User Command-Line Client Installation

This section covers the setup required on your workstation to remotely access the StratusLab cloud. Before starting, you will need to have an ssh client and python (2.6 or later) installed on your machine. The instructions below are for unix-like systems. Adapt the instructions if you are using a different operating system.

During this tutorial, ssh will be used to log into virtual machines that have been started in the cloud. Ensure that you have a generated public and private key pair. On unix systems, the public and private keys are usually located in the directory ~/.ssh/ and have names like id_rsa and id_rsa.pub.

If these files do not exist, then (again on unix systems) you can generate them with the following command:

$ ssh-keygen

The default values are appropriate for most people, but you should provide a passphrase and not leave it empty.

The file permissions should have been set correctly, but verify them. The id_rsa should have permissions 0600 (read/write access for owner only) and the id_rsa.pub file should have permissions 0644 (read access for all; write access for owner).

Be sure to remember the passphrase that you have used!

Ensure that you have a recent version of python (2.6+) installed on your system. From the command line type:

$ python -V

which should return the version which is installed:

Python 2.6.1

Note that the commands do not work with Python3. If you need to install a compatible version, see the python site for downloads and instructions.

Note: If you use an older version of python, you will see SSL errors like the following:

:::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Starting machines ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Starting 1 machine
 [ERROR] (6, 'TLS/SSL connection has been closed')

Please upgrade to Python 2.6 or later to ensure that the SSL connections are correctly handled.

The StratusLab client tools can be installed from an RPM package or from a standalone tarball.

RPM Package: These only work on RedHat-like systems and you must have root access to your machine to install them. It is recommended to do the installation with yum. The configuration for yum can be found here. Execute:

$ yum install stratuslab-cli-user

to install the latest version of the client tools.

Standalone Tarball: All other installations should be performed via the standalone tarball. This can be found in the StratusLab maven repository. Look for the latest version of the stratuslab-cli-user-*.tar.gz file. Unpack the tarball in a convenient location.

For the tarball, you will additionally have to (re)define your PATH and PYTHONPATH variables:

export PATH=$PATH:<install location>/bin
export PYTHONPATH=<install location>/lib/stratuslab/python

The above are appropriate for Bourne-type shells. Modify the commands as necessary if you are using a different shell.

Test Installation: You can test that the commands are properly installed by executing the following:

$ stratus-describe-instance --help

If there are any errors, please correct them before trying to continue with this tutorial.