Routers, time setting and the config....

Well I failed again today trying to install this 871 Router in our remote location. I had the whole thing configured at home, brought it over and turned it on, and POOF most of the config was gone.

I noticed that the time was off, so I did a little googling. I guess that the routers don't save the time. So if they are off for any length of time, it will default backwards.

Is the config like this also? I was missing my NAT, default route and VPN info again. I am getting confused. I thought when I did "WR MEM" that it would be saved and would be safe through a power outage, reboot, etc.

I guess I am wrong.....

This shouldn't be happening. wr mem will save the running-config to the startup-config which is stored in the Non-Volatile RAM (NVRAM).

Please take a look at this article to try and troubleshoot this;

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/...186a00800a65a5.shtml

It may be that the routers configuration registry is set incorrectly and therefore not reading the startup-config correctly.

Cheers

Interesting article. Thanks Smurf! I will check this on the router when I get back in the office. I just dropped it off and ran as after 9 hours I had, had enough at the two remote offices.

I will also check this on the test/backup unit that I have here at home. I just turned it off and back on after about 10 minutes or so and the VPN came right back up and everything was great. So hopefully I will see some differences.

I also wonder if the GUI (since I am still using it) really isn't doing a WR MEM. Even though it says it is when I click on SAVE or from the File menu.

Will be interesting when I boot it up tomorrow as it will have been unplugged over night and just sitting on my desk.

Well the router in question has the default value of 0x2102 according to that page. I think that the Save option at the top of the SDM doesn't actually seem to be working, or I am missing it after configuring (which I don't think is the case).

I also did start using the Option off the File menu at the top "Write to Startup Config..." In booting it up this morning. Its been off since about 10:30 am yesterday, the config still seems to be intact. The only thing I did notice is that the time is way off. Its like time stood still its set to 10:38 (probably the time I shut it down yesterday).

Guess I need to have it sync up with something somewhere...time to google that!

Sounds like it is not saving the configuration. I would urge you to use the command line.

It is easier to telnet/SSH into the device and write and backup configs from there...

SDM doesn't actually seem to work

Fixed that for you
SDM is not really useful, ever. By the time you get it to work you could have done it and moved on from the command line. Its awkward if you're not used to CLI's, but it really is the way to go (with the exception being on ASA's - that version of sdm rocks my socks).

Type

[code:1]sho startup-config[/code:1]

If it gives you an error about nvram it means that it isn't saving your configuration to nvram. If you really want to use SDM make sure that the SDM user account you created is at privilege level 15.