Tutorial: How to install RANCID on Void Linux

RANCID, which stands for Really Awesome New Cisco confIg Differ, is an open source tool used for managing network device configurations. In this tutorial, we will be going through the steps to install RANCID on Void Linux.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

  • A system running Void Linux
  • Root access to the system
  • Internet connection

Step 1: Install Dependencies

The first step is to install the dependencies required for RANCID. To do this, open the terminal and run the following command as root:

xbps-install -S perl perl-MIME-Lite perl-Net-Telnet rancid

This command will install Perl, MIME-Lite, Net-Telnet, and RANCID.

Step 2: Configure RANCID

Now that RANCID is installed, we need to configure it. Open the configuration file using your favorite text editor:

vim /usr/local/etc/rancid/rancid.conf

In this file, you need to specify the network devices that you want RANCID to manage. Modify the following lines to your needs:

LIST_OF_GROUPS="cisco"
LIST_OF_DEVICES="router1.company.com:ios"

This line specifies that we want to manage Cisco devices, and we have one device named "router1.company.com" running IOS.

Step 3: Verify RANCID Configuration

Before we start using RANCID, we need to verify our configuration. Run the following command:

rancid-run -d

This command will run RANCID in debug mode and show you any errors in your configuration file. If everything is working correctly, you should see output similar to the following:

router1.company.com,ios: missed cmd(s): show context

This output indicates that RANCID was able to connect to the device and collect its configuration. If you see any errors, review your configuration file and correct any mistakes.

Step 4: Schedule RANCID Jobs

Now that RANCID is configured and working properly, we need to schedule jobs to run at regular intervals to keep our device configurations in sync. To do this, we will use the cron service.

To open the cron configuration file, run the following command:

crontab -e

In this file, add the following lines:

# Run RANCID every night at midnight
0 0 * * * /usr/local/bin/rancid-run

Save the file and exit.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have now installed and configured RANCID on your Void Linux system. With RANCID, you can easily manage network device configurations and keep them in sync.