community.network.cnos_backup module – Backup the current running or startup configuration to a remote server on devices running Lenovo CNOS

Note

This module is part of the community.network collection (version 5.0.2).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.network.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.network.cnos_backup.

Synopsis

  • This module allows you to work with switch configurations. It provides a way to back up the running or startup configurations of a switch to a remote server. This is achieved by periodically saving a copy of the startup or running configuration of the network device to a remote server using FTP, SFTP, TFTP, or SCP. The first step is to create a directory from where the remote server can be reached. The next step is to provide the full file path of the location where the configuration will be backed up. Authentication details required by the remote server must be provided as well. This module uses SSH to manage network device configuration. The results of the operation will be placed in a directory named ‘results’ that must be created by the user in their local directory to where the playbook is run.

Aliases: network.cnos.cnos_backup

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

configType

string / required

This specifies what type of configuration will be backed up. The choices are the running or startup configurations. There is no default value, so it will result in an error if the input is incorrect.

Choices:

  • "running-config"

  • "startup-config"

deviceType

string / required

This specifies the type of device where the method is executed. The choices NE1072T,NE1032,NE1032T,NE10032,NE2572 are added since Ansible 2.4. The choice NE0152T is added since 2.8

Choices:

  • "g8272_cnos"

  • "g8296_cnos"

  • "g8332_cnos"

  • "NE0152T"

  • "NE1072T"

  • "NE1032"

  • "NE1032T"

  • "NE10032"

  • "NE2572"

enablePassword

string

Configures the password used to enter Global Configuration command mode on the switch. If the switch does not request this password, the parameter is ignored.While generally the value should come from the inventory file, you can also specify it as a variable. This parameter is optional. If it is not specified, no default value will be used.

host

string / required

This is the variable used to search the hosts file at /etc/ansible/hosts and identify the IP address of the device on which the template is going to be applied. Usually the Ansible keyword {{ inventory_hostname }} is specified in the playbook as an abstraction of the group of network elements that need to be configured.

outputfile

string / required

This specifies the file path where the output of each command execution is saved. Each command that is specified in the merged template file and each response from the device are saved here. Usually the location is the results folder, but you can choose another location based on your write permission.

password

string / required

Configures the password used to authenticate the connection to the remote device. The value of the password parameter is used to authenticate the SSH session. While generally the value should come from the inventory file, you can also specify it as a variable. This parameter is optional. If it is not specified, no default value will be used.

protocol

string / required

This refers to the protocol used by the network device to interact with the remote server to where to upload the backup configuration. The choices are FTP, SFTP, TFTP, or SCP. Any other protocols will result in error. If this parameter is not specified, there is no default value to be used.

Choices:

  • "SFTP"

  • "SCP"

  • "FTP"

  • "TFTP"

rcpath

string / required

This specifies the full file path where the configuration file will be copied on the remote server. In case the relative path is used as the variable value, the root folder for the user of the server needs to be specified.

rcserverip

string / required

-This specifies the IP Address of the remote server to where the configuration will be backed up.

serverpassword

string / required

Specify the password for the server relating to the protocol used.

serverusername

string / required

Specify the username for the server relating to the protocol used.

username

string / required

Configures the username used to authenticate the connection to the remote device. The value of the username parameter is used to authenticate the SSH session. While generally the value should come from the inventory file, you can also specify it as a variable. This parameter is optional. If it is not specified, no default value will be used.

Notes

Note

Examples

Tasks : The following are examples of using the module cnos_backup.
 These are written in the main.yml file of the tasks directory.
---
- name: Test Running Config Backup
  community.network.cnos_backup:
      deviceType: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname]['deviceType'] }}"
      outputfile: "./results/test_backup_{{ inventory_hostname }}_output.txt"
      configType: running-config
      protocol: "sftp"
      serverip: "10.241.106.118"
      rcpath: "/root/cnos/G8272-running-config.txt"
      serverusername: "root"
      serverpassword: "root123"

- name: Test Startup Config Backup
  community.network.cnos_backup:
      deviceType: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname]['deviceType'] }}"
      outputfile: "./results/test_backup_{{ inventory_hostname }}_output.txt"
      configType: startup-config
      protocol: "sftp"
      serverip: "10.241.106.118"
      rcpath: "/root/cnos/G8272-startup-config.txt"
      serverusername: "root"
      serverpassword: "root123"

- name: Test Running Config Backup -TFTP
  community.network.cnos_backup:
      deviceType: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname]['deviceType'] }}"
      outputfile: "./results/test_backup_{{ inventory_hostname }}_output.txt"
      configType: running-config
      protocol: "tftp"
      serverip: "10.241.106.118"
      rcpath: "/anil/G8272-running-config.txt"
      serverusername: "root"
      serverpassword: "root123"

- name: Test Startup Config Backup - TFTP
  community.network.cnos_backup:
      deviceType: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname]['deviceType'] }}"
      outputfile: "./results/test_backup_{{ inventory_hostname }}_output.txt"
      configType: startup-config
      protocol: "tftp"
      serverip: "10.241.106.118"
      rcpath: "/anil/G8272-startup-config.txt"
      serverusername: "root"
      serverpassword: "root123"

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key

Description

msg

string

Success or failure message

Returned: always

Sample: "Config file transferred to server"

Authors

  • Anil Kumar Muraleedharan (@amuraleedhar)