Quickstart Guide

After Installing Exosphere, you can quickly get started by following this guide and adapting the simple scenario it presents to your needs.

Create the Configuration File

$ exosphere config paths

Create config.yaml in the Config directory shown here.

Tip

You can also use config.toml or config.json if you prefer those formats. See the The Configuration File page for more details.

Basic configuration

# Username for SSH connections, optional
# If not specified, the current user will be used
options:
  default_username: admin

# Hosts to manage
hosts:
- name: dbhost1
  ip: dbhost1.example.com
  description: Database Server
- name: web1
  ip: web1.example.com
  description: Frontend Web Server
- name: fileserver
  ip: 192.168.0.28 # ip is fine too
  port: 2222       # Optional port if not 22
  username: alice  # This one has a special login
  # description is optional

Note

This assumes your private keys are loaded in your SSH agent. See Connections and Privileges for more details.

Run Exosphere

$ exosphere

At the exosphere prompt, you can run commands to manage your hosts.

Discover Hosts

exosphere> inventory discover

This will detect the platform and package manager for each host. It only needs to be done once, or if something changes on the host.

Refresh Updates

exosphere> inventory refresh

This will retrieve the available updates and patches for each host.

View Status and Host Details

exosphere> inventory status
exosphere> host show hostname

There you go! You are now set up with a basic Exosphere configuration and can aggregate your updates all in one place.

Next Steps

To go further, you can explore the various commands in the Command Line Interface (CLI) or start the full Text User Interface (TUI) for a more interactive experience:

$ exosphere ui start

Tip

For more advanced configuration options, authentication details, and troubleshooting, see the full The Configuration File and Connections and Privileges documentation.