================ Interactive Mode ================ OpenStackClient has an interactive mode, similar to the :program:`virsh(1)` or :program:`lvm(8)` commands on Linux. This mode is useful for executing a series of commands without having to reload the CLI, or more importantly, without having to re-authenticate to the cloud. Enter interactive mode by issuing the :command:`openstack` command with no subcommand. An :code:`(openstack)` prompt will be displayed. Interactive mode is terminated with :command:`exit`. Authentication ============== Authentication happens exactly as before, using the same global command line options and environment variables, except it only happens once. The credentials are cached and re-used for subsequent commands. This means that to work with multiple clouds interactive mode must be ended so a authentication to the second cloud can occur. Scripting ========= Using interactive mode inside scripts sounds counter-intuitive, but the same single-authentication benefit can be achieved by passing OSC commands to the CLI via :code:`stdin`. Sample session: .. code-block:: bash # assume auth credentials are in the environment $ openstack (openstack) keypair list +--------+-------------------------------------------------+ | Name | Fingerprint | +--------+-------------------------------------------------+ | bunsen | a5:da:0c:52:e8:52:42:a3:4f:b8:22:62:7b:e4:e8:89 | | beaker | 45:9c:50:56:7c:fc:3a:b6:b5:60:02:2f:41:fb:a9:4c | +--------+-------------------------------------------------+ (openstack) image list +--------------------------------------+----------------+ | ID | Name | +--------------------------------------+----------------+ | 78b23835-c800-4d95-9d2a-e4de59a553d8 | OpenWRT r42884 | | 2e45d43a-7c25-45f1-b012-06ac313e2f6b | Fedora 20 | | de3a8396-3bae-42de-84bd-f4e398b8c320 | CirrOS | +--------------------------------------+----------------+ (openstack) flavor list +--------------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+-----------+-------------+ | ID | Name | RAM | Disk | Ephemeral | Swap | VCPUs | RXTX Factor | Is Public | Extra Specs | +--------------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+-----------+-------------+ | 12594680-56f7-4da2-8322-7266681b3070 | m1.small | 2048 | 20 | 0 | | 1 | | True | | | 9274f903-0cc7-4a95-9124-1968018e355d | m1.tiny | 512 | 5 | 0 | | 1 | | True | | +--------------------------------------+----------+--------+--------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+-----------+-------------+ (openstack) server create --image CirrOS --flavor m1.small --key-name beaker sample-server +-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ | Field | Value | +-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ | config_drive | | | created | 2014-11-19T18:08:41Z | | flavor | m1.small (12594680-56f7-4da2-8322-7266681b3070) | | id | 3a9a7f82-e902-4948-9245-52b045c76a1d | | image | CirrOS (de3a8396-3bae-42de-84bd-f4e398b8c320) | | key_name | bunsen | | name | sample-server | | progress | 0 | | properties | | | security_groups | [{u'name': u'default'}] | | status | BUILD | | tenant_id | 53c93c7952594d9ba16bd7072a165ce8 | | updated | 2014-11-19T18:08:42Z | | user_id | 1e4eea54c7124688a8092bec6e2dbee6 | +-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ A similar session can be issued all at once: .. code-block:: bash $ openstack < keypair list > flavor show m1.small > EOF (openstack) +--------+-------------------------------------------------+ | Name | Fingerprint | +--------+-------------------------------------------------+ | bunsen | a5:da:0c:52:e8:52:42:a3:4f:b8:22:62:7b:e4:e8:89 | | beaker | 45:9c:50:56:7c:fc:3a:b6:b5:60:02:2f:41:fb:a9:4c | +--------+-------------------------------------------------+ (openstack) +----------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | Field | Value | +----------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | OS-FLV-DISABLED:disabled | False | | OS-FLV-EXT-DATA:ephemeral | 0 | | disk | 20 | | id | 12594680-56f7-4da2-8322-7266681b3070 | | name | m1.small | | os-flavor-access:is_public | True | | ram | 2048 | | swap | | | vcpus | 1 | +----------------------------+--------------------------------------+ Limitations =========== The obvious limitations to Interactive Mode is that it is not a Domain Specific Language (DSL), just a simple command processor. That means there are no variables or flow control.