save command#

Description#

The save command perform configuration save for all the containers running in a lab.

The exact command that performs configuration save depends on a given kind. The below table explains the method used for each kind:

All command line arguments can be also provided via environment variables (CLI flags take precedence). The environment variable names are constructed by prepending CLAB_ to the flag name, then adding the command path and ending with the flag name in its full form, all in uppercase and with hyphens replaced by underscores.

For example, the --max-workers flag for the deploy command can be set via CLAB_DEPLOY_MAX_WORKERS environment variable.
Or CLAB_INSPECT_ALL=1 to set --all flag for the inspect command.
Or CLAB_TOPO=srlinux.dev/clab-srl clab dep -c to deploy a lab with the topology passed via environment variable.

Usage#

containerlab [global-flags] save [local-flags]

Flags#

topology | name#

With the global --topo | -t flag a user sets the path to the topology definition file that will be used to spin up a lab.

When the topology path refers to a directory, containerlab will look for a file with .clab.yml extension in that directory and use it as a topology definition file.

When the topology file flag is omitted, containerlab will try to find the matching file name by looking at the current working directory.

If more than one file is found for directory-based path or when the flag is omitted entirely, containerlab will fail with an error.

Alternatively, use the global --name flag to derive the topology from a running lab. This requires the lab to be running and its containers to have the topo-file label; otherwise the save command will fail.

node-filter#

The local --node-filter flag allows users to specify a subset of topology nodes targeted by save command. The value of this flag is a comma-separated list of node names as they appear in the topology.

When a subset of nodes is specified, containerlab will only attempt to save configuration on the selected nodes.

copy#

The local --copy flag allows users to copy saved configuration files to a dedicated directory. The path is resolved relative to the current working directory unless an absolute path is provided.

When --copy is specified, containerlab copies the saved configuration file from its original location in the lab directory to the destination with a UTC timestamp embedded in the filename. A symlink with the original filename is created (or updated) to always point to the latest timestamped copy.

<copy-path>/clab-<labname>/<node-name>/<config>-<YYMMDD_HHMMSS>.<ext>   # timestamped copy
<copy-path>/clab-<labname>/<node-name>/<config>.<ext>                    # symlink → latest

The destination directory is created automatically if it does not exist. Running save --copy multiple times to the same directory preserves all previous saves, allowing easy rollback to an earlier configuration.

The exact file that is copied depends on the node kind and corresponds to the configuration file produced by the save operation:

Node kinds that do not report a saved config path are silently skipped.

Examples#

Save the configuration of the containers in a specific lab#

Save the configuration of the containers running in lab named srl02

❯ containerlab save --name srl02
INFO[0001] clab-srl02-srl1: stdout: /system:
    Generated checkpoint '/etc/opt/srlinux/checkpoint/checkpoint-0.json' with name 'checkpoint-2020-11-18T09:00:54.998Z' and comment ''

INFO[0002] clab-srl02-srl2: stdout: /system:
    Generated checkpoint '/etc/opt/srlinux/checkpoint/checkpoint-0.json' with name 'checkpoint-2020-11-18T09:00:56.444Z' and comment ''

Save and copy configs to a reusable directory#

❯ containerlab save -t srl02.clab.yml --copy ./startup-configs

This creates timestamped copies with symlinks pointing to the latest save:

./startup-configs/clab-srl02/srl1/config-260207_091500.json   # timestamped copy
./startup-configs/clab-srl02/srl1/config.json                 # symlink → config-260207_091500.json
./startup-configs/clab-srl02/srl2/config-260207_091500.json
./startup-configs/clab-srl02/srl2/config.json

Running the same command again creates new timestamped files and updates the symlinks, while the previous saves remain in the directory.