Saving and Importing Configuration Settings

Most configuration settings for the Security Management appliance can be managed in a single configuration file. The file is maintained in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

You can use this file in several ways:

• In case of unexpected disaster to your primary Security Management appliance, you can quickly configure a second Security Management appliance to restore service.
• You can save the configuration file to a different system to back up and preserve crucial configuration data. If you make a mistake while configuring your appliance, you can “roll back” to the most recently saved configuration file.
• You can download the existing configuration file to view the entire configuration for an appliance quickly. (Many newer browsers include the ability to render XML files directly.) This may help you troubleshoot minor errors (like typographic errors) that may exist in the current configuration.
• You can download an existing configuration file, make changes to it, and upload it to the same appliance. This, in effect, “bypasses” both the CLI and the GUI for making configuration changes.
• You can upload an entire configuration file through FTP, or you can paste portions of a configuration file directly into the CLI.
• Because the file is in XML format, an associated document type definition (DTD) that describes all of the XML entities in the configuration file is also provided. You can download the DTD to validate an XML configuration file before uploading it. (XML validation tools are readily available on the Internet.)
• You can use the configuration file to speed configuration of another appliance, for example a cloned virtual appliance.