Import & Export

Import & Export: Bulk Device Import and Table Export in rConfig V8

The Import / Export page brings two data tools together in one place. The Import tab is a guided wizard for adding many devices at once from a spreadsheet, which is ideal for initial onboarding or migrating from a legacy system. The Export tab lets you write any rConfig database table out to a CSV file for backup, reporting, or offline analysis.

This page is the canonical reference for the import column schema and the export behaviour. For planning a large migration (naming conventions, building prerequisite IDs, transforming legacy data) see the Device Import Workbook.

Note

Find the page under Settings → Import / Export. It is available to any authenticated user. rConfig V8 Core does not use per user roles, so there is no separate permission to grant.

Importing devices

The importer reads a spreadsheet (.xlsx or .csv) where each row is one device, then creates the matching Device records. The wizard walks you through three steps.

Step 1: Download template

Open the Import tab and use Download Template. rConfig generates the template locally and streams it to your browser as device_import_template.xlsx.

The template is generated on demand from the exact column list the importer expects, so it can never drift out of sync with the application, and it works on offline or air-gapped installs (no internet download).

Step 2: Populate template

Fill one row per device. Several columns are ID references that must already exist in rConfig. Use the in app links on this step (or the inventory pages) to look up the correct IDs for your command groups, templates, vendors, and tags before you start.

See Import column reference below for every column and its meaning.

Step 3: Upload & review

Drag your completed file onto the upload area (or click to browse) and choose Import Devices. rConfig validates every row, imports the valid ones, and shows a warnings list for any rows it skipped. Each skipped row tells you exactly what failed, for example Import Error device5: Invalid Template ID.

Caution

The upload accepts .csv and .xlsx files up to 2 MB. For very large inventories, split the import into multiple files.

Import column reference

These are the exact column headers in the template. Keep the header row as is.

Column	Required	Description
device_name	Yes	Unique device name. Invalid characters are stripped on import; only letters, numbers, dot, dash, and underscore are kept (so core switch 1 becomes coreswitch1).
device_ip	Yes	Management IP address (IPv4 or IPv6).
device_main_prompt	Yes	The device CLI prompt used to detect the device is ready for commands.
device_enable_prompt	Yes	The privileged (enable) mode prompt. Use placeholder text if the device has no enable mode.
device_model	Yes	Free text model designation, for example Cisco-Catalyst-9500.
device_category_id	Yes	Command Group ID. Must reference an existing Command Group.
device_template	Yes	Connection Template ID. Must reference an existing Template.
device_vendor	Yes	Vendor ID. Must reference an existing Vendor.
device_tag	Yes	Tag ID, or a comma separated list of Tag IDs (“1,2,5”). At least one valid Tag is required.
device_default_creds_on	Yes	1 to use a saved credential set (see device_cred_id), or 0 to use the inline credential columns below.
device_cred_id	Yes	When device_default_creds_on is 1, the ID of the Device Credential set to apply. Set to 0 when using inline credentials.
device_username	No	Inline username. Used only when device_default_creds_on is 0.
device_password	No	Inline password. Stored encrypted. Used only when device_default_creds_on is 0.
device_enable_password	No	Inline enable password. Stored encrypted. Used only when device_default_creds_on is 0.

Tip

Credentials, two ways. Set device_default_creds_on to 1 and put a valid credential set ID in device_cred_id to reuse a saved Device Credential set. Otherwise set device_default_creds_on to 0, device_cred_id to 0, and fill in device_username, device_password, and device_enable_password directly on the row.

Example import file

When a field contains commas (such as multiple tag IDs) wrap it in double quotes so the CSV parser keeps it as one value.

device_name,device_ip,device_username,device_password,device_enable_password,device_main_prompt,device_enable_prompt,device_category_id,device_template,device_model,device_vendor,device_tag,device_default_creds_on,device_cred_id
core-rtr-01,192.168.1.1,admin,s3cret,en4ble,>,#,1,1,Cisco-ASR-1000,1,"1,3",0,0
access-sw-01,192.168.2.10,,,,>,#,2,1,Cisco-Catalyst-2960X,1,2,1,5

In this example core-rtr-01 uses inline credentials (device_default_creds_on is 0), while access-sw-01 reuses saved credential set 5 (device_default_creds_on is 1, so its blank username and password columns are ignored).

How rows are validated

Each row is checked in order. The first failed check skips the row and records a warning. Valid rows are imported.

Check	Warning message when it fails
No blank required fields	Import Error {name}: Blank Fields
Credential ID exists (when device_default_creds_on is 1)	Import Error {name}: Invalid Credentials ID
Command Group ID exists	Import Error {name}: Invalid Category ID
Vendor ID exists	Import Error {name}: Invalid Vendor ID
Template ID exists	Import Error {name}: Invalid Template ID
Tag ID(s) exist	Import Error {name}: Invalid Tag ID

On completion you get a summary such as 3 Devices successfully imported, and the warnings list shows every skipped row. The same messages are written to the Application Log, and a notification is raised for all users.

Note

Imported devices start with a status of Unknown until rConfig first reaches them (through a reachability check or a configuration download). This is expected for freshly imported devices.

Exporting tables

The Export tab writes a single rConfig database table to a CSV file you can download.

1. Open the Export tab.
2. Choose a table from the Select Table dropdown.
3. Choose Export to CSV. rConfig writes the file and shows a Download CSV button.
4. Download the file. It is also retrievable later from the exports storage location.

The devices table export is enhanced: it adds a tags column with each device’s tag names joined together and drops internal helper fields. Other tables export their columns as stored.

Tables that cannot be exported

Internal and transient tables are hidden from the dropdown because exporting them has no value or could expose system internals. These include migrations, sessions, queue and job tables, OAuth and personal access token tables, scheduled task bookkeeping, and various pivot tables.

Caution

Exports can contain sensitive data. Some exportable tables (for example devices and device_credentials) hold encrypted secrets such as device and enable passwords. The CSV contains those values as stored (encrypted), but the resulting file should still be treated as sensitive: store it securely and delete it when you no longer need it.

Troubleshooting

”Permission denied” creating a temporary file

Exports and the template download build a short lived temporary file before sending it to you. If that temporary directory is owned by a different user than the web server, you may see a log entry like:

touch(): Unable to create file .../laravel-excel/...xlsx because Permission denied

rConfig V8 writes these temporary files to the operating system temporary directory (usually /tmp), which avoids most ownership problems. If your environment needs a specific path, set it explicitly and the importer and exporter will use it:

LARAVEL_EXCEL_TEMP_PATH=/var/tmp

After changing environment values, clear the cached config so the new path takes effect:

php artisan config:clear

Rows are skipped on import

Every skipped row reports a precise reason in the warnings list and the Application Log. The most common cause is an ID reference (command group, template, vendor, tag, or credential set) that does not yet exist. Create the missing prerequisites first, then re-import. See the Device Import Workbook for a structured approach to preparing prerequisites at scale.

Related documentation

• Device Import Workbook - Planning and preparing a large device import
• System Settings Reference - All Settings sections at a glance
• Templates, Vendors, Command Groups, Tags - Prerequisites referenced by import IDs
• Application Log - Where import and export events are recorded