60 Brocade ICX 6650 Administration Guide
53-1002600-01
Loading and saving configuration files
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•The configuration file is a script containing CLI configuration commands. The CLI reacts to
each command entered from the file in the same way the CLI reacts to the command if you
enter it. For example, if the command results in an error message or a change to the CLI
configuration level, the software responds by displaying the message or changing the CLI level.
•The software retains the running-config that is currently on the device, and changes the
running-config only by adding new commands from the configuration file. If the running config
already contains a command that is also in the configuration file you are loading, the CLI
rejects the new command as a duplicate and displays an error message. For example, if the
running-config already contains a a command that configures ACL 1, the software rejects ACL
1 in the configuration file, and displays a message that ACL 1 is already configured.
•The file can contain global CONFIG commands or configuration commands for interfaces,
routing protocols, and so on. You cannot enter User EXEC or Privileged EXEC commands.
•The default CLI configuration level in a configuration file is the global CONFIG level. Thus, the
first command in the file must be a global CONFIG command or “ ! ”. The ! (exclamation point)
character means “return to the global CONFIG level”.
NOTE
You can enter text following “ ! “ a s a comment. However, the “ !” is not a comment marker. It
returns the CLI to the global configuration level.
NOTE
If you copy-and-paste a configuration into a management session, the CLI ignores the “ ! “
instead of changing the CLI to the global CONFIG level. As a result, you might get different
results if you copy-and-paste a configuration instead of loading the configuration using TFTP.
•Make sure you enter each command at the correct CLI level. Since some commands have
identical forms at both the global CONFIG level and individual configuration levels, if the CLI
response to the configuration file results in the CLI entering a configuration level you did not
intend, then you can get unexpected results.
For example, if a trunk group is active on the device, and the configuration file contains a
command to disable STP on one of the secondary ports in the trunk group, the CLI rejects the
commands to enter the interface configuration level for the port and moves on to the next
command in the file you are loading. If the next command is a spanning-tree command whose
syntax is valid at the global CONFIG level as well as the interface configuration level, then the
software applies the command globally. Here is an example.
The configuration file contains these commands.
interface ethernet 1/1/7
no spanning-tree
The CLI responds like this.
Brocade(config)#interface ethernet 1/1/7
Error - cannot configure secondary ports of a trunk
Brocade(config)#no spanning-tree
Brocade(config)#
•If the file contains commands that must be entered in a specific order, the commands must
appear in the file in the required order. For example, if you want to use the file to replace an IP
address on an interface, you must first remove the old address using “no” in front of the ip
address command, then add the new address. Otherwise, the CLI displays an error message
and does not implement the command. Here is an example.