In this paper, we gather the weekly reports of an operational IP backbone network from January 2006 to January 2013, according to which, we can restore the truth and uncover the evolution of network configurations of the studied network. Our high-level analyses illustrate that rate limiting and launching routes for new customers are most frequently configured. We can identify and construct configuration templates by correlating each task to a certain set of commands in configuration files, based on which, automated configuration provisioning for an operational backbone network is feasible. In addition, we can configure redundant links for those with higher rate of failures according to our detailed analyses of link failures, which will enhance the stability and reliability of data transmission.