Product tip -- Silkworm switch automated config upload procedure

I know I always hate doing things manually. So, I came up with a way to automate the process of running the configuration upload procedure. I run a scheduled script that, in turn, runs the configuration upload procedure.

I run this script from the Sun-side of the house. I use a program called expect which basically logs into the switch and runs the config upload procedure. A moves the file to an FTP server. I run it from crontab to schedule the process.

#!/app/abt/nosw/bin/expect
Spawn /bin/rlogin silkworm-swtch
expect "admin"
send "adminr"
expect "password"
send "passwordr"
expect "configUpload"
send "configUploadr"
expect "ip Address"
send "10.10.10.27r"
expect "User Name"
send "ftpuserr"
expect "filename"
send "switchconf.txtr"
expect "protocol"
send "ftpr"
expect "password"
send "passwordr"
expect "logout"
send "logoutr"

Yes, this is a very basic script. However, it makes life much simpler to know that at least once a day you have a good switch config file.

About the author: Tim Anderson is a storage architect at Abbott Laboratories.

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