Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking

Exclusive Configuration Change Access (also called the “Configuration Lock” feature) allows you to have exclusive change access to the Cisco IOS XE running configuration, preventing multiple users from making concurrent configuration changes.

The Access Session Locking addition to this feature extends the Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature such that show and debug commands entered by the user holding the configuration lock always have execution priority; show and debug commands entered by other users are only allowed to run after the processes initiated by the configuration lock owner have finished.

The Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature (“exposed lock”) is complementary with the locking mechanism in the Configuration Replace and Configuration Rollback feature (“rollback lock”).

Information About Locking the Configuration

Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking

Devices running Cisco IOS software maintain a running configuration that determines the configuration state of the device. Changes to the running configuration alter the behavior of the device. Because Cisco IOS software allows multiple users to change the running configuration via the device CLI (including the device console and telnet Secure Shell (SSH)), in some operating environments it would be beneficial to prevent multiple users from making concurrent changes to the Cisco IOS running configuration. Temporarily limiting access to the Cisco IOS running configuration prevents inadvertent conflicts or cases where two users attempt to configure the same portion of the running configuration.

The Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature (also called the “Configuration Lock” feature) allows you to have exclusive change access to the Cisco IOS running configuration, preventing multiple users from making concurrent configuration changes.

This feature provides exclusive change access to the Cisco IOS running configuration from the time you enter global configuration mode by using the configure terminal command. This gives the effect of a “configuration lock,” preventing other users from changing the Cisco IOS running configuration. The configuration lock is automatically released when the user exits Cisco IOS configuration mode.

The Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature is enabled using the configuration mode exclusive command in global configuration mode. Exclusive configuration change access can be set to auto , so that the Cisco IOS configuration mode is locked whenever anyone uses the configure terminal command, or it can be set to manual , so that the Cisco IOS configuration mode is locked only when the configure terminal lock command is issued.

The Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature is complementary with the locking mechanism for the Configuration Replace and Configuration Rollback feature introduced in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(25)S and 12.3(7)T.

Access Session Locking

The Access Session Locking feature extends the Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature such that show and debug commands entered by the user holding the configuration lock always have execution priority. This feature prevents concurrent configuration access and also provides an option to prevent simultaneous processes, such as a show command entered by another user, from executing while other configuration commands are being executed. When this feature is enabled, the commands entered by the user with the configuration lock (such as configuration commands) always have priority over commands entered by other users.

How to Configure Configuration Exclusive Confguration Change-Access and Access Session Locking

Enabling Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking


Note

Effective with Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SRE, the Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking feature is not available in Cisco IOS software. Use the Parser Concurrency and Locking Improvements feature instead of this feature. See the “Enabling Parser Concurrency and Locking Improvements” section for more information.

Perform this task to enable the Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking feature.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. configuration mode exclusive
  4. end

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

enable

Example:


Router> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal

Example:


Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

configuration mode exclusive

Example:


Router(config)# configuration mode exclusive

Enables exclusive configuration change access (configuration lock feature).

  • When the command is enabled, configuration sessions are performed in single-user (exclusive) mode.

Step 4

end

Example:


Router(config)# end

Ends your configuration session and returns the CLI to privileged EXEC mode.

Obtaining Exclusive Configuration Change Access

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. configure terminal lock
  4. Configure the system by entering your changes to the running configuration.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • end
    • or
    • exit

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

enable

Example:


Router> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal

Example:


Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

configure terminal lock

Example:


Router(config)# configure terminal lock

(Optional) Locks the Cisco IOS software in exclusive (single-user) mode.

  • This command can be used only if you have previously enabled configuration locking by using the configuration mode exclusive command.

  • This command is available in Cisco IOS Release 12.3(14)T or later releases.

Step 4

Configure the system by entering your changes to the running configuration.

--

Step 5

Do one of the following:

  • end
  • or
  • exit

Example:


Router(config)# end

Example:

Example:


Router(config)# exit

Ends your configuration session, automatically releases the session lock obtained in Step 1, and exits to privileged EXEC mode.

Note

 

Either the end command, the exit command, or the Ctrl-Z key combination releases the configuration lock. Use of the end command is recommended.

Monitoring and Troubleshooting Configuration Locking

Perform either or both steps in this task to monitor or troubleshoot the Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking feature.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. show configuration lock
  2. debug configuration lock

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1

show configuration lock

Use this command to display the status and details of any current configuration locks, including the owner, user, terminal, lock state, and lock class.

If you cannot enter global configuration mode, you can use this command to determine if the configuration session is locked by another user, and who that user is.

Example:

Step 2

debug configuration lock

Use this command to enable debugging of Cisco IOS configuration locks (exposed class locks or rollback class locks):

Example:


Router# debug configuration lock
 
Session1 from console
==========================
Router# configure terminal lock 
Configuration mode locked exclusively. The lock will be cleared once you exit out of configuration mode using end/exit
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
Router(config)#
Parser : LOCK REQUEST in EXCLUSIVE mode
Parser: <configure terminal lock> - Config. Lock requested by process <3> client <PARSER Client>
Parser: <configure terminal lock> - Config. Lock acquired successfully !
Router(config)#

Configuration Examples for Locking the Configuration

Configuring an Exclusive Lock in Auto Mode Example

The following example shows how to enable the exclusive lock in auto mode for single-user auto configuration mode using the configurationmodeexclusive command. Once the Cisco IOS configuration file is locked exclusively, you can verify this configuration by using the showconfigurationlock command. 


Router# configure terminal 
Router(config)# 
Router(config)# exit 
Router# configure terminal 
! Locks configuration mode exclusively.
Router# show configuration lock
Parser Configure Lock
Owner PID        :  10
User             :  User1
TTY              :  3
Type             :  EXCLUSIVE
State            :  LOCKED
Class            :  Exposed 
Count            :  0 
Pending Requests :  0 
User debug info  :  0

Configuring an Exclusive Lock in Manual Mode Example

Additional References

The following sections provide references related to locking the configuration.

Related Documents

Related Topic

Document Title

Commands for managing configuration files

Cisco IOS Configuration Management Command Reference

Information about managing configuration files

Managing Configuration Files

Standards

Standard

Title

No new or modified standards are supported by this feature, and support for existing standards has not been modified by this feature.

--

MIBs

MIB

MIBs Link

No new or modified MIBs are supported by this feature, and support for existing MIBs has not been modified by this feature.

To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator found at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/go/mibs

RFCs

RFC

Title

No new or modified RFCs are supported by this feature, and support for existing RFCs has not been modified by this feature.

--

Technical Assistance

Description

Link

The Cisco Support website provides extensive online resources, including documentation and tools for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues with Cisco products and technologies.

To receive security and technical information about your products, you can subscribe to various services, such as the Product Alert Tool (accessed from Field Notices), the Cisco Technical Services Newsletter, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds.

Access to most tools on the Cisco Support website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

http://www.cisco.com/techsupport

Feature Information for Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking

The following table provides release information about the feature or features described in this module. This table lists only the software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that software release train also support that feature.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.
Table 1. Feature Information for Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking

Feature Name

Releases

Feature Information

Exclusive Configuration Change Access and Access Session Locking

12.3(14)T 12.0(31)S 12.2(33)SRA 12.4(11)T 12.2(33)SXH 12.2(33)SB

The Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature (also called the “Configuration Lock” feature) allows you to have exclusive change access to the Cisco IOS running configuration, preventing multiple users from making concurrent configuration changes.

The Access Session Locking addition to this feature extends the Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature such that show and debug commands entered by the user holding the configuration lock always have execution priority;show and debug commands entered by other users are allowed to run only after the processes initiated by the configuration lock owner have finished.

The Exclusive Configuration Change Access feature is complementary with the locking mechanism for the Configuration Replace and Configuration Rollback feature (“rollback lock”).

The Configuration Lock feature feature was integrated into Release 12.0S, and the Access Session Locking feature extension was implemented. The configuration mode exclusive command was extended to include the following keyword options: config_wait , expire , interleave , lock-show , retry_wait , and terminate . The output of the show configuration lock command was improved.

The extended feature was integrated into Releases 12.2(33)SRA, 12.4(11)T, 12.2(33)SXH, and 12.2(33)SB.

The following sections provide information about this feature:

  • Information About Locking the Configuration

  • How to Configure Configuration Lock

The following commands were introduced or modified: clear configuration lock , configuration mode exclusive , and configure terminal lock .

Parser Concurrency and Locking Improvements

12.2(33)SRE

15.1(1)T

The Parser Concurrency and Locking Improvements feature provides a common interface that ensures that exclusive access is granted to the requested process and prevents others from concurrently accessing the Cisco IOS configuration. It allows access only to the user holding the lock and prevents other clients from accessing the configuration.

The following sections provide information about this feature:

  • Parser Concurrency and Locking Improvements

  • Enabling Parser Concurrency and Locking Improvements

The following commands were introduced or modified: parser command serializer and test parser session-lock .