Using Command Line Interface

UFM-SDN Appliance is equipped with an industry-standard command line interface (CLI). The CLI is accessed through SSH or Telnet sessions or directly through the console port on the front panel, if it exists. This page explains how to use the CLI of UFM-SDN Appliance.

The CLI has the following modes, and each mode makes available a different set of commands for execution. The different CLI configuration modes are:

To help you identify the different parts of a CLI command, the following table explains conventions of presenting the syntax of commands.

The prompt always begins with the hostname of the system. What follows depends on what command mode the user is in. To demonstrate by example, assuming the machine name is "ufm-sdn-app", the prompts for each of the modes are:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app >              (Standard mode)
ufm-sdn-app #              (Enable mode)
ufm-sdn-app (config) #     (Config mode)
        

The following session shows how to move between command modes:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app >			           	(You start in Standard mode)
ufm-sdn-app > enable					(Move to Enable mode)
ufm-sdn-app #						(You are in Enable mode)
ufm-sdn-app # configure terminal		(Move to Config mode)
ufm-sdn-app (config) #				(You are in Config mode)
ufm-sdn-app (config) # exit			(Exit Config mode)
ufm-sdn-app #						(You are back in Enable mode)
ufm-sdn-app # disable				(Exit Enable mode)
ufm-sdn-app >						(You are back in Standard mode)
        

Commands entered do not print any response and simply show the command prompt after you press <Enter>.

If an error is encountered in executing a command, the response will begin with "%", followed by some text describing the error.

You may request context-sensitive help at any time by pressing "?" on the command line. This will show a list of choices for the word you are on, or a list of top-level commands if you have not typed anything yet.
For example, if you are in Standard mode and you type "?" at the command line, then you will get the following list of available commands.

            

            
ufm-sdn-app > ?
cli              Configure CLI shell options
enable           Enter enable mode
exit             Log out of the CLI
help             View description of the interactive help system
no               Negate or clear certain configuration options
show             Display system configuration or statistics
slogin           Log into another system securely using ssh
switch           Configure switch on system
telnet           Log into another system using telnet
terminal         Set terminal parameters
traceroute       Trace the route packets take to a destination
switch >
        

If you type a legal string and then press "?" without a space character before it, then you will either get a description of the command that you have typed so far or the possible command/parameter completions. If you press "?" after a space character and "<cr>" is shown, this means that what you have entered so far is a complete command, and that you may press Enter (carriage return) to execute it.

Try the following to get started:

            

            
?
show ?
show c?
show clock?
show clock ?
show interfaces ?     (from enable mode)
        

You can also enter "help" to view a description of the interactive help system.
Note also that the CLI supports command and/or parameter tab-completions and their shortened forms. For example, you can enter "en" instead of the "enable" command, or "cli cl" instead of "cli clear-history". In case of ambiguity (more than one completion option is available, that is), then you can hit double tabs to obtain the disambiguation options. Thus, if you are in Enable mode and wish to learn which commands start with the letter "c", type "c" and click twice on the tab key to get the following:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app # c<tab>
clear       cli       configure
ufm-sdn-app # c
        

This signifies that there are three commands that start with the letter "c": clear, cli and configure.

Several config commands feature a "no" form whose purpose is to reset a parameter value to its inherited or default value, or to disable a configuration.

The command sequence below performs the following:

1. Displays the current CLI session option.

2. Disables auto-logout.

3. Displays the new CLI session options (auto-logout is disabled).

4. Re-enables auto-logout (after 15 minutes).

5. Displays the final CLI session options (auto-logout is enabled).

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   // 1. Display the current CLI session options
   ufm-sdn-app (config) # show cli
   CLI current session settings:
   Maximum line size: 8192
   Terminal width: 157 columns
   Terminal length: 60 rows
   Terminal type: xterm
   Auto-logout: 15 minutes
   Paging: enabled
   Progress tracking: enabled
   Prefix modes: enabled
   ...
   // 2. Disable auto-logout
   ufm-sdn-app (config) # no cli session auto-logout
   // 3. Display the new CLI session options
   ufm-sdn-app (config) # show cli
   CLI current session settings:
   Maximum line size: 8192
   Terminal width: 157 columns
   Terminal length: 60 rows
   Terminal type: xterm
   Auto-logout: disabled
   Paging: enabled
   Progress tracking: enabled
   Prefix modes: enabled
   ...
   // 4. Re-enable auto-logout after 15 minutes
   ufm-sdn-app (config) # cli session auto-logout 15
   // 5. Display the final CLI session options
   ufm-sdn-app (config) # show cli
   CLI current session settings:
   Maximum line size: 8192
   Terminal width: 157 columns
   Terminal length: 60 rows
   Terminal type: xterm
   Auto-logout: 15 minutes
   Paging: enabled
   Progress tracking: enabled
   Prefix modes: enabled
   ...
           

CLI Filtration Options "include" and "exclude"

The UFM-SDN appliance CLI supports filtering "show" commands to display lines containing or excluding certain phrases or characters. To filter the outputs of the "show" commands use the following format:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # <show command> | {include | exclude} <extended regular expression> [<ignore-case>] [next <lines>] [prev <lines>]
        

The filtering parameters are separated from the show command they filter by a pipe character (i.e. "|"). Quotation marks may be used to include or exclude a string including space, and multiple filters can be used simultaneously. For example:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # <show command> | {include <extended regular expression>} [<ignore-case>] [next <lines>] [prev <lines>] | exclude <extended regular expression> [<ignore-case>] [next <lines>] [prev <lines>]]
        

Example for "include":

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # show clock | include Time
Time:       15:46:54
Time zone:  UTC
        

Example for "exclude":

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # show clock | exclude Time
Date:       2020/08/07
            (Etc/UTC)
        

CLI Monitoring Option "watch"

Running this command displays a show-command output that is updated at a time interval specified by the "interval" parameter (2 seconds is the default).

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # <show command> | watch [diff] [interval <1-100 secs>]
        

The "diff" parameter highlights the differences between each iteration of the command.

For example running the command "show power | watch diff interval 1" yields something similar to the following:

            

            
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Module  Device			Sensor	Power	Voltage  Current  Feed	Status
								[Watts]	[Watts]  [Amp]	  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
PS1		power-mon		input	85.00	230.00   0.38	  AC	OK
PS2		power-mon		-		-		-		 -		  -		FAIL
 
Total power used : 85.00 Watts
Total power capacity : 460.00 Watts
Total power available : 375.00 Watts
Maximum consumed power of all turned on modules: 46.00 Watts
        

With the highlighted black blocks indicating the change that has occurred between one iteration of the command from one second to the next.

To exit "watch" mode, press Ctrl+C. The "watch" option may be used in conjunction with the "include" and "exclude" options as follows:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # <show command> | {include | exclude} <extended regular expression> | watch [diff] [interval <1-100 secs>]
        

It is possible to count the number of lines in an output of a "show" command by using the following:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # <show command> | count
        

For example:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # show clock | count
4
        

CLI "json-print" Option

The UFM-SDN appliance CLI supports printing "show" commands in JSON syntax.

To print the output of the show commands as JSON, use the following format:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # <show command> | json-print
        

Running the command displays an output of the show command in JSON syntax structure instead of its regular format. For example:

            

            
ufm-sdn-app (config) # show ftp-server
FTP server enabled: no
ufm-sdn-app (config) # show ftp-server | json-print
{
     "FTP server enabled": "no"
}
        

The "json-print" option cannot be used together with filtering ("include" and "exclude") and/or monitoring ("watch").

CLI Shortcuts

The following table presents the available keyboard shortcuts for the UFM-SDN CLI.

The following table describes the predefined users and their roles and capabilities. The roles described below can be assigned to new users and to existing ones as well.