Cisco 2950 Software Configuration Guide - Page 653

Appendix B Working with the Cisco IOS File System, Configuration Files, and Software Images Working with Configuration Files This section includes this information: • Guidelines for Creating and Using Configuration Files, page B-9 • Configuration File Types and Location, page B-10 • Creating a Configuration File By Using a Text Editor, page B-10 • Copying Configuration Files By Using TFTP, page B-10 • Copying Configuration Files By Using FTP, page B-12 • Copying Configuration Files By Using RCP, page B-15 • Clearing Configuration Information, page B-19 Guidelines for Creating and Using Configuration Files Creating configuration files can aid in your switch configuration. Configuration files can contain some or all of the commands needed to configure one or more switches. For example, you might want to download the same configuration file to several switches that have the same hardware configuration. Use these guidelines when creating a configuration file: • We recommend that you connect through the console port when using configuration files to configure the switch. If you configure the switch from a Telnet session, IP addresses are not changed, and ports and modules are not disabled. • If no passwords have been set on the switch, you must set them on each switch by entering the enable secret secret-password global configuration command. Enter a blank line for this command. The password is saved in the configuration file as clear text. • If passwords already exist, you cannot enter the enable secret secret-password global configuration command in the file because the password verification will fail. If you enter a password in the configuration file, the switch mistakenly attempts to execute the passwords as commands as it executes the file. Note The copy {ftp: | rcp: | tftp:} system:running-config privileged EXEC command loads the configuration files on the switch as if you were entering the commands at the command line. The switch does not erase the existing running configuration before adding the commands. If a command in the copied configuration file replaces a command in the existing configuration file, the existing command is erased. For example, if the copied configuration file contains a different IP address in a particular command than the existing configuration, the IP address in the copied configuration is used. However, some commands in the existing configuration might not be replaced or negated. In this case, the resulting configuration file is a mixture of the existing configuration file and the copied configuration file, with the copied configuration file having precedence. To restore a configuration file to an exact copy of a file stored on a server, copy the configuration file directly to the startup configuration (by using the copy {ftp: | rcp: | tftp:} nvram:startup-config privileged EXEC command), and reload the switch. 78-11380-10 Catalyst 2950 and Catalyst 2955 Switch Software Configuration Guide B-9