Asante Technologies 35516 user manual Managing Configuration Files, Configuring from the Terminal

4.2 Managing Configuration Files

This section discusses how to download configuration files from remote servers, and store configuration files on the router at system startup.

Configuration files contain the commands the router uses to customize the function of the IC35516. The setup command facility helps you create a basic configuration file. However, you can manually change the configuration by typing commands in a configuration mode.

Startup configuration files are used during system startup to configure the software. Running configuration files contain the current configuration of the software. The two configuration files can be different. For example, you may want to change the configuration for a short period rather than permanently. In this case, you would change the running configuration using the configure terminal command, but not save the configuration using the copy running-configstartup-configcommand. To change the startup configuration, you can either save the running configuration file to the startup configuration using the copy running-configstartup-configcommand, or copy commands from a file server to the startup configuration (copy tftp startup config command) without affecting the running configuration.

4.2.1 Configuring from the Terminal

The configuration files are stored in the following places:

•The running configuration is stored in RAM

•The startup configuration is stored in nonvolatile random-access memory (NVRAM)

To enter the configuration mode, enter the configure terminal command at the privileged EXEC prompt. The software accepts one configuration command per line. You can enter as many configuration commands as you want.

You can add comments to a configuration file describing the commands you have entered. Precede a comment with an exclamation point (!).

Use the following commands to configure the software from the terminal.

Command	Purpose
configure terminal	Enters global configuration mode and select the
	terminal option.
Router(config)#	The global configuration prompt. Enter the
	necessary configuration commands.
End or press Ctrl-Z (^Z)	Exits global configuration mode.
Copy running-config startup-	Saves the configuration file to your startup
config	configuration. On most platforms, this step saves the
	configuration to NVRAM.

In the following example, the hostname command is used to change the hostname from "Router" to "new_name". By pressing Ctrl-Z (^Z) or entering the end command, the user quits the global configuration mode. Finally, the copy running-configstartup-configcommand saves the current configuration to the startup configuration.

Router# configure terminal

Router(config)# hostname new_name

new_name(config)# end

new_name# copy running-config startup-config

When the startup configuration is in NVRAM, it stores the current configuration information in text format as configuration commands, recording only non-default settings. The memory is checksummed to guard against corrupted data.

34