When using SMB devices for remote company sites, ease of first time configuration is an important matter. When used with a central management by SMS / MDS, only some basic configuration is needed before first policy install. To be able to deploy locally managed SMB devices with (nearly) identical configuration would be much easier if a configured unit could be used to copy the needed settings to others.
But a R77.20.xx configuration file exported from WebGUI can only be restored to the same firmware version and the same model – 600/1100, 1200R and 700/1400 are three different models with its own firmware corresponding to the hardware changes. Backup / Restore between different models is supported from 6x0 to 7x0 and 11x0 to 14x0 appliances; only from 1200R a transfer is possible to all SMB HW types using firmware > R77.20.51 (see sk111334), as well as from 14xx to 15xx (see How to upgrade hardware from R77.20.87 to R80.20.15 or above ).
But it is always possible to dump a configuration by using a CLISH command :
[clish]# show config
will output a series of CLISH commands matching the current configuration, complete with comments explaining what is set using the next CLISH commands. Saving these lines from expert mode into a text file produces something very similar to an autoconf.clish (also see my article USB First Time Config using autoconf.clish files - How it works😞
[Expert]# clish -A -i -c "show configuration" -v >> /var/log/config.txt
But be aware that this is not a supported nor intended method and you also have to cope with SK164018 - Missing configuration items in output of the 'show configuration' command on SMB appliances !
These saved CLISH commands usually are not able to replicate the configuration completely, as, for example, configuring an existing interface uses "set internet-connection", as used in "show configuration" output, but to define a new interface from scratch as needed in a new or reset box, you would have to issue "add internet-connection" instead.
So you have to edit the text file and manually set the values needed for the next unit to deploy. It can then be read in in expert mode, see the next two lines:
[Expert]# clish -f /mnt/usb1/config.txt -v
[Expert]# clish -f /var/log/config.txt -v
First the config is read from USB1, the second example assumes it had been already transfered to directory /var/log/.
Details of the expert mode ‘clish’ command can be found in the CHECK POINT 600/700/1100/1200R/1400 APPLIANCE CLI Guide, Running CLISH Commands from Expert Mode, p.20. The produced text file does, of course, not contain a license, unlike the exported configuration file from WebGUI.
CCSE / CCTE / CTPS / CCME / CCSM Elite / SMB Specialist