If you are a network guy, even if you have never installed, used, or seen RANCID, you probably still know about it. However, in case not, you can find more at Shrubbery Networks, where you will find this short write-up on what RANCID does.

RANCID monitors a router’s (or more generally a device’s) configuration, including software and hardware (cards, serial numbers, etc) and uses CVS (Concurrent Version System) or Subversion to maintain history of changes.

There is a log of documentation on how to install, configure and run RANCID, but I haven’t found much that explains how all of the configurations files and scripts interact with each other.… Read more