Using the SoftLayer portal to order virtual servers is fine, but for a number of reasons it's often more convenient to use the command line. For this, you can use SoftLayer's command-line client to make administrative tasks quicker and easier. This page gives an intro to working with SoftLayer virtual servers using SoftLayer's command-line client.
Note
The following assumes that the client is already configured with valid SoftLayer credentials<cli>.
First, let's list the current virtual servers with slcli vs list.
$ slcli vs list
:.....:............:.........................:.......:........:..............:.............:....................:........:
: id : datacenter : host : cores : memory : primary_ip : backend_ip : active_transaction : owner :
:.....:............:.........................:.......:........:..............:.............:....................:........:
:.....:............:.........................:.......:........:..............:.............:....................:........:We don't have any virtual servers yet! Let's fix that. Before we can create a virtual server (VS), we need to know what options are available to us: RAM, CPU, operating systems, disk sizes, disk types, datacenters, and so on. Luckily, there's a simple command to show all options: slcli vs create-options.
Some values were ommitted for brevity
$ slcli vs create-options
:................................:.................................................................................:
: name : value :
:................................:.................................................................................:
: datacenter : ams01 :
: : ams03 :
: : wdc07 :
: flavors (balanced) : B1_1X2X25 :
: : B1_1X2X25 :
: : B1_1X2X100 :
: cpus (standard) : 1,2,4,8,12,16,32,56 :
: cpus (dedicated) : 1,2,4,8,16,32,56 :
: cpus (dedicated host) : 1,2,4,8,12,16,32,56 :
: memory : 1024,2048,4096,6144,8192,12288,16384,32768,49152,65536,131072,247808 :
: memory (dedicated host) : 1024,2048,4096,6144,8192,12288,16384,32768,49152,65536,131072,247808 :
: os (CENTOS) : CENTOS_5_64 :
: : CENTOS_LATEST_64 :
: os (CLOUDLINUX) : CLOUDLINUX_5_64 :
: : CLOUDLINUX_6_64 :
: : CLOUDLINUX_LATEST :
: : CLOUDLINUX_LATEST_64 :
: os (COREOS) : COREOS_CURRENT_64 :
: : COREOS_LATEST :
: : COREOS_LATEST_64 :
: os (DEBIAN) : DEBIAN_6_64 :
: : DEBIAN_LATEST_64 :
: os (OTHERUNIXLINUX) : OTHERUNIXLINUX_1_64 :
: : OTHERUNIXLINUX_LATEST :
: : OTHERUNIXLINUX_LATEST_64 :
: os (REDHAT) : REDHAT_5_64 :
: : REDHAT_6_64 :
: : REDHAT_7_64 :
: : REDHAT_LATEST :
: : REDHAT_LATEST_64 :
: san disk(0) : 25,100 :
: san disk(2) : 10,20,25,30,40,50,75,100,125,150,175,200,250,300,350,400,500,750,1000,1500,2000 :
: local disk(0) : 25,100 :
: local disk(2) : 25,100,150,200,300 :
: local (dedicated host) disk(0) : 25,100 :
: nic (dedicated host) : 100,1000 :
:................................:.................................................................................:Here's the command to create a 2-core virtual server with 1GiB memory, running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and that is billed on an hourly basis in the San Jose 1 datacenter using the command slcli vs create.
$ slcli vs create --hostname=example --domain=softlayer.com -f B1_1X2X25 -o DEBIAN_LATEST_64 --datacenter=ams01 --billing=hourly
This action will incur charges on your account. Continue? [y/N]: y
:..........:.................................:......................................:...........................:
: ID : FQDN : guid : Order Date :
:..........:.................................:......................................:...........................:
: 70112999 : testtesttest.test.com : 1abc7afb-9618-4835-89c9-586f3711d8ea : 2019-01-30T17:16:58-06:00 :
:..........:.................................:......................................:...........................:
:.........................................................................:
: OrderId: 12345678 :
:.......:.................................................................:
: Cost : Description :
:.......:.................................................................:
: 0.0 : Debian GNU/Linux 9.x Stretch/Stable - Minimal Install (64 bit) :
: 0.0 : 25 GB (SAN) :
: 0.0 : Reboot / Remote Console :
: 0.0 : 100 Mbps Public & Private Network Uplinks :
: 0.0 : 0 GB Bandwidth Allotment :
: 0.0 : 1 IP Address :
: 0.0 : Host Ping and TCP Service Monitoring :
: 0.0 : Email and Ticket :
: 0.0 : Automated Reboot from Monitoring :
: 0.0 : Unlimited SSL VPN Users & 1 PPTP VPN User per account :
: 0.0 : Nessus Vulnerability Assessment & Reporting :
: 0.0 : 2 GB :
: 0.0 : 1 x 2.0 GHz or higher Core :
: 0.000 : Total hourly cost :
:.......:.................................................................:After the last command, the virtual server is now being built. It should instantly appear in your virtual server list now.
$ slcli vs list
:.........:............:.......................:.......:........:................:..............:....................:
: id : datacenter : host : cores : memory : primary_ip : backend_ip : active_transaction :
:.........:............:.......................:.......:........:................:..............:....................:
: 1234567 : ams01 : example.softlayer.com : 2 : 1G : 108.168.200.11 : 10.54.80.200 : Assign Host :
:.........:............:.......................:.......:........:................:..............:....................:Cool. You may ask, "It's creating... but how do I know when it's done?" Well, here's how:
$ slcli vs ready 'example' --wait=600
READYWhen the previous command returns, you'll know that the virtual server has finished the provisioning process and is ready to use. This is very useful for chaining commands together.
Now that you have your virtual server, let's get access to it. To do that, use the slcli vs detail command. From the example below, you can see that the username is 'root' and password is 'ABCDEFGH'.
Warning
Be careful when using the --passwords flag. This will print the virtual server's password on the screen. Make sure no one is looking over your shoulder. It's also advisable to change your root password soon after creating your virtual server, or to create a user with sudo access and disable SSH-based login directly to the root account.
$ slcli vs detail example --passwords
:..............:...........................:
: Name : Value :
:..............:...........................:
: id : 1234567 :
: hostname : example.softlayer.com :
: status : Active :
: state : Running :
: datacenter : ams01 :
: cores : 2 :
: memory : 1G :
: public_ip : 108.168.200.11 :
: private_ip : 10.54.80.200 :
: os : Debian :
: private_only : False :
: private_cpu : False :
: created : 2013-06-13T08:29:44-06:00 :
: modified : 2013-06-13T08:31:57-06:00 :
: users : root ABCDEFGH :
:..............:...........................:SoftLayer.CLI.virt.bandwidth:cli
If no timezone is specified, IMS local time (CST) will be assumed, which might not match your user's selected timezone.
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.cancel:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.capture:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.create:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.create_options:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.dns:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.edit:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.list:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.power:pause
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.power:power_on
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.power:power_off
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.power:resume
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.power:rescue
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.power:reboot
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.ready:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.upgrade:cli
SoftLayer.CLI.virt.usage:cli
vs/reserved_capacity
vs/placement_group