Synopsis

You can make the snapshot function work. Here's the workaround:

Save your configs, (wr mem and File>Save)
Create the snapshot (click on the Snapshot Toolbar button - you know, the one that looks like a clock)
Load the snapshot back again immediately (you don't even have to open the dialogue again)
Start your routers
Save your configs, (File>Save)

To go back to your "mainline" config, now also do
File>Open and open the project you were working with before you took the snapshot.

That's really the end of the "How to", the rest of this is really a bug report, or more correctly my ramblings as I tried to work out how the Snapshot function worked. Anyway, to see how I reached this conclusion, read on...

Rambling notes made while arriving at the method above

I don't know what the Snapshot function does. There is no menu item for it, but since about v0.6.0 GNS3 has had a toolbar button labelled Snapshot.

Let's see if we can work out what it does:

I've created a new project called SnapshotExperiment, and elected to Save nvrams … and to Export router configuration files. I named my .net file topology.net, and the resulting file structure on my disk is:

The contents of the topology.net file shows that my working files and configs are where we expected – in the directories mentioned above, according to the rules of relative paths
Viz: (From the Dynagen console)


Next, I add 2 routers, connect them together, start 'em up and configure each with a hostname – R1 and R2

Save my configs (write mem) and save my topology (File>Save)

So far so good. Let's take a look at the topology file: (extracts)

So far looking good. Time for a snapshot:

OK Snapshot taken, let's see what that did:

Firstly we see a couple of errors on the Dynagen Console:

And our dynagen config now looks like:

A quick check of our directory structure shows we now have:

A quick look at the topology.net file in the snapshot directory shows that this is the current topology file we are working with as shown above. The thing to notice is that the workingdir and cnfg directories STILL POINT TO THE ORIGINAL WORKING DIRECTORIES AND CONFIGS

When I do a File > Save, sure enough my configs are still saved to the pre-snapshot directory. I think this is a bug, but anyway, that's the way it works at the moment.

Now here's an interesting thing:

Click on Snapshot, and load the snapshot you just took. Look at the config

Note that the workingdir has changed – it has now changed to the Snapshot directory – there was a subtle change between the time we last looked at the config (after taking the snapshot and doing a save) and now (after loading the snapshot)

Now I am going to start the routers and give them new names, then save (wr mem and file>save)

Whoa: Look at the message on the Dynagen Console:

Wow! It has saved the configs to a different location to that specified in the config just a few moments ago!

Lets view the config again

So GNS3 has updated the dynagen config to point to the snapshot AND the new configs are stored in the snapshot directory. A quick look of the topology.net file in the snapshot directory shows that the stored version has taken advantage of relative paths, and stored the above config as:

Which is somewhat more readable.

OK, let's just run through this snapshot process again. This time I'm quitting GNS3, opening it up again and loading our original SnapshotExperiment

I find our configs exactly as they were before I took the snapshot. Great. Let's make a change, save our configs and take another snapshot.

I've added some IP addresses to f0/0 and the routers can ping each other. As expected the save put the configs in the right places

Now for another snapshot

As per last time:


BUT now, I'm going to make some changes – I'm going to shutdown the fa0/0 interfaces, add a description and save my configs – one would expect that this will only affect my mainstream configs, NOT the snapshot I just took.

OK –changes made, wr mem done file>save done

Now let's load the snapshot.
And look at the loaded config

This looks bad – the snapshot configs are pointing to the mainstream configs

Let's look at the router configs – and sure enough the f0/0 interfaces are shutdown and my interface description is there. Remember, these were changes I made AFTER I took the snapshot.

So now what? Last time when we saved AFTER loading the snapshot, the pointers got changed and the snapshot configs really DID point to another set of configs.

So here goes: File>Save


Now that looks better – BUT TOO LATE – the changes that were saved to the snapshot were changes I did AFTER I TOOK THE SNAPSHOT – so the snapshot was lost.

Conclusion:

You can make the snapshot function work. Here's the workaround:

Save your configs, (wr mem and File>Save)
Create the snapshot
Load the snapshot back again immediately (you don't even have to open the dialogue again)
Start your routers
Save your configs, (File>Save)

And realise that you are now working WITHIN this snapshot – if you want to go back and continue working with the mainline part of the project, you should now immediately do a File>Open and open up your original .net file

AS a side issue,

It worries me that when I have a project opened, and I clear it, and I do New Project, I find:
a) a show run (in the dynamips console) shows me the config of the recently cleared topology, and
b) if I look in the newly created directory for my new project, I see a .net file that is a copy of the cleared project.

However, once I've done a save of my new project, things straighten out. But it worries me.

_________________
RedNectar
http://rednectar.net
@rednectarchris
GNS3 WorkBench-a VMware image of Ubuntu with GNS3 and VPCS installed and a collection of exercises/labs

Hi,

I've been working on the snapshot function, now it should work as kaage proposed. Let me know if you find any glitches or consistency issue.

Thanks,

_________________
Jeremy, GNS3 Programmer & Benevolent Dictator for Life.