tmsh
tmsh(1) BIG-IP TMSH Manual tmsh(1)
NAME
tmsh - Traffic Management Shell - A command line interface for managing
the BIG-IP(r) system.
DESCRIPTION
You can use tmsh to configure and manage the BIG-IP system in
conjunction with the Configuration utility, which is the browser-based
BIG-IP system and network management tool.
MODULES
The structure of tmsh is hierarchical and modular. The highest level is
the root module, which contains subordinate modules: auth, cli, gtm,
ltm, net, sys and wom. Use the command help with no arguments to
display the module hierarchy relative to the current module.
The gtm, ltm, net, sys, and wom modules also contain subordinate
modules. All modules and subordinate modules contain components. To
display the list of modules and components that are available in the
current module type Tab or ? at the tmsh prompt.
Commands operate on components. To display the list of available
commands type Tab or ? at the beginning of the command line. To display
a list of components on which a command can operate type the command
followed by a space followed by Tab or ?.
The following examples illustrate how to navigate the tmsh hierarchy.
To enter a module, type the name of the module at the tmsh prompt.
(tmos)# ltm
The prompt displays the current module location.
(tmos.ltm)#
You can display the components in a module using the commands list
(configuration) and show (statistics and runtime status). The following
command sequence displays the virtual server configuration of the BIG-
IP system.
(tmos.ltm)# list virtual
In the following examples, the commands list and show display
information about only ltm components.
(tmos.ltm)# list
(tmos.ltm)# show
You can access any component in any module from any other module by
specifying a complete path to the component. For example, from the ltm
module, the following command displays all of the properties of the
VLANs on the system. The forward slash / specifies that what follows is
relative to the root module.
(tmos.ltm)# list /net vlan all-properties
The forward slash is optional if the root module is the current module.
For example, the following command sequences display profiles.
(tmos)# list ltm profile
(tmos)# list /ltm profile
(tmos)# list / ltm profile
Most components also support component mode. You can navigate to a
single component and run commands to manage that component. For
example, from the ltm module, to navigate to the node component, use
the following command.
(tmos.ltm)# node
To display the properties of all nodes, use the following command.
(tmos.ltm.node)# list
You can also navigate to a specific object (object mode). For example,
from the node component, to enter object mode for a specific node,
enter the command modify followed by the IP address of the node.
(tmos.ltm.node)# modify 10.1.1.10
In object mode, you can configure property settings directly. For
example, to set the connection limit for 10.1.1.10 to 10000, use the
following command.
(tmos.ltm.node.10.1.1.10)# connection-limit 10000
To exit a module enter the command exit at the tmsh prompt, as shown
below.
(tmos.ltm)# exit
(tmos)#
PRODUCT PROVISIONING
You must provision a BIG-IP system module before you can use tmsh to
configure that product, for example, the Global Traffic Manager. The
command sequence list sys provision displays the BIG-IP system modules
that can be provisioned. For more information about provisioning, see
the TMOS(r) Management Guide for BIG-IP Systems and help sys provision.
LOADING/SAVING THE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
The system applies all configuration changes that you make from within
tmsh to the running configuration of the system.
You can save a portion of the running configuration known as the base
configuration. You can also load the base configuration from the stored
configuration files.
To save the base configuration to the stored configuration files, use
the command sequence: save sys base-config.
To replace the running base configuration with the configuration in the
stored configuration files, use the command sequence: load /sys base-
config.
Additionally, you can save the entire running configuration or load all
of the stored configuration files.
To save the entire running configuration to the stored configuration
files, use the command sequence: save /sys config.
To replace the entire running configuration with the configuration in
the stored configuration files using the command sequence: load /sys
config.
HELP
tmsh tmsh includes man pages for each of the commands and components
that are available within tmsh. You access the man pages using the
following command syntax: help [ [command] | [full path to component]
].
For example, to access the man page for the vlan component from the
root module, use this command sequence: help / net vlan.
You can also search the man pages for information on a specific topic.
To do this you use the command syntax: help search [topic]. You can
perform a help search from within any module in the tmsh hierarchy. For
example, to find the man pages that contain a reference to VLANs, use
this command sequence: help search vlan
To display a list of topics that are available in a module use this
command sequence: help [full path to module].
For example, to display the topics that are available in the current
module use this command: help. To display the topics that are available
in the net module use this command sequence: help / net.
CONTEXT-SENSITIVE HELP
tmsh includes a context-sensitive help feature that provides help as
you type commands. At any time, you can type a question mark (?) on the
command line, and tmsh returns information to assist you in completing
the command. Based on when you type the question mark, you get the
following results.
When you type a question mark immediately following any portion of a
command, tmsh returns possible completions for the command, but does
not complete the command as the command completion feature does.
When you type a space before the question mark, tmsh returns
descriptive text that explains the commands, components, or properties
that you can configure.
When you type a question mark in the middle of a command, tmsh returns
help on the command to the left of the cursor.
Note: To use a question mark in a Glob or regular expression, you must
escape the question mark using quotation marks, apostrophes, or a
backslash.
Additionally, you can request context-sensitive help for the last
command in a series of commands. For more information, see ENTERING
MULTIPLE COMMANDS, following.
COMMAND COMPLETION
At any point while typing or editing a command in tmsh, you can press
the Tab key. tmsh either completes the current or next word, or
displays possible completions for the current or next word. If tmsh
displays nothing after you press the Tab key, no options exist to
complete the word. If you move the cursor anywhere on the command line
and press the Tab key, tmsh completes what is to the left of the
cursor.
Command completion also reduces the amount of typing that is required
to run commands. When you press the Tab key, the system automatically
completes the current command-line element to as many unique characters
as possible. If there is more than one possible completion the list of
possible completions displays. Command completion also completes
configuration object identifiers.
ENTERING MULTIPLE COMMANDS
You can enter multiple commands on the command line by separating the
commands with semi-colons (;). For example, to display the properties
of the self IP addresses and VLANs of the system, use this command
sequence:
list / net self ; list / net vlan
When you enter multiple commands in this way, all of the commands are
added to the command history in a single line item, regardless of
whether any of the commands were successful. However, if one of the
commands that you enter fails to parse, tmsh does not run the remaining
commands you entered. tmsh audits commands as the commands run;
therefore, if a command fails to parse, tmsh does not audit the
remaining commands. For more information about the command history, see
COMMAND HISTORY, following.
You can also specify multiple commands in a command alias by separating
the commands with semi-colons. For example, to create an alias that
displays the properties of the VLANs and VLAN groups on the system, use
this command sequence:
create / cli alias vlans command "list / net vlan ; list / net vlan-group"
You can request context-sensitive help and utilize the command
completion feature on the last command in a series of commands. For
example, the following command sequence displays help for the vlan-
group component.
list / net vlan ; list / net vlan-group ?
COMMAND HISTORY
tmsh saves in the command history file each command that you enter. The
command history persists when you log off of the system. The next time
you log on to the system, you can search for, display, and then edit,
the tmsh commands that you entered in previous sessions. The command
history persists even through a restart of the BIG-IP system. For more
information about the command history feature, see help history.
The following examples show how to use the command history feature.
To display the commands in the history list, enter either the command
sequence show history or an exclamation point (!). tmsh displays a list
of commands each preceded by a numeric ID.
To run a command from the history list, enter an exclamation point
followed by the numeric ID of the command.
To run the previous command, enter !!.
FILTERING OUTPUT
You can filter the output generated by the commands list (configuration
settings) and show (statistics and runtime status) using the UNIX grep
utility. You must type the character | before the grep specification.
You can use multiple filters chained together. For a list of supported
grep options, see the Traffic Management Shell (tmsh) Reference Guide.
The following examples show how to use the grep utility in tmsh.
list ltm node | grep "^10\.2"
list ltm virtual | grep -i seattle
list ltm virtual | grep -i abc | grep -i ab | grep -i a
KEYBOARD BINDINGS
tmsh supports vi, emacs and default keyboard bindings. You can set the
binding using the keymap preference. For more information, see help cli
preference. For a detailed description of the default mapping, see the
Traffic Management Shell (tmsh) Reference Guide.
Note that all mappings provide command-line editing and the capability
to search the command history.
WILDCARD OBJECT IDENTIFIERS
You can specify configuration object identifiers using glob and regular
expression syntax.
For glob and regular expression syntax rules, see help glob and help
regex. Note that you can escape the glob and regular expression special
characters using a back slash.
The following examples show how to use glob and regular expressions in
tmsh.
Uses a glob expression to display the configuration of all nodes that
begin with 10.1..
list ltm node 10.1.*
Uses a regular expression to display the configuration of all nodes
that begin with 10. and contain .44.. Note that a regular expression
must begin with an @ symbol. This identifies to tmsh that the
identifier should be treated as a regular expression and not a glob or
standard object identifier. The leading @ is not part of the regular
expression.
list ltm node @^10\..*\.44\.
PREFERENCES
You can customize the behavior of tmsh. For more information, see help
cli preference.
FILES
tmsh manages several files in a user's home directory.
$HOME/.tmsh-history- contains command history.
STATISTICS
You can use tmsh to display statistics, including historical
performance statistics. You can select the format in which the
statistics display, as well as reset the statistics for some of the
tmsh components. To determine if statistics are available for a
component, see the man page for the specific component.
The following examples show how to display and reset statistics for the
net interface component from the root module.
show net interface
reset-stats net interface
The following examples show how to display and reset statistics for the
net interface component from the net module.
show interface
reset-stats interface
AUTOMATING TMSH
You can use tmsh to build TCL scripts to automate management of the
BIG-IP. See the cli script help page.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
The following options can be specified when tmsh is started from the
system shell.
-a tmsh does not write commands to the command history file.
Note that if auditing is enabled, tmsh continues to write commands
to the audit log. This option is useful when writing scripts from
the system shell, because it stops the scripts from filling up the
command history file. This option applies to the non-interactive
mode only.
-c Run the specified command. A command that contains multiple
arguments must be in quotes. No other options may be specified
after -c
-d [ip address | host name]
Connects to the specified blade in a clustered system.
-e Disables video highlighting in tmsh.
-h Displays options you can use when accessing tmsh from the system
shell.
-m Generates a tmsh debug log named tmsh.out in the current
directory.
Note that when you run a tmsh script, the shell generates a debug
log file for the script named tmsh.out.[script name].
Using this option causes tmsh to run significantly slower.
-q Prevents tmsh from responding to user actions with questions. This
option is useful when writing non-interactive shell scripts from
the system shell.
-r
This option allows the user to run TMSH the specified version.
This is used to provide backwards compatibility for older TMSH
syntax only. The version must be specified in the format
maj.min.pt, for example 11.5.0
SEE ALSO
Detailed information on the following topics is available through the
help command: cli preference, cli script, glob, help, regex, and sys
provision.
For complete information about tmsh, see the Traffic Management Shell
(tmsh) Reference Guide. This guide is available on the AskF5(sm)
Knowledge Base ().
COPYRIGHT
No part of this program may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or information storage and retrieval systems, for any
purpose other than the purchaser's personal use, without the express
written permission of F5 Networks, Inc.
F5 Networks and BIG-IP (c) Copyright 2008-2010, 2012. All rights
reserved.
BIG-IP 2014-02-18 tmsh(1)