Can Kiwi CatTools run automated backups when I'm not at my computer?

Yes, when installed as a Windows service, CatTools can run scheduled automated backups and configuration changes while you're away from your computer. You can configure activities to run at specific times or on a recurring schedule.

What types of network devices does Kiwi CatTools support?

CatTools supports routers, switches, and firewalls. The tool can connect to devices via Telnet or SSH and includes predefined activities for common network device management tasks across these device types.

Top 3 Features of Kiwi CatTools for Network Automation

Name: Top 3 Features of Kiwi CatTools for Network Automation
Uploaded: 2026-04-29T10:05:15-04:00
Duration: 4 min
Description: TL;DR Kiwi CatTools automates network configuration management through scheduled batch jobs that can backup, modify, and report on network devices while running unattended as a Windows service. The tool enables mass configuration backups with automatic...

Solarwinds

04/29/2026

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Transcript

of SolarWinds Kiwi Cat Tools. Kiwi Cat Tools runs on most modern Windows operating systems. You can install it as a standalone application or as a service. Installing it as a service grants you the ability to schedule automated backups or config changes while you're away from your computer. At the heart of Cat Tools is a batch processing machine. Once you've set up your network devices, your routers, switches, and firewalls, you then instruct Cat Tools to perform any one of the many predefined activities against those devices. Some of the activities include sending commands directly to your device in normal or privileged mode, setting the password for your devices, either one-by-one or en masse, testing connectivity, and backing up and restoring your running configurations. The first feature of Kiwi Cat Tools is the ability to mass backup the configuration of your devices. You can even have any differences automatically emailed to you. Let's quickly add a device. First name the device, configure its IP address, and choose what type of device it is. Next we'll assign saved credentials to this particular device so you don't have to re-enter them later. Now we'll create an activity to backup this device or multiple devices and have the activity do the job for us. First we'll select the activity type. Now you can choose the time of day this backup job should run, either reoccurring or scheduled. You can select all devices or explicit devices that should be run. We'll select both routers. You can have the job send an email upon completion. And you can configure several options for the job, including the location the config file should be saved to. Let's run the job now. Another excellent feature includes using activities to issue commands via Telnet or SSH to many devices at once. You can also change the configuration of devices at scheduled times. A great example is to get the version of iOS you're running across multiple devices. Here we have a job that sends CLI commands. This is a default type that ships with the product. You would simply select Device, CLI, Send Commands. You can change the time period. You can also select which devices this job should be run against. You can configure your email options. And in the Options tab, you can type in the command that you would like to run. In this example, we are doing a showvr for showversion. We can see that the command output is going to be saved to this file location. Let's run this command and see the result. You can also directly compare two previous configuration backups right from within the tool. I'll come over here to the Compare tab and select two different configuration files. And as you can tell, the tool highlights differences for me, with changes in red and additions in green. The third great feature is our reporting activities. For example, if I wanted to get the ARP table from a device, I'd simply open this window, select Report, ARP Table, choose one or more devices. Let's go ahead and run it now. Then we can view the report either in text or HTML format. The HTML report is a nicely formatted table that's very easy to read. As you can see, with SolarWinds KiwiCat tools, you can automatically backup the running configuration for your entire network. With Activities, you can issue any command via Telnet or SSH to collect information on all your devices, update a password, or make a change to your network. And finally, our Reports feature will put the info you need right at your fingertips. I'm Mark Allen, and thanks for taking a look at the top three features of KiwiCat tools from SolarWinds.

TL;DR

Kiwi CatTools automates network configuration management through scheduled batch jobs that can backup, modify, and report on network devices while running unattended as a Windows service.
The tool enables mass configuration backups with automatic email notifications of changes, and includes built-in comparison tools to highlight differences between configuration versions in an easy-to-read format.
Network administrators can execute CLI commands across multiple devices simultaneously, generate formatted reports like ARP tables, and perform bulk operations such as password updates across entire device inventories.

Summary

This product demonstration showcases SolarWinds Kiwi CatTools, a network configuration management solution designed to automate critical network administration tasks. Mark Allen walks through the tool's core capabilities, including automated configuration backups, batch command execution across multiple devices, and built-in reporting features. The demonstration highlights how CatTools operates as a batch processing engine that can be installed as a Windows service, enabling scheduled operations to run unattended. Key workflows demonstrated include adding network devices with saved credentials, creating scheduled backup activities with email notifications, executing CLI commands across multiple routers simultaneously, comparing configuration file versions to identify changes, and generating formatted reports such as ARP tables. The tool is positioned as an affordable solution built by network engineers for network engineers, emphasizing ease of use and practical automation of routine tasks like password updates, connectivity testing, and configuration management across routers, switches, and firewalls.

Chapters

0:00 - Introduction to Kiwi CatTools
0:48 - Feature 1: Mass Configuration Backup
1:54 - Feature 2: Batch Command Execution
3:04 - Feature 3: Reporting and ARP Tables

Key Quotes

0:22 "At the heart of Cat Tools is a batch processing machine."
0:48 "The first feature of Kiwi Cat Tools is the ability to mass backup the configuration of your devices. You can even have any differences automatically emailed to you."
1:54 "Another excellent feature includes using activities to issue commands via Telnet or SSH to many devices at once."

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» Cybersecurity » Network Security
» Data Protection

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