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Panorama Administrator's Guide

Save and Export Panorama and Firewall Configurations

Table of Contents

Save and Export Panorama and Firewall Configurations

Saving a backup of the candidate configuration to persistent storage on Panorama enables you to later restore that backup (see Revert Panorama Configuration Changes). Additionally, Panorama allows you to save and export the device group, template, and template stack configurations that you specify. This is useful for preserving changes that would otherwise be lost if a system event or administrator action causes Panorama to reboot. After rebooting, Panorama automatically reverts to the current version of the running configuration, which Panorama stores in a file named running-config.xml. Saving backups is also useful if you want to revert to a Panorama configuration that is earlier than the current running configuration. Panorama does not automatically save the candidate configuration to persistent storage. You must manually save the candidate configuration as a default snapshot file (.snapshot.xml) or as a custom-named snapshot file. Panorama stores the snapshot file locally but you can export it to an external host.

You don’t have to save a configuration backup to revert the changes made since the last commit or reboot; just select ConfigRevert Changes (see Revert Panorama Configuration Changes).

Palo Alto Networks recommends that you back up any important configurations to an external host.

Save changes to the candidate configuration.
- To overwrite the default snapshot file (.snapshot.xml) with all the changes that all administrators made, perform one of the following steps:
  - Select PanoramaSetupOperations and Save candidate Panorama configuration.
  - Log in to Panorama with an administrative account that is assigned the Superuser role or an Admin Role profile with the Save For Other Admins privilege enabled. Then select ConfigSave Changes at the top of the web interface, select Save All Changes and Save.
- To overwrite the default snapshot (.snapshot.xml) with changes made by administrators to specific device group, template, or template stack configurations:
  1. Select PanoramaSetupOperations, Save candidate Panorama configuration, and Select Device Group & Templates.
  2. Select the specific device groups, templates, or template stacks to revert.
  3. Click OK to confirm the operation.
  4. (Optional) Select CommitCommit to Panorama and Commit your changes to overwrite the running configuration with the snapshot.
- To create a snapshot that includes all the changes that all administrators made but without overwriting the default snapshot file:
  1. Select PanoramaSetupOperations and Save named Panorama configuration snapshot.
  2. Specify the Name of a new or existing configuration file.
  3. Click OK and Close.
- To save only specific changes to the candidate configuration without overwriting any part of the default snapshot file:
  1. Log in to Panorama with an administrative account that has the role privileges required to save the desired changes.
  2. Select ConfigSave Changes at the top of the web interface.
  3. Select Save Changes Made By.
  4. To filter the Save Scope by administrator, click <administrator-name>, select the administrators, and click OK.
  5. To filter the Save Scope by location, clear any locations that you want to exclude. The locations can be specific device groups, templates, Collector Groups, Log Collectors, shared settings, or the Panorama management server.
  6. Click Save, specify the Name of a new or existing configuration file, and click OK.
- To save a specific device group, template, or template stack configuration:
  1. Select PanoramaSetupOperations, Save named Panorama configuration snapshot, and Select Device Group & Templates.
  2. Select the specific device groups, templates, or template stacks to save.
  3. Click OK to confirm the operation.
Export a candidate or running configuration to a host external to Panorama or to a firewall.
You can schedule daily exports to an SCP or FTP server (see Schedule Export of Configuration Files) or export configurations on demand. To export on demand, select PanoramaSetupOperations and select one of the following options:
- Export named Panorama configuration snapshot—Export the current running configuration, a named candidate configuration snapshot, or a previously imported configuration (candidate or running). Panorama exports the configuration as an XML file with the Name you specify. Select Device Group & Templates to specify the device group, template, or template stack configurations to export.
- Export Panorama configuration version—Select a Version of the running configuration to export as an XML file. Select Device Group & Templates to specify the device group, template, or template stack configurations to export as an XML file.
- Export Panorama and devices config bundle—Generate and export the latest version of the running configuration backup of Panorama and of each managed firewall. To automate the process of creating and exporting the configuration bundle daily to a Secure Copy (SCP) or FTP server, see Schedule Export of Configuration Files.
- Export or push device config bundle—After you import a firewall configuration into Panorama, Panorama creates a firewall configuration bundle named <firewall_name>_import.tgz, in which all local policies and objects are removed. You can then Export or push device config bundle to perform one of the following actions:
  - Push & Commit the configuration bundle to the firewall to remove any local configuration from it, enabling you to manage the firewall from Panorama.
  - Export the configuration to the firewall without loading it. When you are ready to load the configuration, log in to the firewall CLI and run the configuration mode command load device-state. This command cleans the firewall in the same way as the Push & Commit option.
The full procedure to Transition a Firewall to Panorama Management requires additional steps.

Schedule Export of Configuration Files

Revert Panorama Configuration Changes