Network Configuration Managemetn with rancid
Tired of pointing someone, because something goes wrong with the network? And after an investigation, you know that some configurations changed. Everybody just be quiet.
Well, you have a solution for that. You will notice the changes quickly and if the new configuration bring a lot of problem, you can rollback to the previous configuration easily.
This solution is brought by rancid, created by shrubbery. This Software will manage all your configuration changing including the hardware itself. Rancid will do the following to collect the configuration changes:
- login to each device - define the device in the router table (router.db)
- run various commands to get the information that will be saved
- cook the output; re-format, remove oscillating or incrementing data
- email any differences (sample) from the previous collection to a mail list
- finally commit those changes to the revision control system
For the revision control system, you can choose between CVS and Subversion. Myself use CVS and it runs well for almost two years in my previous company where i worked.
Currently you can backup the device from Cisco routers, Juniper routers, Catalyst switches, Foundry switches, Redback NASs, ADC EZT3 muxes, MRTd (and thus likely IRRd), Alteon switches, and HP Procurve switches. Also some other device is added. You can get the full list from its website or joining the mailing list. Go get it. It is hot and it is open source.
One more thing, there is another product called ziptie. Almost the same function as rancid, but it has a better interface. It also run on windows. And there is commercial support available.
