Operations#
The work that is not configuration: getting a copy of the router off the box, putting it back, moving to a new release, getting in again when you cannot, and the small settings that make a router easier to live with.
Two of these are worth doing before anything else on a new router.
- Take a backup that is actually complete. The configuration file on its own is not a backup: the web interface's accounts, API tokens and audit log are kept by the agent, not in the router's configuration.
- Turn SSH on, and restrict it, or decide deliberately to leave it off. Some tasks still need a shell — putting a script on the router for a scheduled task, for one — and a freshly installed router has no SSH at all.
Keeping a copy#
| Guide | The job |
|---|---|
| Take a backup that is actually complete | The Backup page's encrypted file: taking one, checking it and keeping it off the router |
| Restore a backup | Putting a backup file or a snapshot back on a running router |
| Rebuild a dead router onto a new box | New hardware, old identity, in roughly twenty minutes |
| Undo a change | The configuration history, what each change did, and restoring the configuration from before it |
Moving to a new release#
| Guide | The job |
|---|---|
| Upgrade the whole system | A second system image installed beside the running one |
| Upgrade the agent only | A newer agent and web interface, without restarting the router |
| Learn that a release exists | The router's own Updates panel, and polling the same channel from somewhere else |
Getting in, and staying in#
| Guide | The job |
|---|---|
| Locked out of the UI | Every way back in, in the order to try them |
| Turn SSH on, and restrict it | It is off by default; turning it on from System → Settings without cutting yourself off |
| Working from the console | The banner, the accounts, and what the console can do that the web interface cannot |
Housekeeping#
| Guide | The job |
|---|---|
| Run something on a schedule | The Scheduled tasks panel, and where to keep the script it runs |
| Kernel tunables | The Kernel parameters panel, and the two parameters the router sets itself |
| Time synchronisation | Time servers, who may ask the router for the time, and checking the clock is right |