Configuring System Settings

SonicWALL GMS enables you to save SonicWALL appliance settings to the SonicWALL GMS database that can be used for restoration purposes. GMS can automatically take back ups of the appliance configuration files at regular schedules and store them in the database. The schedule is configured in the Console > Management > GMS Settings screen Automatically save... Here you can specify that a back up should never be taken or back ups should be taken on a daily or weekly schedule. If the schedules are set for daily or weekly, then the back ups are done for all appliances for which Enable Prefs File Backup is selected in this screen.

To purge older back ups, you can specify how many of the latest prefs files should be stored in the database. The listbox here displays all the Prefs files backed up, along with the firmware version. In addition to automatic back ups, you can manually force a Prefs back up by selecting Store settings...

To save or apply SonicWALL appliance settings, complete the following steps:

1	Expand the System tree and click Settings. The Settings page displays.

 

2	To apply settings to the SonicWALL appliance directly from SonicWALL GMS database, select the saved settings and click Restore the settings to the unit.

NOTE: The Restore the settings to the unit option is available only at the unit level, and not at the group and global levels. This option previously was available at the group and global levels. GMS now does not display the option at both the group and global levels to minimize risk of you writing a non-compatible prefs file to an incorrect firmware version running on a SonicWALL appliance.

3

To store an external Prefs file into the database, enter the path to the file and click Store settings to s local file. The Store settings from local file button is used to store the prefs file from the local hard disk into the GMS database so that it displays in the list box of the Settings page. After stored in the database (when it will display in the list box), you can then click Restore the settings to the unit.

4	To delete the saved settings, click the Delete the settings link.

5

To save the settings of a SonicWALL appliance to the SonicWALL GMS database, enter a name for the settings in the Name field and click Store settings read from unit. Then, if you want to save these settings to a local file, click Store the settings from local file. You can save multiple version of settings for each SonicWALL appliance to the SonicWALL GMS database and to different local files.

6	To automatically backup the preferences for the selected SonicWALL appliance, select Enable Settings File Backup and click Update.

NOTE: The backed up prefs file contains the configuration settings and the firmware version of the security appliance you are backing up.

7	Go to the Console > Management > GMS Settings page and update the values in the Automatically save prefs file section. This enables you to specify when and how frequently GMS backs up the prefs files.

8	If you want to automatically purge older backups, select the number of newer backup files you want to keep in the Number of newest Prefs Files to be preserved field. Enter 0 to prevent purging of older backups. Click Update.

9

Set the value in the Missed Reports Threshold field to the number of heartbeat messages GMS can miss before considering the unit to be down. Click Update. GMS relies on special syslogs called heartbeat messages to determine if an appliance is up and running. By default, if GMS does not receive three successive heartbeat messages, it makes the appliance as “down”. You can customize this threshold to any number. If you set the value to “0”, then GMS will not mark this node as down.

10	To delete settings from the SonicWALL GMS database, select the saved settings and click Delete the settings.