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25 Apr 12
Installing Rancid on Debian
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 Folder
cd 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
Filed in
Cisco
Linux
Software
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