HP Virtual Connect Manager Command Line Interface for c-Class BladeSystem Version 3.10/3.15 User Guide

Introduction 11
The general format of a CLI option is as follows:
-<option>[=argument1>,<argument2>, . . .]
Example: ->show user suzi -output=script1
In the example, -output is the option, and script1 is an option argument.
Properties
Properties are specific configuration attributes of a managed element. Properties are commonly used during
set operations or add operations where a managed element is being modified or created. In some limited
circumstances, properties might also be used as a part of a show or other command.
IMPORTANT: If a property value contains embedded spaces, then the entire property value must
be contained within single or double quotes. Likewise, if a double quote is part of a property
value, it should be contained within single quotes, and if a single quote is part of a property value,
it should be contained within double quotes.
Command batching
In previous versions of the CLI, the user had the following options to enable different CLI command
invocations:
• Interactively input commands at the shell after logging in via SSH. This method works well for interactive
users, but not necessarily for automation. Although users could write expect scripts for command
processing, the solution is not optimal.
• Enter remote shell script commands, one-at-a-time, using a remote SSH client. This method enhances
automation, but performance is lessened because each command requires logging in and logging out
of the remote SSH server in the firmware. Because the authentication and command processing is
performed over an encrypted channel, users experience a performance hit. If the user script is
performing many operations in the client script, the time necessary to perform the tasks increases.
The updated version of the CLI supports a new enhancement that enables users to enter multiple CLI
commands in a single command-line invocation. This capability is useful in situations where users prefer to
batch several commands together and execute them in a particular sequence, within the context of the same
user login SSH session. This method improves the overall performance of lengthy script processing.
Example 1: Sample commands with no command batching
add profile Profile1
add network Network1
add uplinkset UplinkSet1
Example 2: Sample commands using command batching
add profile Profile1;add network Network1;add uplinkset UplinkSet1
Supporting comments and blank lines in CLI scripts
Scripts are useful for batching many CLI commands. Administrators can create a single CLI script to configure
an entire VC domain from scratch and use it on multiple enclosures.
The updated version of the CLI supports command scripts that contain blank lines and comments. In previous
firmware versions, all commands that were provided as input to the CLI through scripts could only be valid