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Manual Chapter : Backup File Management

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 5.4.0
Manual Chapter
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How do I manage backups for BIG-IP configurations?

The configuration details of managed devices (including the BIG-IQ® system itself) are kept in a compressed user configuration set (UCS) file. The UCS file has all of the information you need to restore a device's configuration, including:

  • System-specific configuration files
  • License
  • User account and password information
  • SSL certificates and keys

You can create a backup of a device's UCS file so that you can easily recover a configuration for a managed device. You can also compare configuration files within a UCS backup between the same (or different) BIG-IP® devices, for troubleshooting or to mirror certain configuration options.

Backing up a device's current configuration

Creating a backup (in the form of a UCS file) for all devices in your network, including the BIG-IQ system itself, on a regular basis allows you to easily restore a configuration if a system becomes unstable. It's a good idea to create a backup of a system immediately before performing a software upgrade or before you make significant configuration changes.

  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. Select the check box next to each device you want to create a backup for, click the More button and select Back Up Now.
  3. Type a name to identify this backup, and an optional description for it.
  4. If you want to include the SSL private keys in the backup file, select the Include Private Keys check box.

    If you save a copy of the SSL private key, you can reinstall it if the original one becomes corrupt.

  5. To encrypt the backup file, select the Encrypt Backup Files check box, and type and verify the passphrase.
  6. Use the Local Retention Policy setting to specify how long you want to keep the backup file on BIG-IQ.
    • To delete the copies of the backup after a certain number of days, select Delete local backup copy and specify the number of days to keep the backup copy before deleting it.
    • To keep copies of the backups indefinitely, select Never Delete.
  7. To keep copies of backups remotely on a SCP or SFTP server:
    1. For the Archive setting, select the Store archive copy of backup check box.
    2. For the Location setting, select SCP or SFTP.
    3. In the IP Address field, type the IP address of the remote server where you want to store the archives.
    4. In the User Name and Password fields, type the credentials to access this server.
    5. In the Directory field, type the name of the directory where you want to store the archives on the remote server.
    Storing a backup remotely means you can restore data to a BIG-IP device even if you can't access the archive in the BIG-IQ system directory.
    If you configure BIG-IQ to save backup files to a remote server and that server is unavailable during a scheduled backup, BIG-IQ ignores the local retention policy and retains the local copy of the backup file. This ensures that a backup is always available. To remove those local backups, you must delete them.
    Tip: Archived copies of backups are kept permanently on the remote server you specify. If you want to clear space on the remote server, you have to manually delete the backups.
  8. Click the Start button at the bottom of the screen.
After the backup is created, it appears in the Backup Files list and you can restore a managed BIG-IP device. When BIG-IQ creates a backup, it saves it in the following format: backup name_device name_time of backup.ucs

Setting up a UCS backup schedule

It is important to create a UCS backup for your managed devices on a regularly scheduled basis, so that you can easily restore a recent configuration if necessary.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. On the left, click BACKUP & RESTORE > Backup Schedules .
  3. Near the top of the screen, click the Create button.
  4. Type a name to identify this backup, and an optional description for it.
  5. If you want to include the SSL private keys in the backup file, select the Include Private Keys check box.

    If you save a copy of the SSL private key, you can reinstall it if the original one becomes corrupt.

  6. To encrypt the backup file, select the Encrypt Backup Files check box, and type and verify the passphrase.
  7. Use the Local Retention Policy setting to specify how long you want to keep the backup file on BIG-IQ.
    • To delete the copies of the backup after a certain number of days, select Delete local backup copy and specify the number of days to keep the backup copy before deleting it.
    • To keep copies of the backups indefinitely, select Never Delete.
  8. For the Backup Frequency setting, select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly for the Schedule Backup to specify how often backups are created. Based on the frequency, you can then specify the days and time you want to create the backups..
  9. For the Start Date setting, click the calendar and select the date you want BIG-IQ to start creating backups.
  10. Select the Groups or Individuals option.
  11. If you selected Individuals, from the Available list, click the individual devices you want to back up and -> to move it to the Selected list.
  12. To keep copies of backups remotely on a SCP or SFTP server:
    1. For the Archive setting, select the Store archive copy of backup check box.
    2. For the Location setting, select SCP or SFTP.
    3. In the IP Address field, type the IP address of the remote server where you want to store the archives.
    4. In the User Name and Password fields, type the credentials to access this server.
    5. In the Directory field, type the name of the directory where you want to store the archives on the remote server.
    Storing a backup remotely means you can restore data to a BIG-IP device even if you can't access the archive in the BIG-IQ system directory.
    If you configure BIG-IQ to save backup files to a remote server and that server is unavailable during a scheduled backup, BIG-IQ ignores the local retention policy and retains the local copy of the backup file. This ensures that a backup is always available. To remove those local backups, you must delete them.
    Tip: Archived copies of backups are kept permanently on the remote server you specify. If you want to clear space on the remote server, you have to manually delete the backups.
  13. Click the Save button
After the backup is created, it appears in the Backup Files list and you can restore a managed BIG-IP device. When BIG-IQ creates a backup, it saves it in the following format: backup name_device name_time of backup.ucs.

Restoring a device with a UCS backup file

You must create a backup UCS file before you can restore it to a device.
You restore a device's UCS configuration to reinstall, or to roll back to a previous version of the device's configuration, without having to recreate it.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. On the left, click BACKUP & RESTORE > Backup Files .
  3. Select the check box next to the UCS backup file you want to restore.
  4. Click the Restore button.
The BIG-IQ® system restores the saved UCS backup file to the device.
Important: If you restore a BIG-IP device with a backup that is older than its current configuration, any existing backups that are more recent no longer appear in the Backup Files list. Those files, however, are still stored in the /shared/ucs_backups directory until you delete them.

Pausing and restarting a UCS backup schedule

If you need to make a change to a BIG-IP® device's configuration during a scheduled UCS backup, you can suspend the scheduled backup and restart it when you are finished changing the configuration.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. On the left, click BACKUP & RESTORE > Backup Files .
  3. Select the check box next to the schedule you want to suspend.
  4. Click the Suspend Schedule button.
BIG-IQ® suspends the UCS backup schedule until you restart the schedule.
To restart the scheduled UCS backup, select the device and click the Restart Schedule button.

Compare two UCS backup files

You must have created two or more UCS backup files for one or more BIG-IP® devices, before you can compare them.
You can compare BIG-IP UCS files of two different devices, or the same device. The device(s) can be running the same or different version of software. Comparing these files allows you to precisely pinpoint differences between configurations and other backup data files. You can use the list of differences to troubleshoot potential issues (such as those that might have been introduced during a configuration change), or use the differences to locate changes you can make to a device to mirror certain configuration details of another device.
Note: The further apart the software versions are for the files you are comparing, the more differences you'll likely see because of new features and changes made in later versions.
By default, BIG-IQ® compares the following files in the UCS backup:
  • /config/ZebOS.conf
  • /config/bigip.conf
  • /config/bigip_base.conf
  • /config/bigip_gtm.conf
  • /config/bigip_local.conf
  • /config/bigip_user.conf
  • /config/user_alert.conf

You also have the option to add custom files to this list.

Tip: If you want to save this setting to use for all of your file comparison tasks (not just this one), click the back button and then click the Settings button to specify the files to compare for all UCS comparison tasks.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. On the left, click BACK UP & RESTORE > Backup Files .
  3. Select the check boxes next to two UCS backup files that you want to examine, and click the Compare button.
  4. In the Name field, type a new name to identify this compare task.
  5. To add an optional description to this compare task, type it in the Description field.
  6. To remove a default configuration file from this comparison task, clear the check box next to it.
  7. To add a custom file to this comparison task, type its name in the Custom Files field.
    If you add a custom file, be sure to use the full path format like the ones for the default configuration files.
  8. Click the Compare button at the bottom of the screen.
  9. On the left, click BACK UP & RESTORE > Backup Compare History .
  10. Click the name of the backup compare you created.
  11. Click View Differences to view the differences between the configurations.
BIG-IQ displays the differences between the files you selected.
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