System information

Using the cycli Utility 303

cycli Utility Overview

An administrator (root or admin) can configure the OnBoard using the

cycli utility. Only one administrator (root or admin) can run the cycli

utility at a time. While in the cycli utility, the administrator can escape to

the shell and when finished can return to the cycli utility.

Administrators often prefer using the cycli over the Web Manager because

they can run frequently-performed cycli configuration commands from

shell scripts or from text files that can be executed in batch mode. For

example, on an OnBoard with forty private Ethernet ports, configuring all the

service processors one by one could be tedious and prone to error, so scripting

the configuration of multiple service processors is a good use of the cycli

utility. Example scripts are provided in /libexec/example_scripts.

The cycli utility provides a set of commands (described under “cycli

Commands” on page 311). The commands act on parameters that are nested in

a format called the CLI parameter tree. Some parameters require arguments

when the parameters are entered with some commands. (How to find out

which parameters need which arguments is shown under “cycli Parameters

and Arguments” on page 305.)

Note: This section describes the cycli command and how to navigate the

cycli parameter tree, but it does not describe all the parameters and values.

For examples of how to use the cycli command for performing tasks such

as adding users and groups, configuring devices, and authentication, see

examples in /libexec/example_scripts.

Execution Modes

The cycli utility has the following three modes:

• Command line

See “Command Line Mode” on page 304

•Batch

See “Batch Mode” on page 304

• Interactive

See “Interactive Mode” on page 304