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Rolling Back to an Earlier Configuration

Owned by Aliaksei Shautsou (Deactivated)
Oct 25, 2019
2 min read

Note

The Config Rollback feature is supported only for Cisco IOS Switch, Router, and Switch-Router devices. Rolling back to an earlier configuration is potentially very disruptive, and should only be done if other measures cannot resolve a problem.

If necessary, authorized users can reinstall an earlier configuration file on a device. You might carry out a rollback, for example, if the device's current configuration file is corrupted. Users can perform rollbacks that are assigned the Scripts:Level3 privilege, such as the system administrator, and users that are assigned the role of ChangeEngineerHigh.

To roll back a configuration, NetMRI must reboot (reload) the device, which completely clears the active configuration from memory and restarts the device with the specified configuration. This will interrupt the device's service, and for critical devices, rollback should be performed during off hours.

A Config Rollback issue — indicating success or failure — is raised for the device.

After you initiate a rollback, NetMRI transfers the specified configuration file to the device, verifies that the file has been properly transferred and stored, then restarts the device. The appliance cannot validate that the configuration file you select is correct for the device in its current context.

Example: Consider a case where the enable password in the configuration file you are rolling back to, is different from the one currently in use on the device. After the rollback, NetMRI will not be able to log in to the device (which now has different credentials) to run scripts or collect configurations. You must manually update the device credentials within NetMRI. Similar issues may arise if the configuration you are rolling back to specifies different IP addresses, SNMP community strings, different authentication methods, etc.

Note

If you are considering rollback for a partial configuration loss or corruption (for example, unauthorized adjustment of an ACL), a better approach is to use a task-specific CCS Script to restore just the relevant settings. Once the change has been verified, save the new configuration.

To roll back to an earlier configuration file, perform the following:

  1. Carefully analyze all aspects of performing the rollback, and consider less drastic alternatives. If rolling back is your last resort, follow the next steps.
  2. In the Config Explorer's left-hand panel, click the device to be rolled back.
  3. In the right-hand panel, select the file you want to install on the device.
  4. Click Rollback.
  5. In the Are You Sure? dialog, review the configuration file details. Click OK.

Note

After confirming the rollback, if you decide not to install the specified configuration file, abort the rollback by quickly canceling the job in the Config Management –> Job Management tab.