openstack-manuals/doc/common-rst/cli_set_environment_variables_using_openstack_rc.rst

Set environment variables using the OpenStack RC file

To set the required environment variables for the OpenStack command-line clients, you must create an environment file called an OpenStack rc file, or openrc.sh file. If your OpenStack installation provides it, you can download the file from the OpenStack dashboard as an administrative user or any other user. This project-specific environment file contains the credentials that all OpenStack services use.

When you source the file, environment variables are set for your current shell. The variables enable the OpenStack client commands to communicate with the OpenStack services that run in the cloud.

Note

Defining environment variables using an environment file is not a common practice on Microsoft Windows. Environment variables are usually defined in the Advanced tab of the System Properties dialog box.

Download and source the OpenStack RC file

Log in to the OpenStack dashboard, choose the project for which you want to download the OpenStack RC file, and click Access & Security.

On the API Access tab, click Download OpenStack RC File and save the file. The filename will be of the form PROJECT-openrc.sh where PROJECT is the name of the project for which you downloaded the file.

Copy the PROJECT-openrc.sh file to the computer from which you want to run OpenStack commands.

For example, copy the file to the computer from which you want to upload an image with a glance client command.

On any shell from which you want to run OpenStack commands, source the PROJECT-openrc.sh file for the respective project.

In the following example, the demo-openrc.sh file is sourced for the demo project:

$ source demo-openrc.sh

When you are prompted for an OpenStack password, enter the password for the user who downloaded the PROJECT-openrc.sh file.

Create and source the OpenStack RC file

Alternatively, you can create the PROJECT-openrc.sh file from scratch, if you cannot download the file from the dashboard.

In a text editor, create a file named PROJECT-openrc.sh and add the following authentication information:

export OS_USERNAME=username
export OS_PASSWORD=password
export OS_TENANT_NAME=projectName
export OS_AUTH_URL=https://identityHost:portNumber/v2.0
# The following lines can be omitted
export OS_TENANT_ID=tenantIDString
export OS_REGION_NAME=regionName
export OS_CACERT=/path/to/cacertFile

On any shell from which you want to run OpenStack commands, source the PROJECT-openrc.sh file for the respective project. In this example, you source the admin-openrc.sh file for the admin project:

$ source admin-openrc.sh

Note

You are not prompted for the password with this method. The password lives in clear text format in the PROJECT-openrc.sh file. Restrict the permissions on this file to avoid security problems. You can also remove the OS_PASSWORD variable from the file, and use the --password parameter with OpenStack client commands instead.

Note

You must set the OS_CACERT environment variable when using the https protocol in the OS_AUTH_URL environment setting because the verification process for the TLS (HTTPS) server certificate uses the one indicated in the environment. This certificate will be used when verifying the TLS (HTTPS) server certificate.

Override environment variable values

When you run OpenStack client commands, you can override some environment variable settings by using the options that are listed at the end of the help output of the various client commands. For example, you can override the OS_PASSWORD setting in the PROJECT-openrc.sh file by specifying a password on a openstack command, as follows:

$ openstack --os-password PASSWORD service list

Where PASSWORD is your password.

A user specifies their username and password credentials to interact with OpenStack, using any client command. These credentials can be specified using various mechanisms, namely, the environment variable or command-line argument. It is not safe to specify the password using either of these methods.

For example, when you specify your password using the command-line client with the --os-password argument, anyone with access to your computer can view it in plain text with the ps field.

To avoid storing the password in plain text, you can prompt for the OpenStack password interactively.