Rancid install on Debian notes
I had to recently test out couple of open source configuration management programs and the first one that I picked was Rancid. It is a pretty good program to backup your network equipment configurations. It can work with multiple vendors but I just needed it specifically for Cisco ASA firewalls, Cisco PIX and Cisco CSS. I have also used it previous for Juniper Netscreen configuration backups too.
Below are some of my installation notes that I typed up as I was going through the installation of Rancid:
- Downloaded Rancid to /usr/src
- wget ftp://ftp.shrubbery.net/pub/rancid/rancid-2.3.8.tar.gz
- Create a Rancid user “adduser -home /home/rancid rancid”
- apt-get install build-essentials
- tar -xvfz rancid-2.3.8.tar.gz
- Chage your directory to Rancid Foldercd rancid-2.3.8
- Make Rancid user own the rancid directory
- chown -R rancid:rancid /home/rancid
- ./configure -prefix=/home/rancid -localstatedir=/home/rancid/var/rancid
- make install
- There will be whole bunch of text that will scroll, just make sure there are no errors and as long as there are no errors you are good to go
- /home/rancid/etc/rancid.conf file is for the Rancid configuration. Use this file to create groups that represent location(s) or device(s).
- Now create a “.cloginrc” file under “/home/rancid/” directory and specify credentials in this file for the devices
- There is a “cloginrc.sample” file located int the main Rancid folder, that will show you how to set up the credentials
- Now it is IMPORTANT that you setup proper permissions on this file as the passwords in this file get stored in clear text
- chmod 600 .cloginrc and then chown rancid:rancid .cloginrc
- Now you will create all the rancid groups but the command must be launched by the rancid user. So “su” as rancid (su – rancid)
- If the directories are not created and you get errors check permissions, delete /home/rancid/var/group and re run the above command
- Now for each group you have to modify the “router.db” file
- File location that you need to edit is, “/home/rancid/var/rancid/group/router.db”
- If you are going to be using the hostnames, make sure they resolve. Now run the “rancid-run” as rancid user, “/home/rancid/bin/rancid-run”
- This will go and grab the configurations from the devices you specified and save them. Now you can view them via command line, however if you want a web interface you will need to install CVS or SVN. I installed CVS
- apt-get install cvsweb
- Update and modify /etc/cvsweb/cvsweb.conf to create the group
- If the directory containing the cvsweb icons and css files is not in /var/www, you have to add a symbolic link : “ln -s /usr/share/cvsweb /var/www/cvsweb”
- Now I was ready to view all the configs via web interface by pointing my web browser to http://ip-address/cgi-bin/cvsweb/
Tags: Cisco Configuration Management Rancid, Installing Rancid on Debian, Rancid and CVS Installation on Debian, Rancid Install quick steps, Rancid Installation