nShield CLI Commands

GUI initialization

Upon the startup of the nShield Monitor Virtual Appliance, the CLI will wait for the GUI to finish initializing (at the first boot and every reboot). This operation can take up to 60 seconds. If GUI initialization is not completed by then, the user is logged out and asked to log back in later.

Setting a password

If you are using the One Time Password (OTP), you will be asked to change it after logging in and before accessing any of the CLI operations.

You are prompted with the following password requirements:

  • Length should be between eight and sixteen characters

  • Should contain at least two capital letters

  • Should contain at least two lower case letter,

  • Should contain at least two digits

  • Should contain at least two special characters

  1. Enter the old password.

  2. Enter the new password.

    The new password is checked for the requirements above and compared with the old password. If it fails to comply with the requirements or if the new password is the same as the old one, the user is prompted with the associated error and/or the requirements and is directed back to step 2.
  3. Enter the password confirmation.

The only check that is performed is whether the two passwords match.

If it fails, it will prompt the error and start from step 2 above.

If it is successful, you will proceed to the CLI commands of the wizard.

Master key status

After the setup wizard has run and the mandated passwords have been entered, a status message for the master key may be prompted. This occurs if the master key needs to be reloaded, or generated and loaded.

CLI setup wizard

Log in

  1. Connect to the IP address.

  2. Login as administrator.

The CLI Setup Wizard initializes at the first boot. It will only initialize if the entire wizard setup has not yet run, or if the following steps of the wizard failed: Set User Email, or Create Administrators.

The wizard prompts you to perform the following operations:

  • Set the user's email

  • Create two administrators

  • Configure the network

  • Configure the date and time

  • Set two passwords for system key

Once the user logs in, the CLI verifies if the Virtual Machine (VM) has an IP address. If it does, it will prompt the user with the IP address and the URL to launch the wizard from a web browser.

If the Virtual Machine (VM) does not have an IP address, the CLI will prompt the user to set the static network configuration before running the Wizard. Until the IP address is set, the user will not be able to run the Wizard.

Welcome

  1. Select y to start the CLI Setup Wizard.

Select n if you need to exit and logout.

EULA

The EULA is displayed one page at a time.

  1. Navigate the EULA:

  2. Scroll up and down the page using up and down arrows

  3. Select Enter to scroll down the page

  4. Enter q to quit EULA at any time

  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page, which will automatically close the EULA

  6. Select y to agree to the terms of the EULA.

    Select n if your need to exit and logout (after 5 seconds).

    The system prompts to set the default user email.

Set User's Email

The requirements for an email address are:

  • Alphanumeric characters and < - or _ or .>@<alphanumeric characters and < - or .>

  • The two parts before and after the "@" cannot start or end with a non-alphanumeric character.

  • The email cannot contain successive dots, dashes or underscores.

  1. Enter your email address.

  2. Re-enter your email address to confirm.

The system prompts to create your Administrators.

Create Administrators

  1. Enter the User Name for Administrator One.

  2. Enter the first administrator's email address; verify that the email address is valid.

  3. Enter the first administrator's email address confirmation; verify that the email addresses match.

  4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 above to create second administrator.

    Once the administrators are created, the system prompts for network configuration.

Configure network

The wizard will show the current network configuration.

  1. Select the network configuration.

  2. If DHCP, enter:

    • hostname (optional)

    • mail host (optional)

    • Interface (optional)

    Interface can be skipped by pressing enter (system defaults to eth0).
  3. If Static, enter:

    • hostname (mandatory)

    • IP (mandatory)

    • netmask (mandatory)

    • gateway (mandatory)

    • domain (optional)

    • primary DNS (optional)

    • secondary DNS (optional)

    • mail host (optional)

    • Interface (optional)

    Interface can be skipped by pressing enter (system defaults to eth0).
  4. To Keep the current configuration, enter: mail host(optional)

The system continues with Master Key Generation and prompts you to create Passphrase One.

Generate system key

  1. Enter Passphrase One and then re-enter to confirm.

    The system prompts for Passphrase Two.

  2. Enter Passphrase Two and then re-enter to confirm.

    The system prompts to configure date and time.

Configure date and time

  1. Choose between NTP and NTP Disable (manual configuration).

    • Enter 1 or 2 based on your preference:

    • Enter: 1 for dynamic configuration (NTP enabled)

      Follow the prompts to complete the configuration.

  2. Enter servers (this is only optional if a server is already configured, otherwise this is mandatory).

    • Check for server regular expression.

    • Select timezone (optional).

Each parameter is checked. If a failure occurs, you are prompted to re-enter the parameter.
  1. Enter 2 for manual configuration (NTP disabled)

  2. Follow the prompts to complete the configuration:

    • Enter date (optional)

    • Enter time (optional)

    • Select timezone (optional)

Each parameter is checked. If a failure occurs, you are prompted to re-enter the parameter.

The system now prompts for initialization.

Initialize

  1. Select y to start performing all operations.

    Select n if you need to log out.

The initialization process is performed in the following order:

  • Generate and load master key.

  • Set user's email (if this fails, it will log out after five seconds).

  • Create administrators (if this fails, it will log out after five seconds).

  • Set mailhost.

  • Configure network.

  • Set NTP (on/off). Configure date, time and timezone and/or NTP servers.

If the date-time configuration is successful, a reboot is triggered.

You can log back in and restart the wizard if:

  • Initialization failed

  • Initialization was interrupted before setting Date/Time and Network

  • You logged out before initialization.

CLI commands

CLI commands

Network commands

Action

Show current network configuration

Input

        > network show

Output

Mode (dhcp or static)
IP address
Netmask
Gateway
Host Name
Primary DNS IP
Secondary DNS IP
Domain Name
Mail Host (if any)
Interface (if any)

Action

Configure dynamic network

Input

 > network configure dhcp hostname <hostname> interfacename <interface>

Output

Hostname is optional. Interface is optional

Action

Configure static network

Input

> network configure static hostname <hostname> ip <ip> netmask <netmask> gateway <gateway> interfacename <interface>

Details

All parameters are mandatory. Interface is optional

Action

Add/overwrite DNS parameters

Input

> network configure dns add domain <domain name> primary <primary dns> secondary <secondary dns> interfacename <interface>

Details

Commands to set domain name and primary DNS/secondary DNS can be performed separately or together in one command.
Only prompt for secondary if primary is entered to ensure that primary DNS is not left blank.
Interfacename is optional

Action

Remove DNS parameters

Input

> network configure dns remove domain <domain name> primary <primary dns> secondary <secondary dns> interfacename <interface>

Details

Commands to remove domain name and primary DNS/secondary DNS can be performed separately or together in one command.
Only prompt for primary if secondary is entered to ensure that primary DNS is not left blank.
If the domain name is removed, it will be replaced by « localdomain » Interface name is optional

Date-time commands

Date-time configuration triggers system reboot if configuration has succeeded.

Action

Show date and time configuration

Input

> date-time show

Output

NTP enabled : <yes/no>
Date/time
Timezone
Day light saving status : <yes/no>
NTP server list (if any)

Action

Switch NTP on or off

Input

> date-time configure ntp set-ntp-state
<on/off>

Details

set-ntp-state is mandatory. Set it to « on » to enable NTP and set it to « off » to disable NTP.
If enabled, NTP will try synchronizing with NTP servers. If it fails, it will remain disabled.
Note: check with « date-time show » command if any servers were configured.

Action

Set NTP servers

Input

> date-time configure ntp set-servers <"list of servers">

Details

This command removes all previous servers (if any) sets the new list of servers.
In CLI, provide the list of servers between double quotes. If there is only one server then there is no need for quotes.
Examples :
date-time configure ntp set-servers us.pool.ntp.org
date-time configure ntp set-servers "us.pool.ntp.org time.nist.gov"

Action

Configure date and time manually

Input

> date-time configure manual date <date> time <time> timezone <select from list>

Details

NTP has to be disabled to perform this operation.
Commands to set date, time and timezone can be performed separately or together in one command.

System commands

Action

Power off the system

Input

> system power-off

Details

This operation can take up to 60 seconds

Action

Reboot the system

Input

> system reboot

Details

This operation can take up to 60 seconds

Action

Reset the system to factory settings

Input

> system reset-config

Details

This operation can take up to 60 seconds

Action

Show the summary of system information

Input

> system summary

Details

SSH state indicates only the user’s configuration for SSH through the CLI (« service ssh enable/disable » command.)
* ’enable': if user configured SSH using « service ssh enable » * ’disable': if user configured SSH using « service ssh disable »

Output

Serial Number
Software Version
System Uptime
Disk Usage
Services status
License
Type : Evaluation/Product.
If evaluation then show remaining days.
Upgrade history (if any)
SSH state
Web UI state

Action

Reload Master Key

Input

> system master-key reload

Details

Reload master key when master key is generated but not loaded.
Master key has to be reloaded after each reboot.

Action

Show current state of debug

Input

> system debug show

Details

Show current state of debug

Action

Enable logging of debug message

Input

> system debug configure set-debug-state on

Details

Enable debug logging

Action

Disable logging of debug message

Input

> system debug configure set-debug-state off

Details

Disable debug logging

Email queue commands

Action

Disable logging of debug message

Input

> system debug configure set-debug-state off

Details

Disable debug logging

Action

Show the outstanding emails queued up in the system

Input

> system emailqueue status

Output

EMAIL QUEUE SUMMARY
Pending mail requests…​…​…​…​: nn

Action

Purge system email queue

Input

> system emailqueue purge

Output

EMAIL QUEUE PURGE STATUS
Mail purge status …​…​…​…​…​: success

Troubleshooting commands

Action

Ping host name or IP address

Input

> troubleshoot ping <ip address/hostname>

Action

Traceroute host name or IP address

Input

> troubleshoot traceroute <ip address/hostname>

Details

This operation may take up to 450 seconds (7.5 min)

Action

Show routing tables

Input

> troubleshoot routedump

Action

Dump traffic on the network to a file

Input

> troubleshoot tcpdump <on/off>

Details

The file is overwritten every time tcpdump is turned on

Action

Export debug logs through SCP

Input

> troubleshoot export_logs server <IP> username <name> dest_dir <destination path> port <optional_port_number>

Optional

port and debug_db_data are optional parameters

Details

This command is used to export debug logs using SCP. The users should have valid access to SCP server with username and destination directory. Port number is optional and the default SCP port would be used if not provided.
User is prompted to enter correct password after executing the command.

Service commands

Action

Enable/Disable SSH

Input

> service ssh <enable/disable>

Details

By default, it is disabled as well as after each reboot

Action

Enable/Disable webUI

Input

> service webUI <enable/disable>

Action

Enable/Disable OVT

Input

> service open-vm-tools enable
This will enable Open VMware Tools. Proceed? [y/n]
CLI access is restricted to Administrator accounts only. Manager accounts cannot access the CLI. A proper error message will be displayed.