Command-line Interface

The SoftLayer command line interface is available via the sl command available in your PATH. The sl command is a reference implementation of SoftLayer API bindings for python and how to efficiently make API calls.

Configuration Setup

To check the configuration, you can use sl config show.

$ sl config setup
Username: username
API Key: oyVmeipYQCNrjVS4rF9bHWV7D75S6pa1fghFl384v7mwRCbHTfuJ8qRORIqoVnha
Endpoint URL [https://api.softlayer.com/xmlrpc/v3/]:
Are you sure you want to write settings to "/path/to/home/.softlayer"? [y/N]: y

To check the configuration, you can use sl config show.

$ sl config show
:..............:..................................................................:
:         Name : Value                                                            :
:..............:..................................................................:
:     Username : username                                                         :
:      API Key : oyVmeipYQCNrjVS4rF9bHWV7D75S6pa1fghFl384v7mwRCbHTfuJ8qRORIqoVnha :
: Endpoint URL : https://api.softlayer.com/xmlrpc/v3/                             :
:..............:..................................................................:

Configuration File Details

The CLI loads your settings from a number of different locations.

• Enviorment variables (SL_USERNAME, SL_API_KEY)
• Config file (~/.softlayer)
• Or argument (-C/path/to/config or –config=/path/to/config)

The configuration file is INI based and requires the softlayer section to be present. The only required fields are username and api_key. You can optionally also/exclusively supply the endpoint_url as well.

Full config

[softlayer]
username = username
api_key = oyVmeipYQCNrjVS4rF9bHWV7D75S6pa1fghFl384v7mwRCbHTfuJ8qRORIqoVnha
endpoint_url = https://api.softlayer.com/xmlrpc/v3/

exclusive url

[softlayer]
endpoint_url = https://api.softlayer.com/xmlrpc/v3/

Usage Examples

To discover the available commands, simply type sl.

$ sl
usage: sl <command> [<args>...]
       sl help <command>
       sl [-h | --help]

SoftLayer Command-line Client

The available commands are:
  firewall  Firewall rule and security management
  image     Manages compute and flex images
  ssl       Manages SSL
  cci       Manage, delete, order compute instances
  dns       Manage DNS
  config    View and edit configuration for this tool
  metadata  Get details about this machine. Also available with 'my' and 'meta'
  nas       View NAS details
  iscsi     View iSCSI details

See 'sl help <command>' for more information on a specific command.

To use most commands your SoftLayer username and api_key need to be configured.
The easiest way to do that is to use: 'sl config setup'

As you can see, there are a number of commands. To look at the list of subcommands for Cloud Compute Instances, type sl <command>. For example:

$ sl cci
usage: sl cci [<command>] [<args>...] [options]

Manage, delete, order compute instances

The available commands are:
  network         Manage network settings
  create          Order and create a CCI
                    (see `sl cci create-options` for choices)
  manage          Manage active CCI
  list            List CCI's on the account
  detail          Output details about a CCI
  dns             DNS related actions to a CCI
  cancel          Cancel a running CCI
  create-options  Output available available options when creating a CCI
  reload          Reload the OS on a CCI based on its current configuration

Standard Options:
  -h --help  Show this screen

Finally, we can make an actual call. Let’s list out the CCIs on our account using sl cci list.

$ sl cci list
:.........:............:....................:.......:........:................:..............:....................:
:    id   : datacenter :       host         : cores : memory :   primary_ip   :  backend_ip  : active_transaction :
:.........:............:....................:.......:........:................:..............:....................:
: 1234567 :   dal05    :  test.example.com  :   4   :   4G   :    12.34.56    :   65.43.21   :         -          :
:.........:............:....................:.......:........:................:..............:....................:

Most commands will take in additional options/arguments. To see all available actions, use –help.

$ sl cci list --help
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:
  --hourly                 Show hourly instances
  --monthly                Show monthly instances
  -H --hostname=HOST       Host portion of the FQDN. example: server
  -D --domain=DOMAIN       Domain portion of the FQDN example: example.com
  -c --cpu=CPU             Number of CPU cores
  -m --memory=MEMORY       Memory in mebibytes (n * 1024)
  -d DC, --datacenter=DC   datacenter shortname (sng01, dal05, ...)
  -n MBPS, --network=MBPS  Network port speed in Mbps
  --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]
  -h --help              Show this screen