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On the Cisco ASA, changes to the running-config are not automatically saved to the startup-config. This is done manually with "write memory" or "copy running-config startup-config" to write the changes to flash storage.

I would like to verify whether configuration changes have been saved rather than blindly saving repetitively (which I currently do). I've searched Google for commands to check whether the running-config changes have been saved to startup-config, and here are two ugly workarounds that I've found:

  1. "reload" command
    • Output of "System config has been modified. Save? [Y]es/[N]o:" when config needs to be saved.
    • Output of "Proceed with reload? [confirm]" when config has already been saved. ANSWER NO or similar to avoid needless reboot!!
  2. Copy BOTH your running-config AND startup-config to text files.
    • Use a "diff" utility to compare the text files for differences.

I would love to have a quick clean command or procedure to use to verify the configuration has been saved without risking an accidental reboot. Please post if you have suggestions.

Mister_Tom
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  • try show flash, and compare the config file date, to see if it was written – yagmoth555 Apr 06 '17 at 03:42
  • Hello @yagmoth555, I tried "show flash" but the default startup-config is a hidden file not visible from that command. I did however use a similar technique to come up with a solution - posting answer below. – Mister_Tom Apr 06 '17 at 17:34

1 Answers1

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I didn't find a single-command solution, but using a couple commands we can determine whether running configuration has been saved without using the "reload" command.

  • show running-config | include checksum:
  • show startup-config | include checksum:

If the checksum matches, then the running-config has been saved. You can also review the difference between last modification time of running-config and last save time of startup-config. This is less exact because the values will never be the same (startup-config should be newer than running-config after saving).

  • show version | include modified
  • show startup-config | include Written

I prefer the first solution comparing each checksum, but the alternate method comparing modification and written dates works well too.

Mister_Tom
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  • Short versions: show run | include sum: and show start | include sum: - this makes it quicker to type :-). Don't forget to write mem if they don't match! – Mister_Tom Apr 06 '17 at 21:03