Backup script to automatically backup configurations from multiple HP Procurve Switches

Additionally, the script will compare the running-config against the startup-config and emit a warning if they are different (ie, the running configuration has not been saved).

Once you have a configuration file (see below):

procurve-bup -o /path/to/save/backups

If you have you config file in a non-standard location, you can use the -c flag to tell the script where to find it's configuration file. Standard config locations are (in order they are checked):

• ./procurve-bup.conf
• ~/.procurve-bup.conf
• /etc/procurve-bup.conf

Add the -a flag to have a tarball archive of all the retrieved configuration files created.

Additionally, using the -g flag will cause the output path to be treated as a git repository and changes to config files will be automatically committed to the tree. If the directory is not already a git repository, it will be initialized as one (using git init) automatically.

SSH filetransfer must be enabled on the switches you want to backup. To enable this feature, login to the switch (via telnet or serial) and issue the following commands after entering config mode:

crypto key generate ssh
ip ssh
ip ssh filetransfer

If you want to use public key authentication, and your switch supports it, you need to give the switch your PUBLIC key:

ip ssh public-key manager "ssh-rsa AAAAB3N....."
aaa authentication ssh enable public-key

Optionally, you can then disable the telnet server and perform administration tasks via SSH which is encrypted:

no telnet-server

A simple configuration file listing the details of the switches to be backed up powers the script.

The configuration file is very simple; 1 line per switch with 4 columns per line (whitespace delimited). Comments are supported (see below).

• Column 1: A 'friendly' name for the switch (no spaces)
• Column 2: DNS host or IP Address of the switch
• Column 3: Username to login to the switch with
• Column 4: Method to login with: password or pubkey
• Column 5: If method=password, then password to login to the switch with If method=pubkey, then the path to private key to login with

This example will backup 3 switches called main-switch, floor1-switch and floor2-switch. An SSH connection will be made to the corresponding IP Address and authentication will be made as user manager for the the switch named main-switch and user admin for the other 2 switches. The respective password in the forth column will be used for each connection:

main-switch     192.168.1.10  manager password  my_pa55w0rd
floor1-switch   192.168.1.11  admin   password  secret_pa55w0rd
floor2-switch   192.168.1.12  admin   password  d0nt_tellany1

The resulting tree in the backup path will appear as below, assuming the script was run on Friday 20th September 2013, and the -a flag was used:

./
+-- procurve-configs-20130920.tar.gz
+-- floor1-switch
|   +-- floor1-switch_Fri_running-config
|   +-- floor1-switch_Fri_startup-config
+-- floor2-switch
|   +-- floor2-switch_Fri_running-config
|   +-- floor2-switch_Fri_startup-config
\-- main-switch
    +-- main-switch_Fri_running-config
    +-- main-switch_Fri_startup-config

• Comments are supported and marked by a hash ('#') character.
• Comments must start at the beginning of a line; comments can not start in the middle of a line.

Good:

main-switch     192.168.1.10  my_pa55w0rd
# floor1 is offline at the moment, don't try to backup
#floor1-switch   192.168.1.11  secret_pa55w0rd
floor2-switch   192.168.1.12  d0nt_tellany1

Bad:

main-switch     192.168.1.10  my_pa55w0rd   # this is the main switch
floor1-switch   192.168.1.11  secret_pa55w0rd
floor2-switch   192.168.1.12  d0nt_tellany1

1. If a connection can not be made to the switch, the password will be displayed in the scripts' output. Be careful where this output is emailed to.
2. Passwords are stored in plain text (by necessity) in the configuration file. Ensure proper permissions (600) are on this file.

This script has been tested as working with the following switch models:

• HP Procurve 2510-24 (J9019B)
• HP Procurve 2510-24G (J9279A)
• HP Procurve 2510-48 (J9020A)
• HP Procurve 2510-48G (J9280A)
• HP Procurve 2520-8-PoE (J9137A)
• HP Procurve 2530-24G (J9776A)
• HP Procurve 2620-24-PoE+ (J9625A)
• HP Procurve 2920-24G (J9726A)