This article explains how to access the servers deployed by Nex!™. Depending on the setup of your environment (e.g. private infrastructure with VPN access) you may need to adapt these steps.

1 - SSH Access using the Nex!™ CLI (preferred)

Nex!™ comes with Command Line Interface (CLI) which can be obtained through rubygems. After installing ruby on your machine download the nex_client by running:

gem install nex_client

API Key

You need to get an API key to use the nex-cli. This API will usually be obtained by visiting the URL of the Nex!™ orchestrator.

You can then list all the servers (racks) used by Nex!™ by running:

nex-cli racks

And then SSH to one of them by running:

nex-cli racks:ssh < ip address | e.g. '10.0.1.15' >

VPN / Private environment

Note that depending on your infrastructure setup you may need to activate a VPN connection or first jump onto a jumpbox to access the private Nex!™ environment.

2 - SSH Access using plain SSH

The Nex!™ are likely to deployed inside a virtual private cloud or private on-premise environment. If you are trying to access a Nex!™ server using plain SSH you will certain to either activate a VPN connection or SSH through a jumpbox.

What you need:

A user on the destination box. If you are using the nex-cli and have obtained your API key a user should have been created for you. Nex!™ is currently linked to Github for SSO and using your Github handle as a user name for SSH. Otherwise you can use the box "root" user for administrative access (e.g. ubuntu user on when using AWS and Ubuntu images)
Your SSH private key. If you are using the nex-cli then a SSH private key will be generated for you and you should use the nex-cli for SSHing. If you are SSHing using the root user (e.g. ubuntu) then you should have the private key of this user with you.
The private IP address of the server you want to reach
(optional) the public IP address of the jumpbox if applicable

2.1 - Using a VPN and a direct connection to the rack

This step assumes that the Nex!™ environment is directly accessible after enabling your VPN connection.

# Configuration
IP_ADDRESS=10.0.1.15 # IP address of the rack you want to login to
SSH_USER=myuser # user to use to remotely login to the rack
SSH_KEY=/home/myuser/.ssh/id_rsa # path to your SSH private key

# SSH Command
ssh -i $SSH_KEY -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no $SSH_USER@$IP_ADDRESS

2.2 - Using an indirect connection through a jumpbox

This step assumes that your are accessing the Nex!™ environment through a jumpbox.

# Configuration
IP_ADDRESS=10.0.1.15 # IP address of the rack you want to login to
SSH_USER=myuser # user to use to remotely login to the rack
SSH_KEY=/home/myuser/.ssh/id_rsa # path to your SSH private key
JUMP_IP=54.1.1.1 # "publicly" accessible IP address of the jumpbox
JUMP_USER=myuser # user to use on the jumpbox
JUMP_KEY=/home/myuser/.ssh/id_rsa # key associated with the jumpbox user

# SSH Command
ssh -i $SSH_KEY \
	-o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null \
	-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no \
	-o "ProxyCommand ssh -W %h:%p -i ${JUMP_KEY} -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ${JUMP_USER}@${JUMP_IP}" \
	$SSH_USER@$IP_ADDRESS

3 - SSH Access through the Nex!™ console

The Nex!™ orchestrator uses SSH commands to configure and interact with the racks it manages (routing, compute, storage etc.). Therefore it is possible to run SSH commands to the Nex!™ racks directly from the Nex!™ console.

Login to one of the Nex!™ machines and enter the console

cd /app/nex/current
bundle exec rails c < environment | e.g 'production' >

Select a rack and perform SSH commands

# Find compute rack by ip address
rack = ComputeRack.find_by(private_ip_address: '10.0.1.15')

# Perform SSH command
rack.ssh("ls -al /tmp")
rack.ssh("sudo docker ps")

# SSH command with pretty output (console style)
puts rack.ssh("ls -al /tmp")[:stdout]

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