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Date of Issue: 09-01-2000
Backing Up and Restoring Router
Configuration Files and IOS Software
Images
by Marc Menninger / Barry Meinster
Objectives
Setup
TIP
Scenario
Task 1: Back up a router configuration file to a TFTP server
Step 1-1
Step 1-2
Step 1-3
Step 1-4
Task 2: Back up a router IOS software image to a TFTP server
Step 2-1
Step 2-2
Step 2-3
Task 3: Restore a router configuration file from a TFTP server
Step 3-1
Task 4: Restore router IOS software image from a TFTP server
Step 4-1
Solutions
Task 1, Step 2.
Task 1, Step 3.
Task 1, Step 4.
Task 2, Step 1.
Task 2, Step 2.
Task 3, Step 1.

Step 1-2
Save your running configuration to NVRAM.
What command saves your running configuration to NVRAM?
______________________________
Step 1-3
Backup your running configuration to the TFTP server.
What command will back up your running configuration to the TFTP server?
______________________________
Refer to the Backing Up Router Configuration Files section of the Basic Router Operation Tutorial for the correct
responses to the router questions. Make sure you enter the IP address you configured for your TFTP server when
prompted for the address of the remote host. Give your configuration file a unique name.
Step 1-4
Find and view your configuration file on the TFTP server.
What is different about the configuration file on the TFTP compared to your original running configuration? (Do a
show run on your router if necessary.)
______________________________
Task 2: Back up a router IOS software image to a TFTP server
Step 2-1
Look at the contents of Flash memory.
What command shows you the contents of Flash memory?
______________________________
How many files are currently in Flash memory?
______________________________
List the files currently in Flash memory:
download, by their fully qualified name -- not
their name relative to a directory.
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______________________________
What file, ending in .bin, will always be found in the Flash memory of newly configured routers?

memory?
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______________________________
Refer to the Backing Up Software Images section of the Basic Router Operation Tutorial for the correct responses to
the router questions. Make sure you enter the IP address you configured for your TFTP server when prompted for the
address of the remote host. Use the name of the .bin file you wrote in above as the source file name.
Why would the router need to erase Flash memory in order to restore an IOS software image from a TFTP server?
______________________________
How does the router indicate that Flash memory is being erased?
______________________________
How does the router indicate that the IOS is being copied?
______________________________
Solutions
Task 1, Step 2.
- copy run start
Task 1, Step 3.
- copy run tftp
Task 1, Step 4.
- The configuration file on the TFTP server will have no comments [lines beginning with an exclamation point (!)] in it.
The comments get stripped out when being transferred to the TFTP server. You can add them back in on your TFTP
server with a regular text editor.
Task 2, Step 1.
- show flash
The number and name of files currently in Flash will vary from router to router. On newly configured routers the only
file in Flash is the system image file (the file that ends in .bin). The number of bytes of Flash memory that the system
image file takes up will vary from router to router. There should be at least several megabytes of Flash memory still
available, however.
Task 2, Step 2.
- copy flash tftp