openstack-manuals/doc/common/section_cli_overview.xml

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  xml:id="section_cli_overview">
    <title>Overview</title>
    <para>
      Each OpenStack project provides a command-line client, which
      enables you to access the project API through easy-to-use
      commands. For example, the Compute service provides a nova
      command-line client.</para>
    <para>
      You can run the commands from the command line, or include the
      commands within scripts to automate tasks. If you provide
      OpenStack credentials, such as your user name and password, you
      can run these commands on any computer.
    </para>
    <para>
      Internally, each command uses cURL command-line tools, which embed
      API requests. OpenStack APIs are RESTful APIs, and use the HTTP
      protocol. They include methods, URIs, media types, and response
      codes.</para>
    <para>
      OpenStack APIs are open-source Python clients, and can run on
      Linux or Mac OS X systems. On some client commands, you can
      specify a <command>debug</command> parameter to show the
      underlying API request for the command. This is a good way to
      become familiar with the OpenStack API calls.</para>
    <para>The following table lists the command-line client for each
      OpenStack service with its package name and description.</para>
    <table rules="all">
        <caption>OpenStack services and clients</caption>
        <col width="15%"/>
        <col width="10%"/>
        <col width="20%"/>
        <col width="55%"/>
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>Service</th>
                <th>Client</th>
                <th>Package</th>
                <th>Description</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            <tr>
                <td>Block Storage</td>
                <td><command>cinder</command></td>
                <td><package>python-cinderclient</package></td>
                <td>Create and manage volumes.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Compute</td>
                <td><command>nova</command></td>
                <td><package>python-novaclient</package></td>
                <td>Create and manage images, instances, and flavors.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Database service</td>
                <td><command>trove</command></td>
                <td><package>python-troveclient</package></td>
                <td>Create and manage databases.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Identity</td>
                <td><command>openstack</command></td>
                <td><package>python-openstackclient</package></td>
                <td>Create and manage users, tenants, roles, endpoints, and credentials.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Image service</td>
                <td><command>glance</command></td>
                <td><package>python-glanceclient</package></td>
                <td>Create and manage images.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Networking</td>
                <td><command>neutron</command></td>
                <td><package>python-neutronclient</package></td>
                <td>Configure networks for guest servers. This client was
                    previously called <command>quantum</command>.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Object Storage</td>
                <td><command>swift</command></td>
                <td><package>python-swiftclient</package></td>
                <td>Gather statistics, list items, update metadata, and upload, download, and delete
                    files stored by the Object Storage service. Gain access to an Object Storage
                    installation for ad hoc processing.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Orchestration</td>
                <td><command>heat</command></td>
                <td><package>python-heatclient</package></td>
                <td>Launch stacks from templates, view details of running stacks including events
                    and resources, and update and delete stacks.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Telemetry</td>
                <td><command>ceilometer</command></td>
                <td><package>python-ceilometerclient</package></td>
                <td>Create and collect measurements across OpenStack.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Data Processing</td>
                <td><command>sahara</command></td>
                <td><package>python-saharaclient</package></td>
                <td>Creates and manages Hadoop clusters on OpenStack.</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Common client</td>
                <td><command>openstack</command></td>
                <td><package>python-openstackclient</package></td>
                <td>Common client for the OpenStack project.</td>
            </tr>
        </tbody>
    </table>
    <para audience="adminuser">For client installation instructions, see <link
            xlink:href="http://docs.openstack.org/user-guide/content/install_clients.html">Install
            the OpenStack command-line clients</link>. For information about the OpenStack RC file,
        see <link xlink:href="http://docs.openstack.org/user-guide/content/cli_openrc.html">Download
            and source the OpenStack RC file</link>.</para>
</section>