Adopt existing devices in NetBase by pasting their running-config

Greenfield projects are nice — you design from scratch in NetBase and every line on the device comes from the editor. Brownfield is harder: there’s an existing fleet, and someone needs to get it into the tool without rebuilding it from memory. NetBase’s Import from running-config dialog is designed for exactly this case. Paste a show running-config dump, see a three-way preview, opt out per section, hit Import, and the device’s tabs are populated as if you’d typed them yourself.

A naïve importer would just parse the config and overwrite whatever is in the editor. That’s dangerous: if the editor tab already has some edits (maybe a colleague started the work earlier), you’d lose them. NetBase’s import is merge-oriented and always shows you three columns per section:

• On device today — the count of rows in NetBase right now (e.g. “4 interfaces configured”).
• Parsed from paste — the count that came out of your pasted running-config.
• Net new after dedupe — what will actually be added, i.e. rows in the paste that don’t already exist in the editor.

You never end up with duplicates, and nothing in the editor is overwritten without you seeing it first.

Two ways in:

• ⌘K → Import from running-config….
• On the Router or Switch editor, click Import next to the device tab.

A full-screen dialog opens with a paste area on the left and a three-way preview panel on the right.

On the device, run whichever of these fits your situation:

show running-config
show running-config | section ospf
show running-config | section interface

Copy the output and paste it into the left-hand panel. The preview on the right refreshes as soon as NetBase finishes parsing — usually instant.

The preview lists every section NetBase recognised: Hostname, Interfaces, switchports (on switches), VLANs, NTP servers, Static routes, Syslog servers, etc. For each one you get the three counts and a checkbox. Expand a section to see the individual rows that will be added — e.g. the two new interfaces NetBase plans to create under the Interfaces tab.

You can:

• Untick a section to skip it entirely (e.g. you don’t want to import the existing NTP config).
• Expand to see row previews.
• Switch devices from within the dialog if you’re bulk-importing.

A banner at the bottom summarises the net-new totals — Will add: +4 interfaces, +2 VLANs — so there are no surprises.

Click Import and NetBase applies the merge. Every row lands in its matching tab as an editable card — rename it, wire it into a VRF, bind it to a route-map, whatever you need. The “On device today” counts update accordingly.

The pasted text itself is discarded; NetBase only keeps the parsed, structured rows.

If you have a connector online for this device, the Deploy button now has a meaningful diff to show. The first time you hit Deploy after an import, the Changes tab should read “No field-level changes since last NetBase deploy” and the Config tab should produce an empty diff — confirming the import faithfully captured what was on the device.

If the diff isn’t empty, it tells you exactly which lines NetBase would re-push. Common reasons:

• Vendor-specific syntax the parser didn’t recognise (it’ll appear as a net-new “add” line).
• Config that NetBase intentionally doesn’t manage (e.g. one-off logging host lines the UI doesn’t support directly).

Either way, you see the delta before anything is pushed.

• Import one section at a time for the first pass. Paste just show running-config | section vlan first, then switchports, then OSPF. Smaller diffs are easier to eyeball.
• Use a shared project for the adoption work. NetBase’s real-time collaboration means two people can import + validate a switch together — one drives, the other spot-checks the preview.
• Run the Compare-to-running-config after every import. It’s the fastest proof that the editor now matches the device.

If you’ve been holding off on NetBase because “I can’t re-type all these configs” — this is the way in. Thirty minutes and a few pastes later, your brownfield fleet is under visual management.