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Get Started with the CLI

Overview

The OpenShift Online CLI exposes commands for managing your applications, as well as lower level tools to interact with each component of your system. This topic guides you through getting started with the CLI, including installation and logging in to create your first project.

Installing the CLI

Installation options for the CLI vary depending on your operating system.

To log in using the CLI, collect your token from the web console’s Command Line page, which is accessed from Command Line Tools in the Help menu. The token is hidden, so you must click the copy to clipboard button at the end of the oc login line on the Command Line Tools page, then paste the copied contents to show the token.

For Windows

The CLI for Windows is provided as a zip archive; you can download it from the Command Line Tools page on the web console.

Then, unzip the archive with a ZIP program and move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH. To check your PATH, open the Command Prompt and run:

C:\> path

For Mac OS X

The CLI for Mac OS X is provided as a tar.gz archive; you can download it from the Command Line Tools page on the web console.

Then, unpack the archive and move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH. To check your PATH, open a Terminal window and run:

$ echo $PATH

For Linux

The CLI for Linux is provided as a tar.gz archive; you can download it from the Command Line Tools page on the web console.

Then, unpack the archive and move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH. To check your path, run:

$ echo $PATH

To unpack the archive:

$ tar -xf <file>

If you do not use RHEL or Fedora, ensure that libc is installed in a directory on your library path. If libc is not available, you might see the following error when you run CLI commands:

oc: No such file or directory

Basic Setup and Login

The oc login command is the best way to initially set up the CLI, and it serves as the entry point for most users. The interactive flow helps you establish a session to an OpenShift Online server with the provided credentials. The information is automatically saved in a CLI configuration file that is then used for subsequent commands.

The following example shows the interactive setup and login using the oc login command:

Example 1. Initial CLI Setup
$ oc login
Example Output
OpenShift server [https://localhost:8443]: https://openshift.example.com (1)

Username: alice (2)
Authentication required for https://openshift.example.com (openshift)
Password: ******
Login successful. (3)

You don't have any projects. You can try to create a new project, by running

    $ oc new-project <projectname> (4)

Welcome to OpenShift! See 'oc help' to get started.
1 The command prompts for the OpenShift Online server URL.
2 The command prompts for login credentials: a user name and password.
3 A session is established with the server, and a session token is received.
4 If you do not have a project, information is given on how to create one.

When you have completed the CLI configuration, subsequent commands use the configuration file for the server, session token, and project information.

You can log out of CLI using the oc logout command:

$ oc logout
Example Output
User, alice, logged out of https://openshift.example.com

If you log in after creating or being granted access to a project, a project you have access to is automatically set as the current default, until switching to another one:

$ oc login
Example Output
Username: alice
Authentication required for https://openshift.example.com (openshift)
Password:
Login successful.

Using project "aliceproject".

Additional options are also available for the oc login command.

CLI Configuration Files

A CLI configuration file permanently stores oc options and contains a series of authentication mechanisms and OpenShift Online server connection information associated with nicknames.

As described in the previous section, the oc login command automatically creates and manages CLI configuration files. All information gathered by the command is stored in a configuration file located in ~/.kube/config. The current CLI configuration can be viewed using the following command:

Example 2. Viewing the CLI Configuration
$ oc config view
Example Output
apiVersion: v1
clusters:
- cluster:
    server: https://openshift.example.com
  name: openshift
contexts:
- context:
    cluster: openshift
    namespace: aliceproject
    user: alice
  name: alice
current-context: alice
kind: Config
preferences: {}
users:
- name: alice
  user:
    token: NDM2N2MwODgtNjI1Yy10N3VhLTg1YmItYzI4NDEzZDUyYzVi

CLI configuration files can be used to setup multiple CLI profiles using various OpenShift Online servers, namespaces, and users so that you can switch easily between them. The CLI can support multiple configuration files; they are loaded at runtime and merged together along with any override options specified from the command line.

Projects

$ oc project

If you have access to multiple projects, use the following syntax to switch to a particular project by specifying the project name:

$ oc project <project_name>

For example:

Switch to Project project02
$ oc project project02
Example Output
Now using project 'project02'.
Switch to Project project03
$ oc project project03
Example Output
Now using project 'project03'.
List the Current Project
$ oc project
Example Output
Using project 'project03'.