Configuration Management
NVIDIA Config Manager stores device configurations in the Config Store service. Config Manager renders per-device configurations using version-controlled templates and device data from Nautobot. It then writes the intended configuration to the Config Store service. When a device boots, Config Manager retrieves the intended configuration from the Config Store service and a Temporal workflow (or ZTP on day zero) applies it to the device.
The Config Store interface provides a comparison view of the intended and backup configurations:
- Diff statistics: Line additions and deletions count
- Side-by-side comparison: Old versus new configuration
- Color-coded changes: Indicates which lines have been added, removed, or unchanged
Example Configuration Files
boot-script
- Performs OS/Firmware Upgrades
- Loads the intended configuration onto the device
- Loads any additional files/services (such as node exporter)
- Phones home on success
Intended Configuration
The running network configuration for the device is in a vendor-specific format. It may include information such as:
- Interface definitions
- Addressing
- Services configuration
- Platform settings
- BGP routing instances
- Autonomous system configuration
- Router ID settings
- VRF definitions
- Source interfaces
- ACL configurations
File Metadata
Each configuration file tracks:
- Version: Semantic version number (for example, v3)
- Author: User who made the change
- Modified: Timestamp of last modification
- Hash: Git commit hash for verification
- Commit message: One of the following:
- A description of the Nautobot object that was changed and by whom
- A Template Version change and the version used for the render
- A user generated commit message for manually triggered renders
Template Change Deployment
- Template changes committed to Git
- Render Service regenerates all configurations with the new template version
- Workflow engine orchestrates deployment
- Changes applied to devices
- Backup workflow captures new state