backup-config-ale-switch — back up every switch, automatically

Python script that connects over SSH with Netmiko to Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise OS6450 switches (all models, whatever the number of ports) and automatically backs up their configuration to a NAS.

Table of contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Configuration
• Usage
• Scheduling with cron
• Roadmap
• Project structure
• License
• Author

Features

• SSH connection to ALE OS6450 switches using Netmiko
• Configuration retrieval with the show configuration snapshot command
• One backup folder per switch to keep everything tidy
• Backups stored on a NAS over SMB
• Retention policy: only the 5 most recent backups per switch are kept, older ones are deleted automatically
• Logging and error handling: if a switch does not answer, the script carries on with the next ones

Requirements

• Linux (tested on Ubuntu)
• Python 3.8+
• SSH access enabled on the switches
• An accessible SMB share (NAS)

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/thomaswithlinux/backup-config-ale-switch.git
cd backup-config-ale-switch

# Install the dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Configuration

1. Mount the NAS SMB share on the Linux machine:

sudo apt install cifs-utils
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/backups
sudo mount -t cifs //NAS_IP/backups /mnt/backups -o username=USER

2. Fill in the list of switches in the script (name, IP address, credentials):

switches = [
    {"name": "SW-CORE", "host": "192.168.X.X"},
    {"name": "SW-01",   "host": "192.168.X.X"},
]

Important: never publish your real credentials or real IP addresses on GitHub. Use environment variables or a configuration file added to .gitignore.

Usage

python3 backup_switches.py

Example of the resulting tree:

/mnt/backups/
├── SW-CORE/
│   ├── SW-CORE_2026-09-28_02-00.txt
│   └── ...
└── SW-01/
    ├── SW-01_2026-09-28_02-00.txt
    └── ...

Scheduling with cron

To run the backup every day at 2 a.m.:

crontab -e

0 2 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/backup_switches.py

Roadmap

• Separate configuration file (YAML or .env)
• E-mail notification on failure
• Configuration comparison (change detection)

Project structure

backup-config-ale-switch/
├── docs/
│   └── banner.svg            # README banner
├── backup-ale-os6450.py      # the backup script
├── requirements.txt          # Python dependencies
├── LICENSE                   # MIT license
└── README.md                 # this file

License

Released under the MIT license — see the LICENSE file.

Author

Thomas Letard — @thomaswithlinux · Portfolio Apprentice TSSR · Linux, networking & automation