A pristine configuration in Juniper Apstra is the configuration file that is used to onboard a device into the Apstra software application. A pristine configuration contains the minimum settings that are required for the device to communicate with the Apstra server, such as the hostname, management IP address, username, password, and SSH key1. A pristine configuration has the following characteristics:

It is the configuration file placed on the device when decommissioning the device. This is because when a device is decommissioned from the Apstra software application, it is reverted back to its pristine configuration, which removes all the network configuration and services that were applied by the Apstra software application. This allows the device to be reused or repurposed for another network2.

It is the configuration file on a device before acknowledgment in Apstra. This is because when a device is onboarded into the Apstra software application, it is initially in the discovery state, which means that the device is discovered by the Apstra server, but not yet acknowledged by the user. In the discovery state, thedevice has the pristine configuration, which can be viewed and edited by the user. Once the user acknowledges the device, the device moves to the deployed state, which means that the device is ready to receive the network configuration and services from the Apstra software application3.

The following two statements are incorrect in this scenario:

It is the device’s currently active configuration. This is not true, because the pristine configuration is not the device’s currently active configuration, unless the device is in the discovery state or the decommissioned state. In the deployed state, the device’s currently active configuration is the network configuration and services that are applied by the Apstra software application, which are based on the blueprint and the intent3.

It is the device’s previously active configuration. This is not true, because the pristine configuration is not the device’s previously active configuration, unless the device is in the decommissioned state. In the discovery state, the pristine configuration is the device’s initial configuration, which may or may not be the same as the device’s previous configuration before being onboarded into the Apstra software application. In the deployed state, the device’s previously active configuration is the network configuration and services that were applied by the Apstra software application before the last commit3.

References:

Pristine Config

Decommission Device

Device States