NetConfigArk

Network device configuration backup tool. Connects to switches, routers, and firewalls via SSH/Telnet to fetch running configurations in read-only mode (no changes made to devices).

Supported Devices

Type	Device	Config Command
cisco	Cisco IOS/IOS-XE Switch/Router	show running-config
cisco_asa	Cisco ASA/FTD Firewall	show running-config
cisco_nxos	Cisco Nexus Data Center Switch	show running-config
cisco_xr	Cisco IOS-XR Router	show running-config
huawei	Huawei VRP Switch/Router	display current-configuration
huawei_usg	Huawei USG Firewall	display current-configuration
h3c	H3C Comware Switch/Router	display current-configuration
fortinet	Fortinet FortiGate Firewall	show full-configuration
juniper	Juniper JunOS Router/Switch/SRX	show configuration
paloalto	Palo Alto PAN-OS Firewall	show config running
routeros	MikroTik RouterOS Router/Switch	export

Features

• Batch or single device — CSV file for bulk operations, or CLI arguments for one device
• Device type fingerprint validation — auto-detects and corrects wrong device_type during pre-check (e.g., H3C mislabeled as Huawei)
• SSH auto-detection — leave device_type empty in CSV for SSH connections, auto-detected via SSHDetect
• Pre-check before backup — verifies all devices are reachable before starting; --skip-unreachable to continue with reachable ones
• Config completeness validation — checks for end markers, paging residue, and minimum line count
• Connection retry — automatic retry on timeout for intermittent network issues
• Empty output retry — fallback to time-based command for devices with prompt detection quirks
• Concurrent execution — configurable thread count for parallel backups; --burst mode for maximum parallelism
• Config diff report — compare latest N backups per device, generate an HTML report with color-coded diffs; auto-generated timestamps filtered by default
• Config viewer — generate an interactive HTML page to browse the latest backup config for each device with syntax highlighting and search
• Organized output — backups grouped by location, named by IP/type/hostname/timestamp
• Read-only guarantee — only sends show/display/export commands, never enters config mode

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• Network reachability to target devices (SSH/Telnet)

Quick Start

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Generate a CSV template
python3 backup_config.py --init

# View supported device types
python3 backup_config.py --list-types

# Edit devices.csv with your device info, then run:
python3 backup_config.py -c devices.csv

Usage

CSV Batch Mode

# Basic batch backup
python3 backup_config.py -c devices.csv

# With options
python3 backup_config.py -c devices.csv -w 4 -t 30 --read-timeout 120 --skip-unreachable

# Burst mode: one thread per device, all devices in parallel
python3 backup_config.py -c devices.csv --burst

Config Diff Mode

# Compare latest 5 backups per device (default), generate HTML report
python3 backup_config.py -c devices.csv --diff

# Compare latest 3 backups per device
python3 backup_config.py -c devices.csv --diff 3

# Diff without timestamp filtering (show all differences including timestamps)
python3 backup_config.py -c devices.csv --diff --no-filter

The diff report is saved as backups/diff_report_<timestamp>.html. Open it in a browser to see color-coded comparisons of configuration changes across backup versions. By default, auto-generated timestamps (RouterOS export headers, Huawei/Cisco timestamp lines, ntp clock-period) are filtered out to reduce noise.

Config View Mode

# Generate an HTML viewer for the latest config of each device
python3 backup_config.py -c devices.csv --view

The viewer is saved as backups/config_view_<timestamp>.html. It provides a dual-column layout with a device sidebar (grouped by location, searchable) and a syntax-highlighted config panel. Keyboard shortcuts: j/k or arrow keys to navigate devices, / to focus search, Esc to clear.

Single Device Mode

# Minimal (password prompted, device type auto-detected)
python3 backup_config.py -H 192.168.1.1 -u admin

# Full options
python3 backup_config.py -H 10.0.0.1 -u admin -p pass123 -d cisco --enable-password en123

# Telnet with non-standard port
python3 backup_config.py -H 172.16.0.1 -u admin -p pass123 -P telnet --port 2323 -d h3c

CLI Options

Option	Default	Description
-c, --csv	devices.csv	Device inventory CSV file
-H, --host		Device IP (enables single device mode)
-u, --username		Login username
-p, --password		Login password (prompted if omitted)
-P, --protocol	ssh	ssh or telnet
-d, --device-type		Device type (optional for SSH, required for Telnet)
--enable-password		Privileged mode password
--location	default	Site/location for grouping backups
-o, --output	./backups	Output directory
-w, --workers	2	Concurrent threads
--burst	off	Set concurrency = device count (all in parallel)
-t, --timeout	20	Connection timeout (seconds)
--read-timeout	60	Config fetch timeout per device (seconds)
-v, --verbose	off	Debug logging
--skip-unreachable	off	Skip failed devices, backup the rest
--list-types		Show supported device types and exit
--init		Generate CSV template and exit
--diff [N]	5	Compare latest N backups per device, generate HTML diff report
--no-filter	off	Disable timestamp filtering in diff mode
--view	off	Generate HTML config viewer with syntax highlighting

CSV Format

ip,protocol,port,username,password,device_type,enable_password,hostname,location
192.168.1.1,ssh,,admin,password,huawei,,Core-Switch,DC-East
10.0.0.1,ssh,22,admin,password,cisco,enable123,Router-01,DC-East
172.16.0.1,telnet,23,admin,password,h3c,,Access-SW,Office

• port — empty for default (SSH=22, Telnet=23)
• device_type — optional for SSH (auto-detected), required for Telnet
• enable_password — optional, for Cisco enable / Huawei super
• hostname — optional, used in directory and file naming
• location — optional, groups backups by site (defaults to default)
• Lines starting with # are comments

Output Structure

backups/
  DC-East/
    192.168.1.1_huawei_Core-Switch/
      192.168.1.1_huawei_Core-Switch_2026-03-10_143000.txt
  default/
    172.16.0.1_h3c/
      172.16.0.1_h3c_2026-03-10_143000.txt

License

MIT