Create a TFTP server and backup and restore device configurations

⚠ I am using a Debian machine for my TFTP server, so the commands presented are only valid for Linux.

To do on your server

On a Debian 10 machine, install a TFTP server:

sudo -s
apt install xinetd tftpd tftp

Once the service is installed, you need to create the configuration file :

nano /etc/xinetd.d/tftp

and add the following lines to the file:

service tftp
{
protocol = udp
port = 69
socket_type = dgram
wait = yes
user = nobody
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = /tftpboot
disable = no
}

Now we need to create a directory called /tftpboot in the root and we will think of giving it rights:

sudo mkdir /tftpboot
sudo chmod -R 777 /tftpboot
sudo chown -R nobody /tftpboot

Then you have to restart the service:

sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

Technically, your server is ready! But we will go further in this tutorial: indeed the goal here is to make a server able to save the configuration of devices (like switches or routers).

So we will create a file that will contain the configuration of our device (here, it will be “SwitchToto”):

touch /tftpboot/SwitchToto

We’ll think about giving it some rights:

chmod 777 /tftpboot/SwitchToto

To do on your equipment

SwitchToto> en
SwitchToto# copy running-config tftp

This command will ask you 2 questions:

1- The IP address of the TFTP server
2- The destination of the configuration file, which is /tftpboot/SwitchToto

And a configuration file will be stored on your TFTP server!

Thanks to Enzo Ribeiro for his help!

To do on your server#

To do on your equipment#

To do on your server

To do on your equipment