rancid(1) Cisco configuration filter

SYNOPSIS

rancid [-dlCV] [-t device_type] (-f filename | hostname)

rancid [-dhlCV] -t device_type (-f filename | hostname)

DESCRIPTION

rancid is a collection of perl(1) scripts which uses the login scripts (see clogin(1)) to login to a device, execute commands to display the configuration, etc, then filters the output for formatting, security, and so on. rancid's product is a file with the name of it's last argument plus the suffix .new. For example, hostname.new.

rancid is a perl(1) script that operates much like the vendor-specific rancid script of pre-3.0 releases, but is generic and will eventually obsolete the vendor-specific rancid scripts. It uses the device_type specified with the -t option to look-up a device description (see rancid.types.conf(5)) that defines what it does to collect and process device information.

There are scripts complementary to rancid for other platforms and/or manufacturers that are supported by rancid(1). Briefly, these are:

agmrancid
Cisco Anomaly Guard Module (AGM)
arancid
Alteon WebOS switches
arrancid
Arista Networks devices
brancid
Bay Networks (nortel)
cat5rancid
Cisco catalyst switches
cssrancid
Cisco content services switches
erancid
ADC-kentrox EZ-T3 mux
f10rancid
Force10
f5rancid
F5 BigIPs
fnrancid
Fortinet Firewalls
rancid
The generic rancid script; supporting Allied Telesis AW+ devices, Arbor Networks Appliances, Ciena Waverserver, Cisco IOS, Cisco IOS-XR, Cisco NX-OS, Cisco WLC, Dell switches, Compass EOS, and Juniper JUNOS. It uses the device O/S modules for parsing routines. See rancid(3) for details.
hrancid
HP Procurve Switches
htranicd
Hitachi Routers
jerancid
Juniper Networks E-series
mrancid
MRTd
mtrancid
Mikrotik routesrs
nrancid
Netscreen firewalls
nsrancid
Netscaler
prancid
Procket Networks
rivrancid
Riverstone
rrancid
Redback
srancid
SMC switch (some Dell OEMs)
trancid
Netopia sDSL/T1 routers
xirancid
Xirrus arrays
xrancid
Extreme switches
zrancid
Zebra routing software

The command-line options are as follows:

-C
Prints the login command that would be used to collect data from the device.
-V
Prints package name and version strings.
-d
Display debugging information.
-h
Display a usage line and exit.
-l
Display somewhat less debugging information.
-t
Device type, of the given host or file, that is defined in rancid.types.base or rancid.types.conf .
-f
rancid should interpret the next argument as a filename which contains the output it would normally collect from the device ( hostname) with clogin(1).

CAVEATS

Cisco IOS offers a DHCP server that maintains a text database which can be stored remotely or on local storage. If stored locally, the file changes constantly and causes constant diffs from rancid. If this file's name ('ip dhcp database') matches the regex dhcp_[^[:space:].].txt, it will be filtered.

For Catalyst switches running CatOS, type cat5, the prompt must end with '>'. clogin(1) looks for '>' to determine when a login is successful. For example:

cat5k>
cat5k> enable
Password: 
cat5k> (enable) 

rancid works on Cisco Catalyst 1900 series switches that are running Enterprise Edition software. This software provides a menu at connection time that allows a command line interface to be used by entering 'K' at the prompt.