Archived - How do I view configuration file changes? (Entuity v20.0 and v21.0)

Introduction

To compare configuration files

To compare running and startup

To view running configuration or view startup configuration

To compare running or compare startup configurations

To view change-based diffs

Introduction:

Entuity allows you to view configuration file changes, where they have been identified.

You can compare configuration files in any of the following combinations:

• current startup and running configuration files.
• any two archived startup configuration files.
• any two archived running configuration files.

Entuity identifies all differences between the two selected files. Any ignore patterns configured through the exclude patterns file are not applied.

This functionality requires the Configuration Monitor View Config permission. Please see this article for help and information on user permissions in Entuity.

To compare configuration files:

1. Navigate to and select the device for which you want to compare files, and navigate to its Configuration Monitor dashboard.
2. On the Device Configurations dashlet, select the file or files that you want to compare, and right click to open the Context Menu.
   
   
   
   
3. Click on one of the following options, depending on if you have selected one or two files:
   • Compare Running and Startup.
   • View Running Configuration.
   • View Startup Configuration.
   • Compare Running Configurations.
   • Compare Startup Configurations.
4. The comparison page for your choice will open (see below).

To compare running and startup:

When you click this option, the Compare Configuration Files page will open. This displays the startup and running configurations based on the single file you have selected.

The differences between the two files are color-coded, depending on the nature of the difference.

The following key is displayed at the bottom of the page:

Highlight Color	Type of Difference
red	deleted line.
yellow	change to an existing line.
green	new line.
grey	missing line when compared to the original.

There are two methods of display, which you can change at the bottom of the page (at the top of the page, you can click Change View Format to jump to these options at the bottom of the page).

• Side by Side: displays both files in their entirety side by side.
• Inline: displays only one column, with only the changed lines underneath one another.

You can also change the context of the display. Some files may be very long, and you may wish only to view the changed details. In this case, you can enter the number of unchanged lines around the changed lines in the context box (or leave it blank to display all lines):

So for example, if you specified 5 unchanged lines around each change, the page would only display the 5 unchanged lines above and 5 below the changed line.

If you have made any changes, click Reload to reload the page with the parameters that you have specified.

To view running configuration or view startup configuration:

These options are available when you have selected a single configuration file.

When you click one of these two options, a new browser page will open that displays the configuration file.

To compare running configurations or compare startup configurations:

These options are available when you have selected two configuration files.

When you select either of these options, the two files are displayed either side-by-side or inline, depending on the choice you make at the bottom of the page.  The differences between the two files are highlighted. Please see the Compare running and startup section above for information on how these files are displayed.

To view change-based diffs:

Change-based diffs allow you to view the associated events of change-based retrieval, to identify exactly where changes have occured in the configuration. These are now stored as diffs (stored against the device itself), that allow you check the history of changes.

You can view the associated events of either configuration changes or policy violations, and this is accessible from the Configuration Changes Over Time dashlet and Policy Violations Over Time dashlet on the Configuration Monitoring dashboard for the selected device.

Note, diff viewer data is stored in the Entuity event engine. This means that the diff viewer data will not be accessible from the Configuration Monitoring dashboard once the event has expired. However, you can view historical diff data from the Device Configuration Diffs report. From this report you can specify to view diff data back over the course of the previous year.

Note, from Entuity v21.0 upwards, upon being saved diffs are scanned for ASCII control characters, which are then replaced with '?' by default. You can specify which control characters are replaced with which new character via the ConfigMonitor.CntrlCharReplacement setting in entuity.cfg.

From Entuity v22.0 upwards, you can view the history of policy violations against archived configurations via the History tab of the Policy Management page.

To view change-based diffs:

1. Navigate to the Configuration Monitoring dashboard of the device for which you want to view any configuration changes.
2. Click the Associated Events button (or via the respective Overflow Menu) on either the Configuration Changes Over Time dashlet or Policy Violations Over Time dashlet.
   
   
   
   
3. The Associated Events window will open, listing the events associated with the selected chart. Right click on an event to open the Context Menu, and select Compare Running v Previous.
   
   
   
   
4. This will open the Diff Viewer window, which shows the previous (on the left) and running (on the right) configs side by side, with the lines highlighted as follows depending on their differences:
   •  - new line
   •  - deleted line
   •  - changed line
     
     

This functionality can also be accessed from the Events List dashlet by the same method (Context Menu > Compare Running v Previous).