The effect of using the router command
copy running-config startup-config
is that it saves the current running configuration (which is stored in RAM) to the startup configuration (which is stored in non-volatile RAM, NVRAM). This means the router’s configuration changes made during the running session are saved permanently and will be retained when the router is rebooted or powered off. Essentially, it copies the active configuration into the memory that the router loads on startup.
Key Points:
- The running-config is the current, active configuration stored in RAM.
- The startup-config is the saved configuration stored in NVRAM.
- Using this command updates the startup-config with the current running-config.
- After this command, the contents of NVRAM change to reflect the latest configuration.
- This ensures the configuration settings persist after a reboot.
- The contents of RAM, ROM, and Flash do not change as a result of this command.
This operation is critical to avoid losing configuration changes upon rebooting the router.
