Periodic backups are crucial to recovery processes. The archive feature in Cisco IOS can automate periodic backups of configuration for expedited recovery.
In the example above, the archive section specifies an FTP operation, where $h represents the host name for the local device. TFTP can be used as well.
Note the time period is specified in minutes, so the backup in the example above will be written to archive every 1,440 minutes, or every 24 hours.
Stuck-in-Active: Journal of an IT-Network Administrator 