive. LOCAL_ARCHIVE="/var/local/backups" Remove all older local backups than this many days LOCAL_CLEANUP_DAYS=7 Name of compressed backup archive to produce OUTPUT_FILE="${HOSTNAME}-${DATETIME}.tar.bz2" if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then for i in HOSTNAME DATETIME OUT_DIR TEMP_DIR DO_UCS DO_SCF DO_SCF_ONELINE DO_SCP_EXPORT SCP_DESTINATION SCP_OPTIONS SCP_CONFIG ASM_POLICY_LIST UCS_FILE UCS_PASSPHRASE SCF_FILE LOCAL_ARCHIVE OUTPUT_FILE ; do eval var=\$$i echo "${i} = $var" done fi function usage { echo "Usage: f5backup.sh" exit 0 } function export_scf() { if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then echo "in ${FUNCNAME}(${*})" ; fi if ["${DO_SCF}x" != "x"] ; then if ["${DO_SCF_ONELINE}x}" != "x"] ; then bigpipe export oneline "${SCF_FILE}" else bigpipe export "${SCF_FILE}" fi fi } function copy_logs() { if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then echo "in ${FUNCNAME}(${*})" ; fi cp -R /var/log "${TEMP_DIR}" } function export_ucs() { if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then echo "in ${FUNCNAME}(${*})" ; fi if ["${DO_UCS}x" != "x"] ; then if ["${UCS_PASSPHRASE}x" != "x"] ; then bigpipe config save "${UCS_FILE}" passphrase "${UCS_PASSPHRASE}" else tmsh save /sys ucs "${UCS_FILE}" fi fi } function create_backup() { if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then echo "in ${FUNCNAME}(${*})" ; fi tar -j -c -f "${OUT_DIR}/${OUTPUT_FILE}" -C "${TEMP_DIR}" . } Transfer backup archive to offsite location/s function backup_remote() { if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then echo "in ${FUNCNAME}(${*})" ; fi if [-f "${OUT_DIR}/${OUTPUT_FILE}"] ; then if ["${DO_SCP_EXPORT}x" != "x"] ; then echo "Copying to remote archive ${SCP_DESTINATION}${OUTPUT_FILE}" if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then echo "Exec: /usr/bin/scp ${SCP_OPTIONS} -F ${SCP_CONFIG} ${OUT_DIR}/${OUTPUT_FILE} ${SCP_DESTINATION}" ; fi /usr/bin/scp ${SCP_OPTIONS} -F "${SCP_CONFIG}" "${OUT_DIR}/${OUTPUT_FILE}" "${SCP_DESTINATION}" || echo "Error: SCP ${OUT_DIR}/${OUTPUT_FILE} ${SCP_DESTINATION} failed!" fi else echo "Error: ${OUT_DIR}/${OUTPUT_FILE} doesn't exist, something has gone wrong!" fi } function backup_local() { if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then echo "in ${FUNCNAME}(${*})" ; fi if ["${LOCAL_ARCHIVE}x" != "x"] && [-d "${LOCAL_ARCHIVE}"] ; then echo "Copying to local archive ${LOCAL_ARCHIVE}/${OUTPUT_FILE}" if [! -d "${LOCAL_ARCHIVE}"] ; then mkdir "${LOCAL_ARCHIVE}" if [${?} -ne 0] ; then echo "Error: ${LOCAL_ARCHIVE} doesn't exist and I can't create it." fi fi mv -f "${OUT_DIR}/${OUTPUT_FILE}" "${LOCAL_ARCHIVE}"/ find "${LOCAL_ARCHIVE}" -type f -mtime +${LOCAL_CLEANUP_DAYS} -exec rm -v -f {} \; fi } Cleanup what this script has done function cleanup() { if ["${DEBUG}x" != "x"] ; then echo "in ${FUNCNAME}(${*})" ; fi rm -rf ${TEMP_DIR} } Sanity checking 1. Must be run as root if ["`id -u`x" != "0x"] ; then echo "Error: You need to run this script as root." exit 1 fi 2. Command line args not applicable yet 3. Temp dir must exist if [! -d "${TEMP_DIR}"] ; then echo "Error: ${TEMP_DIR} was not created for some reason. Fix this issue and try again." exit 1 fi echo "${0} start `date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S`" export_ucs export_scf copy_logs create_backup backup_remote backup_local cleanup echo "${0} finish `date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S`" EOF ``` Good luck! /Patrik ---
**Author:** ![vincent119\_9651](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecc23a/32.png) [@vincent119\_9651](https://community.f5.com/u/vincent119_9651)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195/5 "2014-06-11T04:16:04Z")
[http://vincent119.blogspot.tw/2007/05/backup-f5-bigip-config.html](http://vincent119.blogspot.tw/2007/05/backup-f5-bigip-config.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mahmoud\_Eldeeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mahmoud\_Eldeeb](https://community.f5.com/u/Mahmoud_Eldeeb)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195/6 "2014-12-17T21:10:27Z")
I prefer to go with Config Backup for F5 utility its a VM appliance with GUI interface and very easy to manage.find it in below link [http://sourceforge.net/projects/f5configbackup/](http://sourceforge.net/projects/f5configbackup/) ---
**Author:** ![ogozar\_275571](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a6a055/32.png) [@ogozar\_275571](https://community.f5.com/u/ogozar_275571)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195/7 "2017-09-12T02:09:27Z")
Hello, when I generate an automatic backup it shows me this error when I execute the script: Error, invalid characters in UCS file name. The dash, period, forward-slash, plus sign, and underscore are the only special characters allowed. What could be the problem? ---
**Author:** ![Allwyn\_Mascaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Allwyn\_Mascaren](https://community.f5.com/u/Allwyn_Mascaren)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 11:35am UTC](https://community.f5.com/t/automatic-backup-and-trasferring-the-ucs-file-to-ftp-server/41195/8 "2019-04-09T11:35:09Z")
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