Chapter 2. Get Started with the CLI

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.

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.

C:\> path

$ echo $PATH

$ echo $PATH

$ tar -xf <file>

oc: No such file or directory

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:

$ oc login
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.

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
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
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.

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:

$ oc config view
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.

$ 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:

$ oc project project02
Now using project 'project02'.

$ oc project project03
Now using project 'project03'.

$ oc project
Using project 'project03'.