NVUE CLI

The NVUE CLI has a flat structure instead of a modal structure. Therefore, you can run all commands from the primary prompt instead of only in a specific mode.

Command Syntax

NVUE commands all begin with nv and fall into one of three syntax categories:

• Configuration (nv set and nv unset)
• Monitoring (nv show)
• Configuration management (nv config)
• Action commands (nv action)

Command Completion

As you enter commands, you can get help with the valid keywords or options using the tab key. For example, using tab completion with nv set displays the possible options for the command and returns you to the command prompt to complete the command.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set <<press tab>>
acl        evpn       mlag       qos        service    vrf        
bridge     interface  nve        router     system

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set

Command Question Mark

You can type a question mark (?) after a command to display required information quickly and concisely. When you type ?, NVUE specifies the value type, range, and options with a brief description of each; for example:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface swp1 link state ?
    [Enter]               
    down                   The interface is not ready
    up                     The interface is ready
cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface swp1 link mtu ?
    <arg>                  (integer:552 - 9216)
cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface swp1 link speed ?
    <arg>                  (string | enum:10M,100M,1G,10G,25G,40G,50G,100G,200G,40
                           0G,800G,auto)

NVUE also indicates if you need to provide specific values for the command:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface swp1 bridge domain ?
    <domain-id>            Domain (bridge-name)

Command Abbreviation

NVUE supports command abbreviation, where you can type a certain number of characters instead of a whole command to speed up CLI interaction. For example, instead of typing nv show interface, you can type nv sh int.

If the command you type is ambiguous, NVUE shows the reason for the ambiguity so that you can correct the shortcut. For example:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv s i 
Ambiguous Command: 
   set interface 
   show interface 

Command Help

As you enter commands, you can get help with command syntax by entering -h or --help at various points within a command entry. For example, to examine the options available for nv set interface, enter nv set interface -h or nv set interface --help.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface -h
usage: 
  nv [options] set interface <interface-id>

Description:
  interface             Update all interfaces

Identifiers:
  <interface-id>        Interface (interface-name)

Output Options:
  -o <format>, --output <format>
                        Supported formats: json, yaml, auto, constable, end-table, commands (default:auto)
  --color (on|off|auto)
                        Toggle coloring of output (default: auto)
  --paginate (on|off|auto)
                        Whether to send output to a pager (default: off)

General Options:
  -h, --help            Show help.

Command List

You can list all the NVUE commands by running nv list-commands. See List All NVUE Commands below.

Command History

At the command prompt, press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to move back and forth through the list of commands you entered previously. When you find the command you want to use, you can run the command by pressing Enter. You can also modify the command before you run it.

Command Categories

The NVUE CLI has a flat structure; however, the commands are in three functional categories:

• Configuration
• Monitoring
• Configuration Management
• Action

Configuration Commands

The NVUE configuration commands modify switch configuration. You can set and unset configuration options.

The nv set and nv unset commands are in the following categories. Each command group includes subcommands. Use command completion (press the tab key) to list the subcommands.

Monitoring Commands

The NVUE monitoring commands show various parts of the network configuration. For example, you can show the complete network configuration or only interface configuration. The monitoring commands are in the following categories. Each command group includes subcommands. Use command completion (press the tab key) to list the subcommands.

The following example shows the nv show router commands after pressing the tab key, then shows the output of the nv show router bgp command.

cumulus@leaf01:mgmt:~$ nv show router <<tab>>
adaptive-routing  igmp              ospf              pim               ptm               vrrp              
bgp               nexthop-group     pbr               policy            vrr               

cumulus@leaf01:mgmt:~$ nv show router bgp
                                operational  applied  pending      description
------------------------------  -----------  -------  -----------  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
enable                                       off      on           Turn the feature 'on' or 'off'.  The default is 'off'.
autonomous-system                                     none         ASN for all VRFs, if a single AS is in use.  If "none", then ASN mu...
graceful-shutdown                                     off          Graceful shutdown enable will initiate the GSHUT community to be an...
policy-update-timer                                   5            Wait time in seconds before processing updates to policies to ensur...
router-id                                             none         BGP router-id for all VRFs, if a common one is used.  If "none", th...
wait-for-install                                      off          bgp waits for routes to be installed into kernel/asic before advert...
convergence-wait
  establish-wait-time                                 0            Maximum time to wait to establish BGP sessions. Any peers which do...
  time                                                0            Time to wait for peers to send end-of-RIB before router performs pa...
graceful-restart
  mode                                                helper-only  Role of router during graceful restart. helper-only, router is in h...
  path-selection-deferral-time                        360          Used by the restarter as an upper-bounds for waiting for peering es...
  restart-time                                        120          Amount of time taken to restart by router. It is advertised to the...
  stale-routes-time                                   360          Specifies an upper-bounds on how long we retain routes from a resta...
cumulus@leaf01:mgmt:~$ 

Additional options are available for the nv show commands. For example, you can choose the configuration you want to show (pending, applied, startup, or operational). You can also turn on colored output, and paginate specific output.

The following example shows pending BGP graceful restart configuration:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv show router bgp graceful-restart --pending
                              4                  description
----------------------------  -----------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
mode                          helper-only        Role of router during graceful restart. helper-only, router is in h...
path-selection-deferral-time  360                Used by the restarter as an upper-bounds for waiting for peeringes...
restart-time                  120                Amount of time taken to restart by router. It is advertised to the...
stale-routes-time             360                Specifies an upper-bounds on how long we retain routes from a resta...

Net Show commands

In addition to the nv show commands, Cumulus Linux continues to provide a subset of the NCLU net show commands. Use these commands to get additional views of various parts of your network configuration.

cumulus@leaf01:mgmt:~$ net show 
    bfd            :  Bidirectional forwarding detection
    bgp            :  Border Gateway Protocol
    bridge         :  a layer2 bridge
    clag           :  Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation
    commit         :  apply the commit buffer to the system
    configuration  :  settings, configuration state, etc
    counters       :  net show counters
    debugs         :  Debugs
    dhcp-snoop     :  DHCP snooping for IPv4
    dhcp-snoop6    :  DHCP snooping for IPv6
    dot1x          :  Configure, Enable, Delete or Show IEEE 802.1X EAPOL
    evpn           :  Ethernet VPN
    hostname       :  local hostname
    igmp           :  Internet Group Management Protocol
    interface      :  An interface, such as swp1, swp2, etc.
    ip             :  Internet Protocol version 4/6
    ipv6           :  Internet Protocol version 6
    lldp           :  Link Layer Discovery Protocol
    mpls           :  Multiprotocol Label Switching
    mroute         :  Static unicast routes in MRIB for multicast RPF lookup
    msdp           :  Multicast Source Discovery Protocol
    neighbor       :  A BGP, OSPF, PIM, etc neighbor
    ospf           :  Open Shortest Path First (OSPFv2)
    ospf6          :  Open Shortest Path First (OSPFv3)
    package        :  A Cumulus Linux package name
    pbr            :  Policy Based Routing
    pim            :  Protocol Independent Multicast
    port-mirror    :  port-mirror
    port-security  :  Port security
    ptp            :  Precision Time Protocol
    roce           :  Enable RoCE on all interfaces, default mode is lossless
    rollback       :  revert to a previous configuration state
    route          :  EVPN route information
    route-map      :  Route-map
    snmp-server    :  Configure the SNMP server
    system         :  System
    time           :  Time
    version        :  Version number
    vrf            :  Virtual routing and forwarding
    vrrp           :  Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol

Configuration Management Commands

The NVUE configuration management commands manage and apply configurations.

You can use the NVUE configuration management commands to back up and restore configuration when you upgrade Cumulus Linux on the switch. Refer to Upgrading Cumulus Linux.

Action Commands

The NVUE action commands clear counters, and provide system reboot and TACACS user disconnect options.

List All NVUE Commands

To show the full list of NVUE commands, run nv list-commands. For example:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv list-commands
nv show platform
nv show platform hardware
nv show platform hardware component
nv show platform hardware component <component-id>
nv show platform software
nv show platform software installed
nv show platform software installed <installed-id>
nv show platform capabilities
nv show platform environment
...

You can show the list of commands for a command grouping. For example, to show the list of interface commands:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv list-commands interface
nv show interface
nv show interface <interface-id>
nv show interface <interface-id> ip
nv show interface <interface-id> ip address
nv show interface <interface-id> ip address <ip-prefix-id>
nv show interface <interface-id> ip gateway
nv show interface <interface-id> ip gateway <ip-address-id>
...

Use the tab key to get help for the command lists you want to see. For example, to show the list of command options available for swp1, run the nv list-commands interface swp1 command and press the tab key:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv list-commands interface swp1 <<press tab>>
acl            counters       link           ptp            storm-control  
bond           evpn           lldp           qos            synce          
bridge         ip             pluggable      router         tunnel

NVUE Configuration File

When you save network configuration, NVUE writes the configuration to the /etc/nvue.d/startup.yaml file.

You can edit or replace the contents of the /etc/nvue.d/startup.yaml file. NVUE applies the configuration in the /etc/nvue.d/startup.yaml file during system boot only if the nvue-startup.service is running. If this service is not running, the switch reboots with the same configuration that is running before the reboot.

To start nvue-startup.service:

cumulus@switch:~$ sudo systemctl enable nvue-startup.service
cumulus@switch:~$ sudo systemctl start nvue-startup.service

When you apply a configuration with nv config apply, NVUE also writes to underlying Linux files such as /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/frr/frr.conf. You can view these configuration files; however, do not manually edit them while using NVUE. If you need to configure certain network settings manually or use automation such as Ansible to configure the switch, see Configure NVUE to Ignore Linux Files below.

Configuration Files that NVUE Manages

NVUE manages the following configuration files:

Search for a Specific Configuration

To search for a specific portion of the NVUE configuration, run the nv config find <search string> command. The search shows all items above and below the search string. For example, to search the entire NVUE object model configuration for any mention of ptm:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config find ptm
- set:
    router:
      ptm:
        enable: off

Configure NVUE to Ignore Linux Files

You can configure NVUE to ignore certain underlying Linux files when applying configuration changes. For example, if you push certain configuration to the switch using Ansible and Jinja2 file templates or you want to use custom configuration for a particular service such as PTP, you can ensure that NVUE never writes to those configuration files.

The following example configures NVUE to ignore the Linux /etc/ptp4l.conf file when applying configuration changes and saves the configuration so it persists after a reboot.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set system config apply ignore /etc/ptp4l.conf
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config save

Configure Auto Save

By default, when you run the nv config apply command to apply a configuration setting, NVUE applies the pending configuration to become the applied configuration but does not update the startup configuration file (/etc/nvue.d/startup.yaml). To save the applied configuration to the startup configuration so that the changes persist after the reboot, you must run the nv config save command. The auto save option lets you save the pending configuration to the startup configuration automatically when you run nv config apply so that you do not have to run the nv config save command.

To enable auto save:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set system config auto-save enable on
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply

To disable auto save, run the nv set system config auto-save enable off command.

Add Configuration Apply Messages

When you run the nv config apply command, you can add a message that describes the configuration updates you make. You can see the message when you run the nv config history command.

To add a configuration apply message, run the nv config apply -m <message> command. If the message includes more than one word, enclose the message in quotes.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply -m "this is my message"

Reset NVUE Configuration to Default Values

To reset the NVUE configuration on the switch back to the default values, run the following command:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply empty

Example Configuration Commands

This section provides examples of how to configure a Cumulus Linux switch using NVUE commands.

Configure the System Hostname

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to change the hostname for the switch to leaf01:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set system hostname leaf01
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply

Configure the System DNS Server

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to define the DNS server for the switch:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set service dns mgmt server 192.168.200.1
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply

Configure an Interface

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to bring up swp1.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface swp1
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply 

Configure a Bond

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to configure the front panel port interfaces swp1 thru swp4 to be slaves in bond0.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface bond0 bond member swp1-4
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply

Configure a Bridge

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to create a VLAN-aware bridge that contains two switch ports (swp1 and swp2) and includes 3 VLANs; tagged VLANs 10 and 20 and an untagged (native) VLAN of 1.

With NVUE, there is a default bridge called br_default, which has no ports assigned to it. The example below configures this default bridge.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface swp1-2 bridge domain br_default
cumulus@switch:~$ nv set bridge domain br_default vlan 10,20
cumulus@switch:~$ nv set bridge domain br_default untagged 1
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply

Configure MLAG

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to configure MLAG on leaf01. The commands:

• Place swp1 into bond1 and swp2 into bond2.
• Configure the MLAG ID to 1 for bond1 and to 2 for bond2.
• Add bond1 and bond2 to the default bridge (br_default).
• Create the inter-chassis bond (swp49 and swp50) and the peer link (peerlink)
• Set the peer link IP address to linklocal, the MLAG system MAC address to 44:38:39:BE:EF:AA, and the backup interface to 10.10.10.2.

cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set interface bond1 bond member swp1
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set interface bond2 bond member swp2
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set interface bond1 bond mlag id 1
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set interface bond2 bond mlag id 2
cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface bond1-2 bridge domain br_default 
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set interface peerlink bond member swp49-50
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set mlag mac-address 44:38:39:BE:EF:AA
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set mlag backup 10.10.10.2
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set mlag peer-ip linklocal
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv config apply

Configure BGP Unnumbered

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to configure BGP unnumbered on leaf01. The commands:

• Assign the ASN for this BGP node to 65101.
• Set the router ID to 10.10.10.1.
• Distribute routing information to the peer on swp51.
• Originate prefixes 10.10.10.1/32 from this BGP node.

cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set router bgp autonomous-system 65101
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set router bgp router-id 10.10.10.1
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set vrf default router bgp neighbor swp51 remote-as external
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv set vrf default router bgp address-family ipv4-unicast network 10.10.10.1/32
cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv config apply

Example Monitoring Commands

This section provides monitoring command examples.

Show Installed Software

The following example command lists the software installed on the switch:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv show platform software
Installed Software
=====================
Installed software            description                     package                      version                       
---------------------------   ---------------------------     --------------------------   -----------------------------
acpi                          displays information on ACPI    acpi                         1.7-1.1                       
                              devices                                                                                  
acpi-support-base             scripts for handling base       acpi-support-base            0.142-8                       
                              ACPI events such as the                                                                  
                              power button                                                                             
acpid                         Advanced Configuration and      acpid                        1:2.0.31-1                    
                              Power Interface event daemon                                                             
adduser                       add and remove users and        adduser                      3.118                         
                              groups                                                                                   
apt                           commandline package manager     apt                          1.8.2.3             
...

Show Interface Configuration

The following example command shows the running, applied, and pending swp1 interface configuration.

cumulus@leaf01:~$ nv show interface swp1
                         operational  applied  description
-----------------------  -----------  -------  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
t                         operational        applied  pending
-----------------------  -----------------  -------  -------
type                     swp                                
ip                                                          
  [address]                                                 
link                                                        
  auto-negotiate         off                                
  mtu                    1500                               
  state                  down                               
  stats                                                     
    carrier-transitions  2                                  
    in-bytes             0 Bytes                            
    in-drops             0                                  
    in-errors            0                                  
    in-pkts              0                                  
    out-bytes            0 Bytes                            
    out-drops            0                                  
    out-errors           0                                  
    out-pkts             0                                  
  mac                    48:b0:2d:16:d8:82               
...

Example Configuration Management Commands

This section provides examples of how to use the configuration management commands to apply, save, and detach configurations.

Apply and Save a Configuration

The following example command configures the front panel port interfaces swp1 thru swp4 to be slaves in bond0. The configuration is only in a pending configuration state. The configuration is not applied. NVUE has not yet made any changes to the running configuration.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface bond0 bond member swp1-4

To apply the pending configuration to the running configuration, run the nv config apply command. The configuration does not persist after a reboot.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config apply

To save the applied configuration to the startup configuration, run the nv config save command. This command overwrites the startup configuration with the applied configuration by writing to the /etc/nvue.d/startup.yaml file. The configuration persists after a reboot.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config save

Detach a Pending Configuration

The following example configures the IP address of the loopback interface, then detaches the configuration from the current pending configuration. Cumulus Linux saves the detached configuration to a file with a numerical value to distinguish it from other pending configurations.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv set interface lo ip address 10.10.10.1/32
cumulus@switch:~$ nv config detach

View Differences Between Configurations

To view differences between configurations, run the nv config diff command.

To view differences between two detached pending configurations, run the nv config diff «tab» command to list all the current detached pending configurations, then run the nv config diff command with the pending configurations you want to diff.

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config diff <<press tab>>
1        2        3        4        5        6        applied  empty    startup

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config diff 2 3
- unset:
    system:
      wjh:
        channel:
          forwarding:
            trigger:
              l2:

To view differences between the applied configuration and the startup configuration:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config diff applied startup
- unset:
    interface:
    system:
      wjh:

Replace and Patch a Pending Configuration

The following example replaces the pending configuration with the contents of the YAML configuration file called nv-02/13/2021.yaml located in the /deps directory:

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config replace /deps/nv-02/13/2021.yaml

The following example patches the pending configuration (runs the set or unset commands from the configuration in the nv-02/13/2021.yaml file located in the /deps directory):

cumulus@switch:~$ nv config patch /deps/nv-02/13/2021.yaml

NVUE and FRR Restart

NVUE restarts the FRR service when you:

• Change the /etc/frr/daemons file.
• Change the BGP ASN.
• Remove the default instance.
• Disable the SNMP server with agentx configured.

Restarting FRR restarts all the routing protocol daemons that you enable and that are running, which might impact traffic.