Getting Started

Getting Started with the Nirmata CLI

The Nirmata CLI is available on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Downloading the CLI and amored ASCII (asc) file

Download the latest stable release of the Nirmata CLI binary.

Set the NCTL_VERSION environment variable to the version of nctl you want to download. For example, if the latest version is 3.3.9

export NCTL_VERSION=3.3.9

Linux

curl -LO https://nirmata-downloads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/nctl/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION\_linux_64-bit.zip
curl -LO https://nirmata-downloads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/nctl/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION\_linux_64-bit.zip.asc

MacOS

For ARM processors:

curl -LO https://nirmata-downloads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/nctl/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION\_macos_64-bit.zip
curl -LO https://nirmata-downloads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/nctl/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION\_macos_64-bit.zip.asc

For x86 processors:

curl -LO https://nirmata-downloads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/nctl/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION\_macos-x86_64_64-bit.zip
curl -LO https://nirmata-downloads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/nctl/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION\_macos-x86_64_64-bit.zip.asc

Windows

curl -LO https://nirmata-downloads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/nctl/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION\_windows_64-bit.zip
curl -LO https://nirmata-downloads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/nctl/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION/nctl_$NCTL_VERSION\_windows_64-bit.zip.asc

Verify the Download

To verify the signature of a Nirmata download:

Download the Nirmata PGP key (see below)
Use gpg to verify the download integrity

export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)"
gpg --keyserver keys.openpgp.org --recv-key 7CEE8D12BCFE419B55A5D66A4F71AE57094A908B
gpg --batch --verify <ASC_FILE> <ARCHIVED_ZIP_FILE>

For a download with a valid signature, the above commands will show an output with a line:

gpg: Good signature from "Nirmata Security <security@nirmata.com>"

PGP Key

To secure communications and verify downloads, you can use the following PGP key. You can also fetch this key from the keys.openpgp.org key server with the ID 7CEE8D12BCFE419B55A5D66A4F71AE57094A908B.

key

Installing the CLI

nctl is a precompiled binary. It is distributed as a zip archive. After download, unzip the downloaded package. You can then set permissions and move the binary into a directory in your PATH.

unzip <ZIP_FILE>
chmod u+x nctl
sudo mv nctl /usr/local/bin/nctl

Test the installation using the command:

nctl version

Commands Description

At any time, to learn more about the commands and different arguments supported, refer to the help text. Here are a few examples.

nctl help
nctl clusters --help
nctl scan --help
nctl operator init --help

To interact with the Nirmata Policy Manager (NPM), you should first login to your account.

nctl login

Note: Enter the right URL, email address, and the API Key associated with your account. API Key can be generated by logging into the Nirmata account and go to the Settings -> Profile tab. On a sucessful login, you should see this line in the output - Validating user credentials...done!. The config is also written to ~/.nirmata/config

Upgrading the CLI

Upgrade nctl to stay up-to-date with the supported features, follow these steps:

Check the version of installed binary and compare with the latest stable release to see if an update is required:

nctl version

If the installed binary is out-dated, remove previous installation of nctl:

rm -rf /usr/local/bin/nctl

Delete the .asc and .zip file downloaded at the time of install.
Download the latest release of nctl binary and install it as described above in the installation instructions.
After installing, check the version of the newly installed binary:

nctl version

Uninstalling the CLI

Follow these steps to uninstall nctl:

Remove the installed nctl binary:

rm -rf /usr/local/bin/nctl

Remove the .asc and .zip file downloaded at the time of install.

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