Brocade BigIron RX Series Hardware Reference Manual - Manual (Page 160)

148 Brocade BigIron RX Series Hardware Installation Guide
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Dynamic configuration loading
6
Dynamic configuration loading
You can load dynamic configuration commands (commands that do not require a reload to take
effect) from a file on a TFTP server into the BigIron RX Series switch’s running-config. You can make
configuration changes off-line, then load the changes directly into the device’s running-config,
without reloading the software.
Usage considerations
• Use this feature only to load configuration information that does not require a software reload
to take effect. For example, you cannot use this feature to change statically configured memory
(system-max command).
• Do not load port configuration information for secondary ports in a trunk group. Since all ports
in a trunk group use the port configuration settings of the primary port in the group, the
software cannot implement the changes to the secondary port.
Preparing the configuration file
A configuration file that you create must follow the same syntax rules as the startup-config file the
device creates.
• The configuration file is a script containing CLI configuration commands. The CLI reacts to
each command entered from the file in the same way the CLI reacts to the command if you
enter it. For example, if the command results in an error message or a change to the CLI
configuration level, the software responds by displaying the message or changing the CLI level.
• The software retains the running-config that is currently on the device, and changes the
running-config only by adding new commands from the configuration file. If the running config
already contains a command that is also in the configuration file you are loading, the CLI
rejects the new command as a duplicate and displays an error message. For example, if the
running-config already contains a command that configures ACL 1, the software rejects ACL 1
in the configuration file, and displays a message that ACL 1 is already configured.
• The file can contain global CONFIG commands or configuration commands for interfaces,
routing protocols, and so on. You cannot enter User EXEC or Privileged EXEC commands.
• The default CLI configuration level in a configuration file is the global CONFIG level. Thus, the
first command in the file must be a global CONFIG command or “ ! ”. The ! (exclamation point)
character means “return to the global CONFIG level”.
NOTE
You can enter text following “ ! “ as a comment. However, the “ ! ” is not a comment marker. It
returns the CLI to the global configuration level.
NOTE
The CLI changes to the global CONFIG level if you load the configuration as a startup-config file
instead of the running-config (using the copy tftp startup-config <ip-addr> <filename>
command or ncopy tftp <ip-addr> <from-name> startup-config command).