Cisco – Restoring MDS configurations from somewhere else

We recently had to replace a Cisco MDS 9124e in our lab. I used to use this method to copy and restore configuration files to MDS switches.

switch# copy tftp://192.168.0.20/switch.cfg startup-config
Trying to connect to tftp server......
Connection to server Established. Copying Started.....
|
TFTP get operation was successful
This command is deprecated. To obtain the same results, please use
the sequence 'write erase' + 'reload' + 'copy <file> running-config' + 'copy running-config startup-config'.

It was rough, but it used to work. So now I do this.

switch# copy tftp://192.168.0.20/switch.cfg bootflash:
Trying to connect to tftp server......
Connection to server Established. Copying Started.....
|
TFTP get operation was successful
switch# dir
      15155    Feb 05 21:37:37 2013  switch.cfg

write erase
reload
copy switch.cfg running-config
copy run start

It makes sense, as the write erase and reload commands make you think about what you’re doing, and you need to be sure that you want to overwrite the running or startup config.

6 Comments

  1. No worries Dan.

    Did you come across any issues with licensing or Fabric Manager after the swap out? I’ll be performing a swap out of two switches this weekend and want to ensure I’ve done my research to avoid any potential issues.

    Cheers,
    Tim

  2. Hi Tim,
    The switch I replaced was a 9124e, so it had built-in port licenses that didn’t need restoring. The 9124, on the other hand, only has the first 8 ports licensed by default, so if you have more ports than that licensed you’ll need to re-host those port licenses, as they’re generated using the host-id of the switch.
    Cheers,
    Dan

  3. Thanks Dan.

    Yeah this is what I have planned for as per the MDS cookbook. I’ll provide you my feedback once I’ve done the swap out of the MDS 9222i switches and let you know if there is any other info which you may wish to include in your article.

    Cheers,
    Tim

Comments are closed.