Automating Configuration Backup

Indeni backup UI showing backup list on left and three dated backup result cards with errors and warnings, Output button high

Notice: This blog post was originally published on Indeni before its acquisition by BlueCat.

The content reflects the expertise and perspectives of the Indeni team at the time of writing. While some references may be outdated, the insights remain valuable. For the latest updates and solutions, explore the rest of our blog

One of the most important tasks of a network and security administrator is to backup the configuration files of your device periodically. Frequency could be daily, weekly or monthly depending on your policy. In the unlikely event that your firewall should lose its configuration or require a factory reset, you can retrieve the configuration file from your backup server to restore the operational state of the network. We are excited to announce our new automated backup capability, introduced in Indeni Release 6.3.0.

A best practice is to backup a configuration remotely on a regular basis before and after you make changes to the configuration, or before performing a firmware or software release upgrade. It is always important to be able to rollback configurations to a previous state.

Indeni’s automated backup will save ten versions of the backup files. Configurations are saved as a plain, unencrypted text file.

In this initial release, we support Check Point GAiA firewalls. Indeni uses securely managed credentials and secure transports (SSH) to access each device and retrieve the configuration files.

The commands used:

  • Check Point GAiA

/config/active
cpbackup_util backup –file backup –type all
clish -c “show configuration”

In subsequent releases, we plan to add support for the following devices:

  • Check Point 61k, Multi-Domain Security management and SmartCenter  
  • Cisco Nexus series switches
  • F5 load balancers
  • Juniper SRX firewall devices
  • Panorama managed Palo Alto Network firewalls

Stay tuned for upcoming announcements regarding additional devices support in the coming months.

For more information about the new backup feature, please refer to the Indeni 6.0 User Guide – Device Backup.

Key Takeaways
  • Indeni 6.3.0 introduces an automated configuration backup capability for supported network and security devices.
  • The system maintains up to ten historical backup versions, enabling rollback to previous configuration states when required.
  • Backups are stored as plain, unencrypted text files, which may require additional external controls for secure storage and access.
  • In this initial release, automated backup supports Check Point GAiA firewalls using SSH with securely managed credentials.
  • Configuration retrieval on Check Point GAiA uses the commands cpbackup_util backup --file backup --type all and clish -c "show configuration".
  • Future releases plan to extend backup support to Check Point 61k, Multi-Domain/SMS, Cisco Nexus, F5, Juniper SRX, and Panorama-managed Palo Alto Networks firewalls.

An avatar of the author

Ulrica de Fort-Menares is the Vice President of Product Management for Infrastructure Assurance.

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