/tftpboot/.SAVED./ directories explainedThis article explains the purpose of the /tftpboot/.SAVED.<vap_group>/ directories.

To explain the purpose and proper handling of the /tftpboot/.SAVED.<vap_group>/ directories.

Question

What are the .SAVED. directories within the /tftpboot/ partition and can I delete them?

For example:

ls -la /tftpboot/

drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 Sep 11 12:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 Sep 5 20:57 ..
drwxr-xr-x 20 root root 4096 Sep 15 10:49 inet_1
drwxr-xr-x 20 root root 4096 Sep 15 10:48 inet_2
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Aug 12 11:45 inet_common
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Jun 9 2005 lost+found
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2186228 Mar 6 2008 npm.bin
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Sep 15 2005 .private
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Jun 7 12:44 rdImage.nb -> ./rdImage.nb2uni
-rw-r-xr-x 1 root root 3158528 Mar 6 2008 rdImage.nb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Jun 7 12:44 rdImage.nb2smp -> ./rdImage.nb2uni
-rw-r-xr-x 1 root root 3892224 Mar 6 2008 rdImage.nb2uni
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 Sep 5 17:58 .SAVED.fwbackdmz_1
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 Sep 5 17:58 .SAVED.fwbackdmz_2
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Sep 15 2005 .SAVED.fwbackdmz_common

Answer

Do NOT ever delete anything in the /tftpboot/ directory.

The .SAVED. directories represent VAP groups that were created at one point but are no longer a part of the running-config in the XOS CLI.

Do NOT delete these directories manually.

Explanation

If you delete a VAP group from the running-configuration but you do not save the running-config to the startup-config, and then immediately reload the chassis, the VAP group references will remain the startup-config. If the .SAVED. directories were not created, there would be no way to quickly recover the deleted VAP groups. This would cause a situation in which the system would attempt to create VAP groups to match the start-up configuration before fully booting the system.

In sum, the .SAVED directories allow users to remove a VAP group, then reload the chassis WITHOUT saving the configuration, and having the previously deleted VAP group(s) back quickly.

To remove the .SAVED directories, save the configuration and reload. The directories will be removed automatically on boot.

Note: When you "wr" (save) the configuration, the .SAVED directories are prefixed with .BOGUS and will remain until the CPM is rebooted.

For example:

drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 Sep 5 17:58 .BOGUS..SAVED.fwbackdmz_1
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 Sep 5 17:58 .BOGUS..SAVED.fwbackdmz_2
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Sep 15 2005 .BOGUS..SAVED.fwbackdmz_common

Workaround

N/A