The present invention introduces methods for controlling and configuring systems using a new command line interface (CLI) command. The CLI command allows a user to set a save point or a restore point of the configuration (e.g., setsavepoint). After the CLI command is executed, the user can continue issuing configuration commands. In addition, if at some point the user wants to go back to the restore point, the user can issue an additional command which generates a CLI script containing all of the commands that need to be executed in order to modify the configuration such that it goes back to its state at the point at which the restore point was set.