@zJakie Thank you for a clear and concise reply. My reply below is directed towards Teltonika.
Having done a very quick test on a RUTX09 running 07.24, some findings are …
CONFIGURATION (NOT DEVICE) STYLE BACKUP & RESTORE – WITH RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULTS PRIOR TO RESTORE
It should be noted that all results were inspected via the Web UI and not directly inspecting the config files.
a) If you manually set an APN with ‘Auto APN = off’ then this setting will not be restored, and you end up with a configuration of ‘Auto APN = off’ but no APN. Most likely because the /etc/config/network file is ignored in the backup.
b) The Zerotier package was not reinstalled - I’m assuming this is because the backup disregards the /etc/package_restore.txt file and the /etc/config/ directory contents where the Zerotier config resides.
c) For an OpenVPN config that was created by importing an ‘.ovpn’ file, the configuration is not restored, although any associated certificates are and the ‘.ovpn’ file is restored in /etc/vuci-uploads/. The backup fails ‘Verify’ due to the discrepancies in the OpenVPN config - /openvpn/config end point. I’m assuming this is because the backup disregards the contents of /etc/config/ and /etc/openvpn/ directories and this is where some of the OpenVPN config resides.
d) Sysupgrade.conf – files and directories included in the sysupgrade.conf file, are honoured in the backup and restore BUT the sysupgrade.conf file itself is not backed up or restored. This means that in any subsequent backup and restore, the behaviour will be totally different. The workaround for this is to add the line /etc/sysupgrade.conf into the sysupgrade.conf file, so it backs itself up and will be restored.
e) SMS Utilities – any ‘Execute Custom Script’ rules, lose their script and therefore would not function. The ‘.sh’ scripts themselves are restored to /etc/vuci-uploads/ but there’s a broken linkage here due to the fact that /etc/config/sms_utils is ignored in the backup.
IN CONCLUSION
If you are thinking that you can use the Configuration backup (The New API Style) as a daily default, and have a ‘functioning as intended’ device upon a factory reset and restore, … then this obviously is NOT the case. It will not backup the /etc/config/ directory, and as the name implies, there’s a whole lot of config going on in there.
The Device backup (The Old Traditional Style) will return your device to the state it was in when the Device Backup was taken.
In its current state, I am struggling to see the real functional purpose and benefit of the Configuration backup … maybe someone from Teltonika can let me know. To use an English idiom, it seems to be a bit of a ‘Dog’s Dinner’.