How to backup ‘show vlan’ and other ‘show’ commands as Orion NCM configs

NCM currently supports 2 config types per device: running and startup.  However, you can backup many more things by using these config types as containers for storing other information (e.g., show commands, different firewall context configs, etc.). In this simple example, I’ll walk you through how you can quickly backup the results of the ‘show vlan’ command in either the startup or running config container of a duplicate device.  

First, manually select the existing template for the original device

You’ll need to manually assign the device template for the original device so NCM won’t try to use the modified version we’ll create later.

1. Right-click on the device and select Edit Selected Node.

2. Scroll down to the Communication Section and change the Device Command Template from "Auto Determine" to the appropriate template for your device type (e.g., Cisco IOS for a Cisco 3750)

Second, create a copy of your original device

By creating a copy of your original device, you can use the duplicate device’s startup and running config containers to store other information while leaving the original device for storing proper startup and running configs.

1. Select Nodes > Add New Node

2. Choose a name that will allow you to distinguish the device from the original (e.g., Cisco-Aus-3725-VLAN-Bkup)

3. When prompted to add the network device again, click Yes

Next, create a device template for storing ‘show vlan’ data

We’ll take the original template used for the device, create a copy, and modify it to execute ‘show vlan’ instead of ‘show running’ and store the results in the Running config container. 

1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to your device template directory:  <install dir>\SolarWinds\Configuration Management\DeviceTypes

2. Copy the original template used for that device and rename it as appropriate (e.g. Cisco IOS Show VLAN-1.3.6.1.4.1.9.ConfigMgmt-Commands
        e.g. ‘Cisco IOS-1.3.6.1.4.1.9.ConfigMgmt-Commands’ to ‘Cisco IOS Show VLAN-1.3.6.1.4.1.9.ConfigMgmt-Commands’

3. Open the file in a text editor and change the name inside it as well:
        e.g. Device="Cisco IOS Show VLAN" to Device="Cisco IOS Show VLAN"

4. Change the Running Config command variable to back up results of ‘show vlan’ instead of ‘show running’:
        e.g. <Command Name="Running" Value="running"/> to <Command Name="Running" Value="vlan"/>

Finally, assign the new device template to your secondary (duplicate) device

1. Restart the NCM desktop application

2. Right-click on the duplicate device and select Edit Selected Node

3. Change the Device Command Template from "Auto Determine" to the modified template

 
4. Right-click on the duplicate device and select Download Configs to test

Now when scheduled config backups occur, you will have a backup of the results of ‘show vlan' as well as the startup and running configs.  Remember, we only used the Running config container for the duplicate device.   This means you can still use the Startup config container for some other show command.

We’re working on providing out of the box support for multiple config types per device, but in the interim, we’re hoping you find this workaround useful!