Can't export config from backed up device that is offline?

I mean, isn’t that when you are most likely to need the config of a radio ? When the one in service died and you need to set up another one ?

From the log
INFO: [Mon, 13 Jun 2022 10:56:45 GMT] Config file backed up successfully for 58:C1:7A:70:FD:1D

That radio went offline a few hours ago. I have been trying to find things cnM is useful for other than a glorified incredibly bloated CNUT (using it for software updates) and thought “hey lets see how I use cnM to restore the config of a customer radio that has to be replaced”. Yet… for a radio that is offline there is no “export” option, only “View” which (1) doesn’t contain the entire config and (2) requires, what, I guess copy/past save as json ? Will that even work ?

I’m really just trying to find uses for cnM beyond just using it as massively bloated CNUT. Oh the ability to push out partial configs to ePMP is nifty but really everything in cnM feels almost as low effort as the ePMP interface.

Oh I tried hitting just "export’ without a radio selected thinking it would maybe create a few thousand .json files but no, it creates what looks to be a blank template or something ?

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Hi @brubble1 ,

Configuration Backup pulls and stores configuration from devices which are currently online. So, If you have backed up the config file before the device(radio) went offline then the config data will be saved in cnMaestro until you delete the device.

You can export the last backed up configuration data of all the devices from the system level> configuration page

However, if you try to take backup after the device went offline then the export file wont contain the latest data instead it will give the last backed up data taken when the device was online.

Could you please share which on premises version you are using?

Regards,
Jishma

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Why is this such a hard thing to do ?
We’ve asked nicely so many times for just a daily backup config of a piece of equipment for a couple of weeks or like @brubble1 has asked for an offline export for all types of devices in cnMaestro.

Given you run most of your infra on AWS, surely it’s gotta use barely kilobytes of data per customer to do this and just keep a config snapshot of a device for a couple of weeks/cn changes.

Most of my customers don’t have servers onprem anymore or refuse to spin up boxes due to admin,cooling,patching,compliance,money so can’t dedicate a vm to rancid like back in the old days.

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The current purpose of the Export option is to allow offline storage of older backup to later be restored as the current system-wide backup in cnMaestro.

Potentially you could scrape the file to find the configuration for the specific device you’re interested in. The configurations should be keyed by MAC address.

Which product line is missing System>Accounts when you click “View” (PMP, ePMP)? What firmware version is the device running? This should contain the full configuration of the device and be the same backup exported from the device web UI.

When I know which product it is I’ll check with the device team to find out if this is bug or a design decision.

When you do click “View” there should be options to save it as a configuration template that can then be applied on a device or to download the configuration file for editing or storage. Are the “Download” and “Save as Template” buttons missing for you?

Thanks for the follow up and screenshot @brubble1. It is very helpful.

I’ve messaged our ePMP team about this missing configuration in the configuration file.

We have the “Download” and “Save as Template” buttons in the View Device Configuration but not in the Configuration Backup > View window, as your screenshot points out. We’ll work to get these buttons added here as well. This gives you an easy way to apply the configuration file on another device without having to do copy/paste in the UI.

Ultimately, is what you’re looking to do is have an easy way to swap out a device at a customer site and and copy over the configuration?

It is just odd that after 7 years of development cnMaestro does not have a built-in device config storage or diff, similar to Solarwinds/Rancid.

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I cannot understand it honestly.I think they feel that templates are enough but there’s always some sort of customization drift between the raw template you rolled out to the device on rollout and the lkg config before the magic smoke escaped or a lightning bolt entered it.

Rancid is a bunch of random perl scripts cobbled together and created in a time we measured our computers speed in Mhz.Its so old I remember I still had hair when I started using it.

Currently using zerotier + rancid but I would like a solution at least designed of this decade and not have to edit files on vim to get backups working.

They want to push further into the enterprise market but without config management in your portfolio your campus manager will usually not pass audit requirements.

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Hi @brubble1,

The device team has confirmed that the discrepancy between configuration sent to cnMaestro and exported via the device web UI is a defect. Sensitive items are getting sanitized from the file. A defect has been opened in the bug tracker for this.

Below are the parameters that are missing.

wirelessRadiusUser1Certificate
wirelessRadiusUser2Certificate
uhttpdMainPem
cambiumSysAccountsTable
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It’s by design but I’ve opened a ticket to have those buttons added to the backup view. The purpose of backups originally was just to restore a device’s own configuration to an earlier date. It has become clear that this needs to be improved.

I’ve been considering all the feedback in this thread, @djdrastic, @rnelson included, and appreciate the time spent to write it out. I’m hoping to take that and get feature/improvements based on it included in future releases.

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