VCCS - Versatile Configuration Capture Script
The VCCS Story
I enjoy designing, building, documenting and supporting networks, but it is no fun having to recover from a network failure if you do not have all the necessary device configuration backups. Such situations are usually late at night, or right in the middle of some really critical business activity. Typically they cause an extended service interruption and they tend to be very stressful. I find this often leads to compromises and/or mistakes, some of which might even threaten the security or integrity of critical business data.
Most of the networking equipment I have encountered can be accessed via telnet and/or SSH or through a serial console server. For this I have been using Tera Term as my main device console access application for a long time. It supports serial, telnet and SSH connections and it has a powerful scripting language specifically designed for console interaction. So that is what I have used to create VCCS.
The purpose of VCCS is to help protect all the “invisible” network device configuration data that actually makes a network be a network. The configurations that make a network function are not as apparent as, say, a document or a spreadsheet on a hard-drive, but if they are lost or corrupted, a network or business could be severely crippled.
Yes! Network device configuration backups are essential!
Ultimately with VCCS, all the network device configuration data becomes files on a server hard-drive. Then they can also be 3-2-1 backed up with the rest of the data on the server. The job of VCCS is to get the configurations out of the network devices and then to keep them organised, up to date and available.
I have now been working on VCCS on an ad-hoc basis for a long time... It is a project that I may complete, but may never finish as there always seems to be another box that needs to be backed up!
Something to Consider…
I have never I experienced a core network device failure that didn’t have repercussions many tiers above my pay grade… Telling your manager that missing device configuration backups extended a network outage is never a pleasant conversation!
So You Want VCCS…
What next?
Ok, so I have convinced you that you should backup all your network device configurations, and you think VCCS is worth a look…
Here is what to do next…
You need VCCS. Get it free here.
You need Tera Term. Get it free here.
Next, VCCS needs to be set up before it can capture device configurations.
If you want more information look here:
The VCCS Reference Guide
This is a book for the Kindle range of eReaders and is available on Amazon.
Additionally, I can be contacted if you need specific advice or assistance. Find my contact details in the About Me page.
