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RANCID: Network Config Management Tool

RANCID (Really Awesome New Cisco config Differ) is a configuration management tool that automatically retrieves configurations from network devices, archives them in a version control system (VCS) like CVS or SVN, and emails configuration diffs to users. It tracks changes to device configurations and hardware over time, helping with backups, audits, and blame allocation. RANCID connects to devices via SSH, retrieves configurations and other data, checks configurations into the VCS, generates diffs from previous versions, and emails those diffs to users.

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38 views9 pages

RANCID: Network Config Management Tool

RANCID (Really Awesome New Cisco config Differ) is a configuration management tool that automatically retrieves configurations from network devices, archives them in a version control system (VCS) like CVS or SVN, and emails configuration diffs to users. It tracks changes to device configurations and hardware over time, helping with backups, audits, and blame allocation. RANCID connects to devices via SSH, retrieves configurations and other data, checks configurations into the VCS, generates diffs from previous versions, and emails those diffs to users.

Uploaded by

tunb82
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Configuration Management

with RANCID

Network Startup Resource Center


[Link]

These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license
([Link]
What is RANCID?
The “Really Awesome New Cisco config Differ”!

A configuration management tool:

• Keeps track of changes in the configs of your network


equipment (Cisco, HP, Juniper, Foundry, etc.)

• Works on routers and switches


What is RANCID?
Automates retrieval of configs & archives them
Functions as:
• Backup tool - ”woops, my router burned”
• Audit tool - ”how did this error get in?”
• Blame allocation :) - ”who did it?”
The data is stored in a VCS, either of:
• CVS (Concurrent Versions Systems)
• SVN (SubVersioN)
What is Version Control?
Three basic principles:
1. Keep a record and history of changes
2. Give public access to the information
3. Maintain different versions from the same data set
What types of data?
• Source code
• Documentation
• Configuration files
• Generally, any type of data…
How does RANCID work?
Run (manually or automated)
Lookup list of groups
For each device in each list of groups
• Connect to the equipment (telnet, ssh, …)
• Run ”show” commands – config, inventory, ...
• Collect, filter/format data
• Retrieve the resulting config files
• CVS/SVN check-in the changes
• Generate a diff from the previous version
• E-mail the diff to a mail address (individual or group)
Why Use RANCID?
• Track changes in the equipment configuration
• Track changes in the hardware (S/N, modules)
• Track version changes in the OS (IOS, CatOS
versions)
• Find out what your colleagues have done
without telling you!
• Recover from accidental configuration errors
(anyone have stories?)
Post Processing
• Run traditional filtering commands on your
configs (grep, sed, for information)

• Re-use the automated login tools to build your


own batch tools or do interactive login

• On large configurations, you can parallelize


operations
Other Operations
• Automated checks (verify configs for
strange/inconsistent setup)

• Generate DNS file from equipment list

• Use IP address adjacency to produce a graph of


your network
References
• RANCID Project: [Link]
• Subversion (SVN): [Link]
• Good, Short RANCID Presentation
[Link]
• RANCID HowTos
1. [Link]
HOWTO_:_Ch1_:_Network_Backups_With_Rancid
2. [Link]
3. [Link]
[Link]

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