Pix 506E config to tfp server

Jun 09, 2008 9 Replies

Hi , can anyone help?



1). I have installed tftp server service (solarwinds) on a server on my internal network
2). From PIX 506E I select File, Save running configuration to tftp server.
3). I am prompted to enter ip address of tftp server and then the path - so I put in /tftproot/pix-confg
4). I then get an error saying :

Building Configuration... tftp write '/tftproot/pix-confg' at hostname on interface 1 Path cannot be null Parameter name path [Failed]



Solarwinds reports "Transmission failed, illegal characters in path"



But I cant see whats wrong! The Cisco help says the path must start with a /



Thanks


Its probably the '-'. Try to copy it to your tftp root directory by not putting in a path or just putting in the root dir.

Already tried all that, same thing!

Thanks

Solar winds also does not like folder names with specific characters, and sometimes length, and sometimes no caps. Try to make your root directory as simple as possible and try again (like 'tftp'.). I have had this happen on routers, and I don't specifically call which change fixed it. I would also not use any subdirs, just the tftp folder, then place into other folders as you see necessary after copy.

Still no good, so I uninstalled Solarwinds and installed WinAgents TFTP server which then worked OK! Weird!

Thanks for you help

I've had that happen too, including having to uninstall and install the latest version....when an older version that worked fine for years, didn't want to comply with whatever OS or operation I was trying. Decent product, but needs some improvement in terms of update/ bug/issue management. Guess when they aren't getting paid for it, no real obligation/desire to make it best of breed. Oh well, glad you got up and running!

I am still using the one cisco used to give away for free. Works OK. I too tried Solar winds years ago and gave up. I'm sure it works great if you know its quirks.

Now that you have the backup, are you going to try to restore it?

I've tried and the best it can do is merge your config, and not replace it.

I guess if you boot to monitor mode you could bring in a config and completely replace the running config, but I never got that far. If anyone knows for sure I sure would like to know.

Thanks,

-Bob

Yes, I know for sure that on PIX 6.x, you *cannot* replace the current configuration with what you tftp in, on -merge- what is tftp'd in with the current configuration (which might be a pretty minimal configuration if you cleared down to factory configuration.)

In the past I have described what you need to do in order to successfully bring in a saved tftp configuration. It is particularily tricky if you are trying to replace the configuration of a device that is on the other side of a VPN and the configuration you are trying to load in is on -this- side of the VPN.

gxn - the problem was the path with SolarWinds TFTP. You were specifying a folder that did not exist: tftp write '/tftproot/pix- confg'. The Default TFTP Root for the server is default set to C:\\TFTP- Root. By placing the /tftproot/pix-confg in the command line, the server would interpret it as C:\\TFTP-Root\\tftproot\\pix-confg.

It used to have a bug where you could not transfer in or out of folders below the root, but that has been fixed in the latest version.

HTH, Greg

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