extract contents of backup file

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi,

I have a backup file that was made on a RB532, but when I try to restore it to a RB450AH or RB433AH it causes them to freeze up during the subsequent reboot, so I cannot access the configuration information.

Is there a simple way of extracting the backup file, so that I can get a dump of the configuration.

Cheers

Stephen

2

http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Configuration_Management#Description

The configuration backup can be used for backing up MikroTik RouterOS configuration to a binary file, which can be stored on the router or downloaded from it using FTP for future use. The configuration restore can be used for restoring the router’s configuration, exactly as it was at the backup creation moment, from a backup file. > The restoration procedure assumes the cofiguration is restored on the same router, where the backup file was originally created, so it will create partially broken configuration if the hardware has been changed.

See the same link for how to do text link exports, which you can strip of specific information (MAC addresses etc.) and apply to other devices.

3

Cheers,

I do not have a 532 that I can load it on and then export, so do not see any easy way. I can read some of the contents by opening it up in a text editor, but not much.

4

I use export and import. They are much better at that than backup. The file contains all the commands to set up a new router, and text editor compatible. I have not tried it across a major update version, like going from V3.x to V4.x, so beware of that.

This is covered in the link fewi posted. It is the command following “backup”. If you don’t have that 532 to restore to, then you will probably need to re-enter the setup in one of your new routers, then export that for new setups.

5

Export works very well, just with some versions they change some syntax in the configuration, so you are going to have to watch for that. Like from 4.5 to I believe 4.6 they changed the DHCP menu, so that portion of the export would not work very well. The best thing to do is open up an SSH session and watch for the errors as it scrolls across so you know where you’ll need to look for the broken parts.