Setting up CommandLine Environment for IBM® Bluemix® Container Service

Last week, I had gone through couple of steps to create an account (free - trial for 30 days) with IBM® Bluemix®, deploy my IBM Container (Docker based) and access my IBM Container running on Bluemix using Bluemix/CloudFoundry command line tools setup locally on my laptop. I have done it to prepare myself and also it's a kind of POC for upcoming project work. I've decided to share these steps so that other people in the same situation can benefit from it. Below are steps:

1. Make sure you have your IBM Container deployed and running on IBM Bluemix. If you don't have one follow the below sub steps:
• Create a free account with IBM Bluemix (https://console.ng.bluemix.net/)
• Once the account is created, you can create an IBM Container. See below quick steps:
• From left hand menu, click on "Containers"
• Then click on "Create Containers" link and follow the instruction.
  Note: you can select the container type from the available list or upload your own compatible container image. Below screen shot shows the container that I created:
  

  

  Running container

2. Now it's time to setup the command line tools on your local desktop. I have used the Fedora v24.x running as a virtual machine. 
• Download Bluemix_CLI_0.4.6_amd64.tar.gz from http://clis.ng.bluemix.net/ui/home.html and extract it to some directory:
  

  $>tar -xvzf ~/Downloads/Bluemix_CLI_0.4.6_amd64.tar.gz

• Among others files, you'll see  'install_bluemix_cli' executable file under /Bluemix_CLI
  

  $>sudo ./install_bluemix_cli

• Once it's installed, download CloudFoundry tool:
  

  $>sudo wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/cloudfoundry-cli.repo https://packages.cloudfoundry.org/fedora/cloudfoundry-cli.repo

• Install CloudFoundry CLI:
  

  $>sudo yum install cf-cli ... Installed: cf-cli.x86_64 0:6.26.0-1

• Check the version:
  

  $>cf -v cf version 6.23.1+a70deb3.2017-01-13

• Install the IBM Bluemix Container Service plug-in (cf ic) to use the native Docker CLI. More details about it can be found here.
  

  $>cf install-plugin https://static-ice.ng.bluemix.net/ibm-containers-linux_x64

• Verify the plugins:
  

  $>cf plugins Listing Installed Plugins... OK Plugin Name Version Command Name Command Help IBM-Containers 0.8.964 ic IBM Containers plug-in

3. It's time to login to CloudFoundry and run you container command to manage your container.
   
   • Login to Bluemix/CloudFoundry:
     

     $>cf login -a https://api.ng.bluemix.net Email> purna.poudel@gmail.com Password> Authenticating... OK

   • Login to Container:
     

     $> cf ic login Deleting old configuration file... Retrieving client certificates for IBM Containers... Storing client certificates in /home/osboxes/.ice/certs/... Storing client certificates in /home/osboxes/.ice/certs/containers-api.ng.bluemix.net/7b9e7846... OK The client certificates were retrieved. Checking local Docker configuration... OK Authenticating with the IBM Containers registry host registry.ng.bluemix.net... OK You are authenticated with the IBM Containers registry. ...

4. It's time to manage your Container(s) from your desktop using command line
   
   • Let's check our running Container process(es)
     

     $> cf ic ps  CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES d476a406-ba9 registry.ng.bluemix.net/ibmliberty:webProfile7 "" 2 days ago Running 169.46.21.44:9080->9080/tcp, 169.46.21.44:9443->9443/tcp sysgLibertyCont

   • Let's inspect the running Container
     

     $> cf ic inspect d476a406-ba9 [ { "BluemixApp": null, "BluemixServices": null, "Config": { "AttachStderr": false, "AttachStdin": false, "AttachStdout": false, "Cmd": [], "Dns": "", "Env": [ "logging_password=", "space_id=7b9e7846-0ec8-41da-83e6-209a02e1b14a", "logstash_target=logmet.opvis.bluemix.net:9091", "metrics_target=logmet.opvis.bluemix.net:9095" ], "Hostname": "instance-002eacfa", "Image": "registry.ng.bluemix.net/ibmliberty:webProfile7", "ImageArchitecture": "amd64", "Labels": { "doc.url": "/docs/images/docker_image_ibmliberty/ibmliberty_starter.html" }, "Memory": 256, "MemorySwap": "", ....

List of IBM Bluemix Container Service plug-in (cf ic) commands for managing containers are available at https://console.ng.bluemix.net/docs/containers/container_cli_reference_cfic.html


Looks like you're really into Docker, see my other related blog posts below:

• Using Docker Secrets with IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile Application Server
• Make your container deployment portable
• Experience sharing - Dock Datacenter
• Setting up CLI environment for IBM Bluemix (this post)
• Quick start with IBM Datapower Gateway Docker Edition