How to Compare Archives

Inventory Manager lets you compare two different archives for the same device and monitor any changes in device attributes. Inventory Manager compares archives using a set group of attributes that were saved when the archive was performed. The values for these attributes are displayed in a table with any differences between the values flagged by a yellow Diff icon . Use the Select Archive Versions to Compare window to select the configurations you want to compare, and the Compare Archives window to view the comparison results.

  1. Access the Select Archive to Compare window from the Archive Mgmt tab or Network Elements tab:
    • Archive Mgmt tab -- select an archive, version, or configuration in the left-panel tab or right-panel Details View and select Tools > Compare Archives from the menu bar (or use the right-click menu option).
    • Network Elements tab -- with a device or device group selected in the left-panel tab, select an archive version in the right-panel Archives tab and select Tools > Compare Archives from the menu bar (or use the right-click menu option).
    The Select Archive Versions to Compare window opens.
     TIP:If you select two archive versions in the right-panel Archives tab or Details View tab and select Tools > Compare Archives, the Compare Archives window opens directly, bypassing the Select Archive Versions to Compare window. In this case, you can skip step 2 and proceed to step 3.
  2. The Select Archive Versions to Compare window displays two Archive trees (identical to the Archive tree in your Archive Mgmt tab). Expand the folders as necessary to select the two archive versions or configurations you wish to compare. You can compare two individual configurations for the same device, or you can compare two different archive versions (although the versions should share common devices). Click the Compare button.
  3. The Compare Archives window opens to display the results of the comparison. The smaller Summary table at the top of the window displays each device included in the comparison. Any differences between the two versions will be flagged by a yellow Diff icon . If there are many devices being compared, a progress bar will indicate the progress of the operation. You can stop the compare operation by pressing the Abort Compare button.
  4. Once the compare operation is complete, select the device in the Summary table whose comparison results you wish to see. The results are displayed in the Comparison Results table.
  5. To select two new archive versions or configuration files to compare, click the Change button to return to the Select Archive to Compare window.
Use the table options and tools to find, filter, sort, print, and export information in a table and customize table settings. You can access the Table Tools through a right-mouse click on a column heading or anywhere in the table body, or by clicking the Table Tools  button in the upper left corner of the table (if you have the row count column displayed). For more information, see the Table Tools Help topic.

In addition, the following right-click menu options are available only for archives that include device configuration data:

  • View Configuration File -- Opens the Configuration File Viewer and displays the archived config file of the selected device. This option is only available when there are no differences between the two config files being compared.
  • Compare Configuration Files -- Opens the Compare Configuration Files window and displays the two archived config files for the selected device. This option is only available when there are differences between the two config files being compared.

Related Information

For information on related tasks:

For information on related windows:

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