The Command Line Interface

The IBM® API Connect Command Line Interface (CLI) is available to administrators to manage the Management server and to maintain and update its configuration information.

The CLI is preinstalled on the Management server and is ready to respond to the commands described in this documentation.

Note: The CLI is case-sensitive. You must enter commands and keywords using lowercase characters.

Only a user that is logged in as an administrator can use the CLI. More than one administrator can be logged in to a Management server at the same time.

Important: The Command Line Interface is distinct from the developer toolkit command line interface. For more information on the developer toolkit command line interface, see Getting started with the developer toolkit command-line tool.

Logging in to the CLI

You can log in to the CLI on the Management server through a Secure Shell (SSH) session, terminal emulation, or telnet. By default, secure management is enabled on the Management server and you must use secure connections to access the Management server. Secure connections use the default host key that is provided with the Management server at installation.

When you use an SSH client or a telnet client to log in to the CLI, the 5th consecutive log-in failure (regardless of which user or any span of time) triggers a lock-out. The lock-out is characterized by a limit of 1 login attempt per minute without regard for the user. A successful log-in by any user resets the log-in failure count and ends the lock-out.

Logging out of the CLI

At the command prompt, use the exit command to log out of the CLI. This also closes the terminal emulation or telnet session connection.

Viewing CLI help

In the CLI, you can view a list of command categories by typing help or ?. To view syntax help for the commands in a specific category, enter Category help. For example, net help lists syntax information for each network command.

Tab completion also guides you through the CLI syntax. From the CLI, you can enter a partial command and press the Tab key. Pressing the Tab key completes the command or provides a list of options to complete the command syntax

Note: Tab completion is sensitive to spaces in the CLI syntax. For example, typing system show in the CLI and then pressing the Tab key appears to have no results. Add a space after show and press the Tab key to view valid command parameters.

Command conventions

The following conventions are used to illustrate command syntax rules:

Table 1.
Convention	Description
keyword <value>	Most command parameters combine a keyword and a value. Some parameters might not require a value.
<value>	Values for parameters are enclosed in angle brackets. In many cases, the text that is shown indicates the type of information you supply, such as <hostname>. Values can be explicit, such as <yes>
[x]	Optional parameters are enclosed in brackets.
{x y z}	Groups of mandatory parameters are enclosed in braces.
x \| y \| z	Choices are separated by bars, select only one.
x...	Parameters that might occur more than once are followed by an ellipse.