Backing up IOS configuration

It is always a good idea to have a backup copy of the configuration of your IOS device. IOS configurations are usually copied to a TFTP server using the copy command. You can backup both the startup configuration and the running configuration of your device. The copy command accepts two parameters: the first parameter is the from location, and the second it the to location.

TFTP is a client-server network protocol used to send and receive files. To backup files to a TFTP server, you will have to set it up first. You can use Packet Tracer to do so; just add a Server to your topology, assign it an IP address and enable the TFTP service:

TFTP Server

 

Backing up IOS configuration

To backup the running configuration to a TFTP server, you can use the copy running-config tftp: command:

R1#copy running-config tftp:
Address or name of remote host []? 192.168.0.10
Destination filename [R1-confg]? 

Writing running-config...!!
[OK - 561 bytes]

561 bytes copied in 0.001 secs (561000 bytes/sec)

Remember, the first parameter after the copy keyword is the from location, while the second one is the to location. In our case, the from location is the current running-config, and the to location is the remote TFTP server.

To restore the configuration, just switch the order of the parameters – copy tftp startup-config:

R1#copy tftp: running-config
Address or name of remote host []? 192.168.0.10
Source filename []? R1-confg
Destination filename [running-config]? 

Accessing tftp://192.168.0.10/R1-confg...
Loading R1-confg from 192.168.0.10: !
[OK - 561 bytes]

561 bytes copied in 0 secs

Notice that we had to specify the filename, along with the IP address of the TFTP server.


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