Preparing to run component or management API commands

Before you run component API commands, retrieve the authentication token and download the CA certificate for your cluster.

1. Install the Kubernetes command line (kubectl). See Accessing your cluster from the kubectl CLI.
2. (Optional) Install the IBM Cloud Private command line interface (CLI) and log in to your cluster. See Installing the IBM Cloud Private CLI.

3. Retrieve the authentication tokens. You can use the IBM Cloud Private CLI or run curl commands.

   • To use the IBM Cloud Private CLI, run the following command:

     cloudctl tokens
     

     The access token and ID token display:

     Access token:  Bearer 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
     ID token:  eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiJ9.eyJhdF9oYXNoIjoiN2p2MmFjeGtucHVpcXo1MXRna2giLCJyZWFsbU5hbWUiOiJjdXN0b21SZWFsbSIsInVuaXF1ZVNlY3VyaXR5TmFtZSI6ImFkbWluIiwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9teWNsdXN0ZXIuaWNwOjk0NDMvb2lkYy9lbmRwb2ludC9PUCIsImF1ZCI6ImY4YjVjZGE1YTgzZjg4NjZhOTIxMTQ2MGU5YTk4YzQ4IiwiZXhwIjoxNTA4MjYwODc4LCJpYXQiOjE1MDgyNjA4NzgsInN1YiI6ImFkbWluIn0.IrLm1R9a4GBiTG0wYR1JhGqT4HSArN3gPHhPPTC4ZuS46LulRQCBksxh9I59uT4pYcqhd0qJ_xp9Ys1H8xLsq1zKSI0W2KAzuFkIbXQiK9Q6_Z3oQOHE8XMG7Xfb0R8B4TgbTjQ3XWkEkXsyeliXk0l7mqlVIgTFbXx8nqcoFbXhmH7ZQukj73lMQ0AyKKPpJktWtPCLpugtiTA0nkKUodncvHdSw43bmVQuGsQ_kRhhr8Ka8y_olYcBtYUSAKqdwiGPu6O0Qk-57FCiUmX4W9pjLRAR9EmILY9RqJAsH5kE11kYHPTO2fu-B6omzw2eKxhjZYHMIPmxUciiBRB9Pw
     

     These tokens are stored in the /<user_folder>/.bluemix/plugins/icp/config.json file while you are logged in to the CLI, where <user_folder> is the path to your user directory, such as /Users/my_username on macOS.

   • To use curl, run the following command, where <cluster_lb_address> is the IP address that you need to access your IBM Cloud Private management console:

     curl -k -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=UTF-8" -d "grant_type=password&username=admin&password=admin&scope=openid" https://<cluster_lb_address>:8443/idprovider/v1/auth/identitytoken
     

     The command returns an access_token, refresh_token, and id_token, as shown in the following example:

     "refresh_token":"kxr337rAXlA0dm8Gx3e7DjJYOXOfrunKM4znvSGhQGjWNvvh05",
     "id_token":"eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiJ9.eyJhdF9oYXNoIjoiZm9ldTgxZzJrOTVyaXNiajJrcHoiLCJyZWFsbU5hbWUiOiJjdXN0b21SZWFsbSIsInVuaXF1ZVNlY3VyaXR5TmFtZSI6ImFkbWluIiwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9teWNsdXN0ZXIuaWNwOjk0NDMvb2lkYy9lbmRwb2ludC9PUCIsImF1ZCI6ImE2OWVlNjM5MjZlMDA0MmYzZWVlNGYyOTE4MDViNjMyIiwiZXhwIjoxNTA3OTgzODIxLCJpYXQiOjE1MDc5ODM4MjEsInN1YiI6ImFkbWluIn0.ZvE0eApr6SiAYbx7zSicEjdtWsUL8dq4UdttZsQpoB7eWFFioIC1R52ub2jlrwQqjITfHDtc7eUyK0QXOHIalXheX61DoAseTVxi2fELZqG_weKPe4LOeo4LENsoRx8P_Jfv8iQh5zmsrKxBeZCn5gWre5LPOE34CF8F-b0RJO2axEY2m0KOiXOQGD4ltYGNzMdzp5LeaGENTOUM2ayrvpHFBhLxAtF0RpK5NuyNvlKO3t33DPGSWOUy_q19fasM9ZN6Z2R73fRHtuC9lMDooQKJdAtqwcJ4Y2T7RyzJEp9pvarcGUDr5X3YJ0dI-XJlT-fJJ6rHxddHQRvtCAGUvw"}
     

4. Store the authentication token in a variable. You can access IBM Cloud Private APIs, including Kubernetes and Heapster, by specifying an authentication token in the request header. Run the following command, where <ID token> is the displayed ID token:

    export ID_TOKEN=<ID token>
   

5. Store the access token in a variable. You can access IBM Cloud Private user management APIs by specifying the access token in the request header. Run the following command, where <Access token> is the following displayed access token:

    export ACCESS_TOKEN=<Access token>
   

6. Obtain a copy of the CA certificate for your cluster.

   • If you can access the boot node, the CA certificate file is /<installation_directory>/cluster/etc/docker/certs.d/mycluster.icp:8500/ca.crt

   • To use the IBM Cloud Private CLI:

     1. Ensure that you have logged in with cloudctl as required. This places the cluster's certificates into the cloudctl configuration directory.

     2. Confirm that the authentication certificate is available. Run the following command, where <user_folder> is the path to your user home directory, such as /Users/my_username on macOS, and <cluster> is your cluster name. This file path is the <certificate_path> variable that you use in a later step:

        ls <user_folder>/.cloudctl/clusters/<cluster_name>
        

        The ca.crt file displays, as it is in the following output:

        ca.pem        cert.pem    key.pem        kube-config    kube-config.bat