sloctl User Guide

sloctl is a command-line interface (CLI) for Nobl9. You can use the sloctl CLI for creating or updating multiple SLOs and Objectives at once as part of CI/CD.

The web user interface is available to give you an easy way to create and update SLOs and other resources, while sloctl aims to provide a systematic and/or automated approach to maintaining SLOs as code.

For other ways of leverging SLOs as code, check SLOs as code section.

Why Use sloctl?

• You can use sloctl to integrate Nobl9 in CI/CD pipelines. With sloctl, you can keep definitions of SLOs or other Nobl9 resources in the version control system. Any changes will be automatically applied to Nobl9.
• Currently, sloctl is the only method to browse fired alerts (apart from alert methods themselves). There is no UI to browse fired alerts in the Nobl9 UI.
• Several advanced configuration options are only available via yamls and sloctl (Keep in mind that the below list is not comprehensive):
  • For Agents in your organization, you can retrieve client_id and client_secret using the sloctl get agents command.
  • For Alert Policies, you can use any number and combination of alerting conditions. Nobl9 Web UI limits that to a max. of one condition of a given type.

Setting up sloctl

Use the following steps to install and configure Nobl9 command-line interface, sloctl.

Binary Installation of sloctl

When installing files in protected folders, the operating system occasionally requires copy or file permissions. When this happens, give the installed files executable permissions (Linux and Mac) or confirm the file copy operation (Windows).

Use the following steps to download the Nobl9 CLI. The following are platform-specific instructions:

MacOS

Method 1: Using homebrew

1. Download the appropriate binary executable zip file from sloctl release pages.
2. For Mac OS, we recommend using homebrew:

brew tap nobl9/sloctl

brew install sloctl

Method 2: Manual installation

1. Download the appropriate binary executable zip file from sloctl release pages.
• After the the binary exectable zip file downloads from the sloctl binaries and config folder, you will need to place the file in the appropriate system path.
• The Mac operating system occasionally requires file permissions. When this happens, give the file executable permission.
2. Double-click the executable zip file to extract it to your Downloads folder.
3. Open Terminal and enter the following commands:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo cp ~/Downloads/sloctl /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/sloctl
open /usr/local/bin

4. The last open command above will navigate to the bin folder in Finder.
5. Right-click sloctl in the Finder window and select Open.
Open is not the default option when the security modal pops up. Selecting Open authorizes the sloctl binary on your Mac.

Windows

1. Download binary executable zip file from the sloctl releases page and extract it. If you are not an admin, create a nobl9 folder in your user directory.
2. Create the directory C:\Program Files\nobl9
3. Copy the sloctl.exe file from the folder you unzipped to the nobl9 folder you just created in your user directory.

Add .exe Directory to the System Path Variable.

1. Navigate to Control Panel > System and Security > System and click Advanced system settings.
2. Click the Advanced tab in the System Properties page, and click Environment Variables.
3. Navigate to User variables for username section, and select Path
4. Navigate to System Variables and select Path (If you only have access to the user variables then make the update there.)
5. Click Edit.
6. Add the directory where you placed the file (C:\Program Files\nobl9).
7. Click OK

Linux

1. Download the appropriate binary executable zip file from sloctl release pages.
2. Extract the binary file to: /usr/local/bin.
3. The Linux operating system occasionally requires file permissions. When this happens, give the file executable permission.
4. After the the binary exectable zip file downloads from the sloctl binaries and config folder, you will need to place the file in the appropriate system path.
5. Extract the zip file containing sloctl using your file manager or unzip sloctl-linux-*.zip.
6. Put sloctl in one of the locations that are in your $PATH - e.g. /usr/local/bin/ or ~/.local/bin. Open your Terminal and run:
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 ~/Downloads/sloctl /usr/local/bin/sloctl
7. Finally, type sloctl to run the program.

Configuration

Follow these steps to configure your sloctl connection:

1. Create a Client ID and Client Secret pair for use in sloctl:

   • Navigate to Settings > Access Keys in the web UI.

   • Click Create Access Key.

   tip

   You can retrieve Agents' client_id and client_secret through the sloctl get agents -k command. See below for details.

   note

   You can retrieve your Organization ID in the Nobl9 UI, in the Settings > Account:

   

2. Follow the instructions in the UI to configure sloctl to use the provided credentials. Use one of the available setup flows:

   • Method 1:
     Click Download credentials file in the web UI, and put the downloaded file in ~/.config/nobl9/config.toml (Linux and macOS) or %UserProfile%\.config\nobl9\config.toml (Windows).

   • Method 2:
     Run sloctl add-context, name the context, and paste the Client ID and Client Secret from the web UI when prompted.

3. Test the configuration by entering sloctl get slos into the command line.

note

If there are no SLOs created in your account or in the selected project, you might see this message: No resources found in default project. This indicates that the configuration is correct; if it’s not, the command will return a 401 error.

Summary of sloctl Commands

The following are the available commands in sloctl. When entered on the command line they should all be preceded by sloctl; for example, sloctl delete.

Command	Description
add-context	Add a new sloctl configuration context.
apply	Apply a resource definition in YAML or JSON format.
completion	Generate the autocompletion script for sloctl for the specified shell.
delete	Delete a resource definition (specified by name or definition file).
get	Display one or more resources.
help	Get help on any command.
use-context	Set the default context.
version	Print the sloctl version.

Common Objects

The following are the API objects that you can manipulate with sloctl using the different commands. For details about each object, see the YAML Guide.

Object arguments follow the [command] argument in the sloctl command line:

sloctl [command] [object]

For example:

sloctl get agents

Object	Description
agents	Provide a solution to metrics collection from external sources. In this solution, users deploy the agents.
alertmethods	Allow you to send alerts to specific notification engines or tools when an incident is triggered.
alertpolicies	Define a set of conditions that, when met, cause an alert to be a sent to a predefined list of integrations.
alertsilences	Silence alerts for a defined period not to receive notifications when an alert event is triggered.
alerts	Allow notifications to be sent about SLOs when certain conditions are met.
dataexports	Define a configuration to export your data from Nobl9.
directs	Provide a SaaS solution to metrics collection from external sources.
projects	Serve as workspaces for resources and provide a layer of isolation for resources in different projects.
rolebindings	Assign a user the permissions indicated in a role.
services	Serve as high-level groupings of SLOs.
slos	Define a set of target values for an SLO.

caution

If you are using a sloctl version older than 0.0.56, you will not be able to use the kind: Project or kind: RoleBinding.

Flags

Common flags pass data to a command or parameter:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-h	--help	Get help.
-o	--output string	Specify the output format: one of `yaml

Certain sloctl commands accept other flags. Global flags define the scope of the current command, such as the project, context, or location of the configuration file:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-A	--all-projects	Display the objects from all of the projects.
	--config string	Specify the path to the config file (without this flag, sloctl checks in %UserProfile%\.config\nobl9\config.toml on Windows and ~/.config/nobl9/config.toml on other operating systems).
-c	--context string	Override the default context for the duration of the command.
-p	--project string	Override the default project from the active context for the duration of the command.

sloctl image

Nobl9's sloctl image is published on Docker Hub. You can leverage it to integrate Nobl9 in the CI/CD pipelines.

Configuration

Follow these steps to use the sloctl image:

1. Pull the sloctl docker image by entering the following command:

docker pull nobl9/sloctl:latest

2. Test it by running the following:

docker run nobl9/sloctl:latest --help

note

sloctl is the entrypoint. As such, when entered on the command line, commands do not have to be preceded by sloctl, for example: docker run nobl9/sloctl:latest --help.

If you want to leverage the sloctl image for commands that require authentication:

• Download your config.toml file from the Nobl9 UI and follow the instructions described in the Configuration section.
• Move config.toml to a directory of your choice.
• Set the environment variable to the full path where your config.toml is located, for example:

  export N9_AUTH=‘/full/path/to/directory’

Use Cases

When you applied the authentication config file, you can test it by running docker run command with the -v flag for bind mounting the directory. The command should return all your SLOs.

docker run -v $N9_AUTH:/home/appuser/.config/nobl9 nobl9/sloctl:latest get slos

Note that sloctl is expecting to find your config file at /home/appuser/.config/nobl9 from within the container.

You can now run other sloctl commands with the same line by changing the sloctl command at the end, for example:

docker run -v $N9_AUTH:/home/appuser/.config/nobl9 nobl9/sloctl:latest <sloctl command>

For available command list, refer to the Command Reference section.

Command Reference

add-context

The add-context command adds a new sloctl configuration context.

A context in Nobl9 is a configuration you use to access the Nobl9 app with your user account. It is a set of access parameters that includes a Client ID, Client Secret, and a Project.

You can switch between different contexts depending on what Project you wish to work against in sloctl. For this see the use-context command below.

Usage:

  sloctl add-context

This is an interactive command that collects parameters in a wizard mode, as follows:

1. Set the context name.

   New context name: Enter the context name and press Enter

2. Set the Client ID. In the Nobl9 UI, the Client ID is generated by navigating to Settings > Access Keys > Create Access Key: Client ID:Enter the Client ID and press Enter

3. Set the Client Secret. Client Secret: Enter the Client Secret and press Enter

4. Set a default Project. The project can be overridden with the -p (--project) flag in any command. Project [default]: Enter the default project name and press Enter

5. Indicate whether the newly created context should be set as the default now.

   • Set '{context name from Step 1}' as a default context? [y/N]: Type y (for Yes) or n (for No) and press Enter.

   Note: Hitting Enter without selecting y or n defaults to No.

apply

The apply command commits your changes by sending the updates to the application.

Usage:

  sloctl apply [flags]

Examples:

• Apply the configuration from slo.yaml:

  sloctl apply -f ./slo.yaml

• Apply the YAML file to deploy the Agent:

  sloctl apply -f ./agent.yaml
  note

  You can deploy only one Agent in one YAML file.

• Apply resources from multiple different sources at once:

  sloctl apply -f ./slo.yaml -f test/config.yaml -f <<https://my-definition.com/slo.yaml>>

• Apply the YAML or JSON passed directly into stdin:

  cat slo.yaml | sloctl apply -f -

• Apply the configuration from slo.yaml and set the project if it is not defined in the file:

  sloctl apply -f ./slo.yaml -p slo

Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-f	--file string	Provide a file path or a URL to the configuration in YAML or JSON format. This option can be used multiple times.
-h	--help	Get help.
	--dry-run	Submits server-side request without persisting the configured resources.

note

When passed with the apply command, the --dry-run flag tests if your YAML definitions are correct. Note that currently, the command provides a basic validation of YAML definitions: it acts like an apply command without persisting the changes.

Global Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-A	--all-projects	Display the objects from all of the projects.
	--config string	Specify the path to the config file (without this flag, sloctl checks in %UserProfile%.config\nobl9\config.toml on Windows and ~/.config/nobl9/config.toml on other operating systems).
-c	--context string	Override the default context for the duration of the command.
-p	--project string	Override the default project from the active context for the duration of the command.

Available objects:

• agents, alertmethods, alertpolicies, alertsilences, alerts, annotations, dataexports, directs, projects, rolebindings, services, slos

Use sloctl apply [object] --help for more information about using the apply command with different objects.

When the specified changes have been applied successfully, you will see the following confirmation message:

sloctl apply -f ./samples/sample.yaml

Resources successfully created.

completion

The completion command generates the autocompletion script for sloctl for the specified shell.

Usage:

  sloctl completion [command]

Available commands

Command	Description
bash	Generate the autocompletion script for bash.
fish	Generate the autocompletion script for fish.
powershell	Generate the autocompletion script for PowerShell.
zsh	Generate the autocompletion script for zsh.

Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-h	--help	Get help.

Global Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-A	--all-projects	Display the objects from all of the projects.
	--config string	Specify the path to the config file (without this flag, sloctl checks in %UserProfile%\.config\nobl9\config.toml on Windows and ~/.config/nobl9/config.toml on other operating systems).
-c	--context string	Override the default context for the duration of the command.
-p	--project string	Override the default project from the active context for the duration of the command.

delete

The delete command allows users to delete different resources.

Usage:

  sloctl delete [flags]
  sloctl delete [command]

Examples:

• Delete the configuration from slo.yaml:

  sloctl delete -f ./slo.yaml

• Delete resources from multiple different sources at once:

  sloctl delete -f ./slo.yaml -f test/config.yaml -f <<https://my-definition.local/slo.yaml>>

• Delete the YAML or JSON passed directly into stdin:

  cat slo.yaml | sloctl delete -f -

• Delete specific resources by specifying their names:

  sloctl delete slo my-slo-name

• Delete the configuration from slo.yaml and set the project context if it is not defined in the file:

  sloctl delete -f ./slo.yaml -p slo

Available objects:

• agents, alertmethods, alertpolicies, alertsilences, alerts, annotations, dataexports, directs, projects, rolebindings, services, slos

For details, see Common Objects.

Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-f	--file string	Provide a file path or a URL to the configuration in YAML or JSON format. This option can be used multiple times.
-h	--help	Get help.
	--dry-run	Submits server-side request without persisting the configured resources.

note

When passed with the delete command, the --dry-run flag tests if your YAML definitions are correct. Note that currently, the command provides a basic validation of YAML definitions: it acts like a delete command without persisting the changes.

Global Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-A	--all-projects	Display the objects from all of the projects.
	--config string	Specify the path to the config file (without this flag, sloctl checks in %UserProfile%\.config\nobl9\config.toml on Windows and ~/.config/nobl9/config.toml on other operating systems).
-c	--context string	Override the default context for the duration of the command.
-p	--project string	Override the default project from the active context for the duration of the command.

Use sloctl delete [object] --help for more information about using the delete command with different objects.

When the specified objects have been deleted successfully, sloctl shows the following confirmation message:

sloctl delete -f example.yaml

The resources were successfully deleted.

get

The get command prints a table of the most important information about the specified resources.

Usage:

  sloctl get [object]

Available objects:

• agents,
• alertmethods,
• alertpolicies,
• alertsilences,
• alerts,
• annotations,
• dataexports,
• directs,
• projects,
• rolebindings,
• services,
• slos

For details, see Common Objects.

Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-h	--help	Get help.
-k	--with-keys	Display client_secret and client_id (available only for sloctl get agents).
-l	--labels	Filter resources by label. For example: key=value,key2=value2,key2=value3.
-o	--output string	Specify the output format: one of `table

Global Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-A	--all-projects	Display the objects from all of the projects.
	--config string	Specify the path to the config file (without this flag, sloctl checks in %UserProfile%\.config\nobl9\config.toml on Windows and ~/.config/nobl9/config.toml on other operating systems).
-c	--context string	Override the default context for the duration of the command.
-p	--project string	Override the default project from the active context for the duration of the command.

Use sloctl get [object] --help for more information about using the get command with different objects.

Notes:

• If there are no objects of the given type associated with the given project, sloctl returns the following message:

  sloctl get slo
  
  No resources found in 'default' project.

• If a user provides a valid type (e.g., slo) without a mandatory name, sloctl returns a list of objects:

  sloctl get slo
  
  - apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
    kind: SLO
    metadata:
      name: streaming-slo
      project: default
    spec:
      ...
  - apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
    kind: SLO
    metadata:
      name: streaming-other-slo
      project: default
    spec:
      ...

• If a user provides an object type and name, sloctl returns only the specific object:

  sloctl get slo streaming-other-slo
  
  - apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
    kind: SLO
    metadata:
      displayName: Streaming Other
      name: streaming-other-slo
      project: default
    spec:
      alertPolicies:
      - budget-is-burning-too-fast
      budgetingMethod: Occurrences
      description: ""
      indicator:
        metricSource:
          kind: Agent
          name: prometheus-source
          project: default
        rawMetric:
          prometheus:
            promql: cpu_usage_user{cpu="cpu-total"}
      objectives:
      - displayName: Good
        op: lte
        tag: default.streaming-other-slo.100d000000
        target: 0.9
        value: 100
      - displayName: Poor
        op: lte
        tag: default.streaming-other-slo.200d000000
        target: 0.99
        value: 200
      service: webapp-service
      timeWindows:
      - count: 7
        isRolling: true
        period:
          begin: "2021-04-28T13:09:35Z"
          end: "2021-05-05T13:09:35Z"
        unit: Day

• It is possible to pass multiple names, space-separated:

  sloctl get slo streaming-other-slo streaming-latency-slo

• It is possible to combine flags. For instance, if you'd like to retrieve Agents' secrets for all projects, you can use the following command:

  sloctl get agents -Ak

• The -k flag works only with the sloctl get agents command. It retrives client_id and client_secret for all Agents in the default project. If you want to retrieve client_id and client_secret for all Agents in your Organization, use the -A flag as follows: sloctl get agents -Ak.

  caution

  To get client_id and client_secret, Nobl9 sends a request for every Agent in your Organization. It means that every additional Nobl9 Agent in your organization increases the waiting time for a response from sloctl.

  To reduce the waiting time, we recommend specifying in your sloctl command Agents' names for which you want to retrieve the client_id and client_secret, for example:

  sloctl get agents my-agent1 my-agent2

help (Start Screen)

sloctl
sloctl -h
sloctl --help

Use this tool to work with definitions of SLOs in YAML files. For a list of commands available for execution, see Summary of sloctl Commands above.

For each command, more detailed help is available: use sloctl [command] --help for more information about a command.

Usage:

sloctl [command] --help

Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-h	--help	Get help.

Global flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-A	--all-projects	Display the objects from all of the projects.
	--config string	Specify the path to the config file (without this flag, sloctl checks in %UserProfile%\.config\nobl9\config.toml on Windows and ~/.config/nobl9/config.toml on other operating systems).
-c	--context string	Override the default context for the duration of the command.
-p	--project string	Override the default project from the active context for the duration of the command.

use-context

You can define multiple contexts in sloctl, and the use-context command allows you to choose the default context. It is helpful if the user belongs to multiple organizations or wants to switch between different default projects.

Also see the add-context command above.

Usage:

The use-context command sets the default context for sloctl.

  sloctl use-context [context-name] # non-interactive mode
  sloctl use-context # interactive mode

When sloctl use-context is used in interactive mode and some contexts are already defined, the user is asked to select a context from the list (by typing its name at the prompt):

sloctl use-context
    Select the default context from the existing contexts [prod, staging, dev]:

When no contexts have been defined yet, sloctl returns the following error:

  Error: You don't have any contexts in the current configuration file.
  Add at least one context in the current configuration file and then set it as the default.
  Run 'sloctl add-context' or indicate the path to the file using flag '--config'.

Flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-h	--help	Get help.

Global flags:

Flag	Long Form	Description
-A	--all-projects	Display the objects from all of the projects.
	--config string	Specify the path to the config file (without this flag, sloctl checks in %UserProfile%\.config\nobl9\config.toml on Windows and ~/.config/nobl9/config.toml on other operating systems).
-c	--context string	Override the default context for the duration of the command.
-p	--project string	Override the default project from the active context for the duration of the command.

version

The version command prints the installed version of sloctl.

Usage:

  sloctl version

The output includes the system architecture. For example:

sloctl/0.0.50-HEAD-bc7ec082 (linux amd64 go1.16.3)

Common Errors/Warnings

The following are common errors/warnings that users may experience:

• When a user applies a default context that does not exist:

  sloctl use-context not-existing-context
  
  Error: There is no such context: 'not-existing-context'.  Please enter the correct name.

• When a user wants to add a context that already exists:

  sloctl add-context
  New context name: local
  
  Context 'local' is already in the configuration file.
  Do you want to overwrite it? [y/N]:

  If the user answers n (for No), the following message is shown:

  Please try to add a new context with a different name.

• When a context is configured with incorrect credentials, as in:

  (config.toml context)

  defaultContext = "local"
  
  [Contexts]
     [Contexts.local]
         clientId = "xyz"
         clientSecret = "xyz"

  and a user wants to invoke any command:

  Error: error getting new access token from the customer identity provider: cannot access the token, customer identity provider replied with 401 {"errorCode":"invalid_client","errorSummary":"Invalid value for 'client_id' parameter.","errorLink":"invalid_client","errorId":"oaejFe6MwoIRo200IuIj7Hp1g","errorCauses":[]}

• When a user provides a path to an invalid file:

  sloctl apply -f xyz.yaml
  
  Error: error while reading provided file: open xyz.yaml: no such file or directory

• When a user provides an invalid context name:

  sloctl add-context
  New context name: ^
  
  Error: Enter a valid context name. Use letters, numbers, and `-` characters.

Use Cases of SLO Configurations

For detailed examples of how to create SLOs for sample services using sloctl, refer to the Getting Started Guide.

Deprecated

With the 0.0.58 release, kind: Integration has been deprecated and kind: AlertMethod has been introduced instead.

During the transition period, users can still apply their YAML files that use kind: Integration. Nobl9 will no longer return it but will return an AlertMethod instead. The sloctl get command will not return any results for integrations.

Useful Links

sloctl Releases page