Access HCP Boundary

You can access your HCP Boundary cluster through the Boundary web UI using a browser or Command Line Interface (CLI) using the installed Boundary binary.

Before you can use the Boundary CLI, you must complete the initial setup using the Boundary web UI. In this tutorial series you will use the Manual setup wizard to have a better understanding of how Boundary is organized.

Prerequisites

• An HCP account to complete this tutorial.
• Boundary is installed.

Boundary UI

1. From the HCP Portal's Boundary page, click Open Admin UI - a new page will open.

2. Enter the admin username and password you created when you deployed the new instance and click Authenticate.

   You are now logged into your HCP Boundary instance via the web UI and presented with the Boundary setup wizard.

   Note

   The setup wizard can create sample resources for quick testing by providing a target ID and connection port. This tutorial illustrates the process of setting up Boundary projects and targets manually to show new users around the UI. To use the setup wizard instead, enter a test target's public IP address and TCP connection port, such as 18.206.227.218 and 22 if using SSH.

3. Click Do this later.

4. Click New.

5. In the Name field enter quick-start-org and click Save.

   You are now authenticated to your HCP Boundary instance's Global scope via the web UI. This is the default scope for all new Boundary clusters.

6. The Org Settings page includes the Name of the org, an optional Description, and the org ID (highlighted).

   ID's are an important concept to understand in Boundary. Each resource in Boundary is identified by an ID. ID's are commonly referenced when managing your Boundary instance, or connecting to Boundary resources. These additional resources will be covered throughout the Getting Started series.

Boundary CLI

1. From the Boundary web UI, click the org menu and select quick-start-org.

2. Click Org Settings.

3. Copy the org ID by clicking the copy icon.

4. Switch to your terminal and export a environment variable for the org ID.

   $ export ORG_ID=<actual-org-id>
   

5. Click Orgs in the left navigation menu to return to the global scope.

   Note

   You can verify the active org in the Boundary UI by the org pull down menu.

6. Click Auth Methods and copy the Password auth method ID.

7. Open your terminal and set an environment variable named BOUNDARY_AUTH_METHOD_ID to the copied ID.

   $ export BOUNDARY_AUTH_METHOD_ID=<actual-auth-id>
   

8. Close the Boundary web UI.

9. Return to the HCP Portal Boundary page and click the copy icon for the Cluster URL in the Getting started with Boundary section.

10. In your terminal, set the BOUNDARY_ADDR environment variable to the copied URL.

    $ export BOUNDARY_ADDR=<actual-boundary-address>
    

11. Log in with the administrator credentials you created when you deployed the HCP Boundary instance. When prompted, enter the administrator username and password you selected when creating your Boundary instance.

    $ boundary authenticate
    Please enter the login name (it will be hidden):
    Please enter the password (it will be hidden):
    Authentication information:
      Account ID:      acctpw_VOeNSFX8pQ
      Auth Method ID:  ampw_wxzojlKJLN
      Expiration Time: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 12:35:32 MST
      User ID:         u_1vUkf5fPs9
    The token was successfully stored in the chosen keyring and is not displayed here.
    

You are now logged into your HCP Boundary instance's Global scope via the CLI. This is the default scope for all new Boundary clusters.

Next steps

Now that you have authenticated to the HCP Boundary instance, you are ready to setup and connect to your first target.