The SoftLayer API client includes a utility, sl, that provides a way to manage portions of a SoftLayer environment on the command line. Each section of the CLI shares a name with a manager that powers it. These managers wrap the necessary SoftLayer API calls and allow the CLI libraries to focus on data manipulation and display.
The SLAPI CLI tool is included with the SoftLayer Python API Client. To install please follow these steps
The easiest way to get going it to use the automated configuration tool built into the CLI. This can be accessed with the arguments config setup. The configuration tool will prompt for your SoftLayer Portal username, API Key and Endpoint URL of choice. The default endpoint will be fine for most use cases.
If you do not already have an API key, your portal username can be used and the CLI will generate and populate your config with the a API key.
However you can also create/obtain an API key by following this guide
$ sl config setup Username []: foo API Key or Password []: bar Endpoint (public|private|custom): public :..............:..................................................................: : Name : Value : :..............:..................................................................: : Username : foo : : API Key : bar : : Endpoint URL : https://api.softlayer.com/xmlrpc/v3/ : : Timeout : not set : :..............:..................................................................: Are you sure you want to write settings to "/Users/foo/.softlayer"? [Y/n]: y Configuration Updated Successfully
These values can also be manually added to the configuration file manually
A comprehensive help dialogue is available for all CLI features. A general help menu can be accessed with the -h flag. Typically this flag can also be added to the end of any command to obtain additional information.
$ sl -h usage: sl[ ...] sl help sl help sl [-h | --help] SoftLayer Command-line Client The available modules are: Compute: bmc Bare Metal Cloud cci Cloud Compute Instances image Manages compute and flex images metadata Get details about this machine. Also available with 'my' and 'meta' server Hardware servers sshkey Manage SSH keys on your account Networking: dns Domain Name System firewall Firewall rule and security management globalip Global IP address management rwhois RWhoIs operations ssl Manages SSL subnet Subnet ordering and management vlan Manage VLANs on your account Storage: iscsi View iSCSI details nas View NAS details General: config View and edit configuration for this tool summary Display an overall summary of your account help Show help
Additional documentation for any specific command or module can be found with sl
$ sl cci list -h
usage: sl cci list [--hourly | --monthly] [--sortby=SORT_COLUMN] [--tags=TAGS]
[options]
List CCIs
Examples:
sl cci list --datacenter=dal05
sl cci list --network=100 --cpu=2
sl cci list --memory='>= 2048'
sl cci list --tags=production,db
Options:
--sortby=ARG Column to sort by. options: id, datacenter, host,
Cores, memory, primary_ip, backend_ip
Filters:
-c --cpu=CPU Number of CPU cores
-D --domain=DOMAIN Domain portion of the FQDN. example: example.com
-d DC, --datacenter=DC datacenter shortname (sng01, dal05, ...)
-H --hostname=HOST Host portion of the FQDN. example: server
-m --memory=MEMORY Memory in mebibytes
-n MBPS, --network=MBPS Network port speed in Mbps
--hourly Show hourly instances
--monthly Show monthly instances
--tags=ARG Only show instances that have one of these tags.
Comma-separated. (production,db)
For more on filters see 'sl help filters'
Standard Options:
--format=ARG Output format. [Options: table, raw] [Default: table]
-C FILE --config=FILE Config file location. [Default: ~/.softlayer]
--debug=LEVEL Specifies the debug noise level
1=warn, 2=info, 3=debug
--timings Time each API call and display after results
-h --help Show this screenFilters can be used to limit the number of responses from commands that accept them as arguments. You can access the filter help entry with sl help filters.
For example a list of all CCIs on an account has "webserver" in the hostname could be found with:
$ sl cci list --hostname='*webserver*'
In most cases you can even apply multiple filters:
$ sl cci list --network='< 100' --cpu 2
A listing of values for cci create variables can be obtained with sl cci create-options. These values will populate your order with the proper information.
$ sl cci create-options :.................:....................................................................................................: : Name : Value : :.................:....................................................................................................: : datacenter : ams01,dal05,sea01,sjc01,sng01,wdc01 : : cpus (private) : 1,2,4,8 : : cpus (standard) : 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 : : memory : 1024,2048,3072,4096,5120,6144,7168,8192,9216,10240,11264,12288,13312,14336,15360,16384,32768,49152 : : os (CENTOS) : CENTOS_5_32 : : : CENTOS_5_64 : : : CENTOS_6_32 ...
After the appropriate values have been chosen you can create a CCI with sl cci create :
$ sl cci create --hostname=foo-webserver --domain=example.com --cpu=1 --memory=1024 --hourly --os=DEBIAN_7_64 This action will incur charges on your account. Continue? [y/N]: y :.........:......................................: : name : value : :.........:......................................: : id : 1234212 : : created : 2013-09-30T06:51:02-06:00 : : guid : 093nt23n-90nl-9n2i-u902-902n3t09n23t : :.........:......................................:
The CLI will either respond as it has above with the details of your new instance, or it will provide an error message explaining what went wrong.
The cancellation command in the CCI argument will deprovision a CCI and remove its billing from you account. Cancellation is a destructive action - back up all data you wish to retain before running this command, as we do not keep records of information stored on your device.. Cancellation of an instance will result in the immediate destruction of the target CCI.
When using the cancel command you will be prompted to enter the CCI ID to start the cancellation process.
$ sl cci cancel pjackson-cli-test This action cannot be undone! Type "341234" or press Enter to abort: 341234
Reboot a CCI with the sl cci reboot command. YoYou will be prompted to confirm the reboot before it begins. By default a soft reboot is attempted with the --soft option which will gracefully restart the device. If unable to complete a soft reboot, the --hard switch can be passed which will simulate a power cycling of the device.
$ sl cci reboot foo-webserver This will reboot the CCI with id 1234212. Continue? [y/N]: y
Retrieve a list of all CCIs on your account can be retrieved with sl cci list. Filter your results by adding the appropriate switch.
$ sl cci list --datacenter=dal05
Interact with our authoritative DNS service through the dns module.
$ sl dns usage: sl dns [] [ ...] [options] Manage DNS The available zone commands are: create Create zone delete Delete zone list List zones or a zone's records print Print zone in BIND format The available record commands are: add Add resource record edit Update resource records (bulk/single) remove Remove resource records
The module contains two subsections: zone and record
The contents of a BIND zone file can be printed to the screen with the print command.
$ sl dns print example.com
$ORIGIN example.com.
$TTL 86400
@ IN SOA ns1.softlayer.com. support.softlayer.com. (
2013041501 ; Serial
7200 ; Refresh
600 ; Retry
1728000 ; Expire
43200) ; Minimum
@ 86400 IN NS ns1.softlayer.com.
@ 86400 IN NS ns2.softlayer.com.
@ 86400 IN A 127.0.0.1
server01 7200 IN A 127.0.0.1Create a new zone combining the create command with the path for the new zone.
$ sl dns create phil.example.com
Zone records are created with the add command. Enter the zone along with the desired record type and corresponding record details. This example creates an A record for the IP 127.0.0.1 with a standard ttl of 86400.
$ sl dns add phil.example.com mail A 127.0.0.1 --ttl=86400
Edit a zone record with the edit command.
$ sl dns edit phil.example.com mail --data=192.168.1.1