
Cisco::Conf - A module and utility for managing Cisco configurations
              via TFTP
====================================================================


1.) What is it?

    Are you managing a Cisco router? Perhaps not a single one, but
    a large set of routers? You have learned how to retrieve a
    routers configuration to a TFTP server or put a configuration
    file to the router.

    In that case this module will save you a lot of work. It offers
    you methods to

      - add or delete routers from or to a set of managed routers
      - edit a routers configuration file; including invocation of
        the revision control system (RCS)
      - save a configuration file into the router
      - retrieve a configuration file from the router

    Each router has an associated set of administrators: The
    administrators don't need root permissions, as the cisconf
    utility (the command line representative of Cisco::Conf) will
    usually be installed suid root - without a security penalty.
    (At least no penalty I know of. :-)


2.) Directory layout

The recommended directory structure is as follows: A certain directory,
by default '/usr/local/cisco/etc' contains the modules main config file
('configuration') and a set of router configurations. If you have the
routers 'myrouter' and 'internet', the configuration files will
usually be named 'myrouter.conf' and 'internet.conf'.

The router configurations may contain comments, any line may contain
a comment, introduced by an exclamation mark.

Another directory, by default '/usr/local/cisco/tftp', contains
stripped versions of the router configurations. This directory is
used by the TFTP server for sending and receiving files.


3.) Installation

Easy: First you have to install the prerequired Perl modules, the
Data-Dumper module, the Net-Telnet module and perhaps the
IO-stringy modules.

This is done by fetching the archives and doing (for example) like
this:

    gzip -cd Data-Dumper-2.081.tar.gz | tar xf -
    cd Data-Dumper-2.081
    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make test
    su -c "make install"

Installing the Cisco-Conf module is just as simple! The only difference
is that the Makefile.PL will ask you a couple of question and allow you
(for example) to choose the installation directories, enter the local
hosts IP address and similar things.


4.) Adding routers

Once the module is installed you should insert your routers into the
router list of the main configuration file. For example a machine
'myrouter' is added by running

    cisconf -a myrouter

This will again ask you some questions, for example the hosts IP
address and similar things. See the man pages of cisconf and
Cisco::Conf for details by running

    perldoc cisconf
    perldoc Cisco::Conf


5.) Retrieving configuration files from the router

Once you have added a router to the configuration file, it is
a good start to fetch the routers current configuration by
executing

    cisconf -l myrouter

This will contact the router and save its configuration in
'/usr/local/cisco/tftp/myrouter.conf'.


6. Editing configuration files

After the routers configuration is fetched, you can invoke the
editor by running

    cisconf -e myrouter

For example the first step will typically be inserting the file
you have just retrieved from the router.


7. Saving configurations into the router

Modifications are saved with

    cisconf -s myrouter

or

    cisconf -s myrouter -w

The former will modify the routers running configuration only, the
latter will save the modifications into the non-volatile memory.


8. Author and Copyright

This program is

        Copyright (C) 1998    Jochen Wiedmann
                              Am Eisteich 9
                              72555 Metzingen
                              Germany

                              Phone: +49 7123 14887
                              Email: joe@ispsoft.de

All rights reserved.

You may distribute this module under the terms of either the GNU
General Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in
the Perl README file.


9. See also

the Cisco::Conf(3) manpage, the Cisco::Conf::Install(3) manpage,
the tftpd(8) manpage


