Creating a configuration snapshot

A job with the Snapshot action copies the Running, Startup, and other applicable configurations from the device to the database.

For new devices, the initial Running and Startup configurations are marked as Trusted (that is, desired state). On all subsequent snapshots, the user can designate if the new configurations should be marked as Trusted. After the snapshot, each current configuration is compared to the Trusted configuration. Differences are reported as configuration discrepancies on the Dashboard and Discrepancy reports. If a change is detected after the snapshot, a corresponding historical configuration is created.

During the snapshot, BMC Network Automation also discovers the device's model and OS image version. The Running and Startup configurations are tagged with the discovered OS image version. If a new OS image version is discovered, BMC Network Automation creates a branch in the OS Image library. In addition, new auto groups by model and OS version are created, as appropriate. If a difference is detected between the current and trusted Running configuration OS image version, an OS Image discrepancy is shown on the Dashboard and Discrepancy reports.

For certain Cisco devices (IOS, IOS XR, and Nexus), BMC Network Automation also discovers additional hardware inventory including:

• Hardware entities (for example, chassis, slots) and their associated attributes (for example, name, description, product identifier (PID), version identifier (VID) and serial number SN). The PID is used when ordering parts from Cisco, processing end-of-service notifications and tracking component changes (adds, deletes, moves). The chassis hardware entity serial number usually tracks to your SMARTnet service agreement (that is, backplane serial number). For stackable switches, multiple chassis serial numbers are reported.
• Total, used and free memory and flash.

The discovered hardware inventory can be viewed and searched. You can generate tabular hardware inventory reports for SMARTnet reconciliation by using the Device Inventory Report.

BMC Network Automation detects changes to the hardware inventory. When there is a change, BMC Network Automation updates the device's current inventory and archives the previous hardware inventory. BMC Network Automation logs an event whenever a historical hardware inventory is created. This event can trigger a policy to send a hardware change notification (for example, email, SNMP).

To run a Snapshot action

1. On the Add Job page, select Add Action > Span Actions > Snapshot.
   
    

2. Enter information in the following fields:

   Field	Description
   Annotation	(Optional) Annotation assigned to the configurations created by the action.
   Network Span	Select a realm, group, multiple devices, or a single device for the Snapshot action. When the Network Span is Realm or Group, you can use Filter Devices to select which devices to include in the action. When the action is triggered in an event-based Policy, additional options include: Same as Triggering Realm, Same as Triggering Group, Same as Triggering Device.

3. Select any of the following options, as relevant:

   Check box	Description
   Mark as Trusted	When a new configuration file is detected, mark this new version as Trusted.
   Use Auxiliary Interface	When the selected network span is a device, this option selects the auxiliary interface for connecting to the device. When not checked or when the span is not a device, the primary interface is used.

4. Click OK to add the action to the job.