v2.4.2 Using Exostellar xli

Overview

xli is the command-line interface (CLI) for Exostellar’s Management Server (EMS). It enables users to manage images, environments, and profiles, by adding, removing, and updating them. Additionally, xli allows users to start and stop nested sandboxes, export configuration and logs, generate new common certificates, check the validity of the CA, and check the meta data of the EMS head node.

xli tool: Version 1.0.2

Platform	Architecture	File	Release Date

Platform	Architecture	Release Date
macOS	ARM64	Mar 3, 2025
macOS	x86_64	Mar 3, 2025
Linux	ARM64	Mar 3, 2025
Linux	i386	Mar 3, 2025
Linux	x86_64	Mar 3, 2025

For macOS users, please grant xli permissions by clicking the “Allow Anyway” button in the Security settings. This button is available for about an hour after you try to open the app. You can access the Security settings by choosing Apple Menu > System Settings, then clicking Privacy & Security in the sidebar.

Configuration

EMS Head Node Configuration

By default, xli connects to the EMS head node API on the local host and can be configured to connect to the EMS head node in two ways:

Using an Environment Variable

export EMS_ADDRESS=<public_ip_of_ems>

Using the Command Line

xli <sub-command> --address <public_ip_of_ems>

The flag takes precedence if both the environment variable and the --address flag are used.

Certification Configuration

The certificates must be properly configured when running xli on a remote machine. These files can be obtained in two ways:

Downloading from the Settings page of EMS UI Console.
Using xli to fetch the files automatically.
xli will install the files in the user's home directory at ~/.xli. To download them using xli, a valid SSH key for the ‘rocky’ user is required to access the EMS instance:
xli get-pem -k </path/to/ssh/key>

Usage

xli [flags]/[commands]

Available Commands

Commands	Explanations

Commands	Explanations
`get-pem`	Retrieve the cert file using the key from the EMS
`cert`	Get and upload certificates
`license`	Add and get licenses
`profile`	Add, update, remove, and list profiles
`env`	Add, update, remove, and list environments
`image`	Add, update, remove, and list images
`node`	List all nodes in the EMS cluster
`xcompute`	Get EMS info and export/import configurations
`completion`	Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell

Flags

Commands	Explanations

Commands	Explanations
`--address string`	Address of the EMS (default "localhost:5000")
`-h, --help`	Help for `xli`
`-v, --version`	Version for `xli`

Workflow Example

Updating a profile or environment

The update process follows these steps:

Retrieve the current JSON representation of the profile or environment.
Modify the JSON as needed.
Push the updated JSON back to the EMS head node.

Below is an example using the default profile az1.

xli profile get -n az1 > az1.json / xli profile get -n az1 -y > az1.yaml
<Update JSON>
xli profile update -p az1.json/az1.yaml

Exostellar Documentation