Introduction

Vultr CLI is a command line tool for using the Vultr API. It allows you to create and manage your virtual machines, SSH public keys, snapshots and startup scripts on your Vultr account. You can also use it to directly SSH into a Vultr virtual machine through the vultr ssh command.

Prerequisites

This tutorial assumes that you have access to an Centos 7 system, configured with a non-root user with sudo privileges as described in Initial Setup of a CentOS 7 Server.

Step 1 — Installing Go

Visit the official Go downloads page and find the URL for the current binary release's tarball, and make sure you're in your home directory, and use curl to retrieve the tarball:

cd ~
curl -O https://dl.google.com/go/go1.11.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Once the download is completed verify the tarball checksum with the sha256sum command:

sha256sum go1.11.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Compare the hash in your output to the checksum value on the Go download page.

be2a9382ef85792280951a78e789e8891ddb1df4ac718cd241ea9d977c85c683  go1.11.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Next, extract the tarball to the /usr/local directory:

sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.11.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Step 2 - Setting Go Paths

Open the etc/profile file using your favorite text editor, in this tutorial i will use nano for its simplicity:

sudo nano etc/profile

Append the following line:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin

Save and close the file.

To apply the changes, use the source command to reload the updated profiles:

source ~/.bash_profile

Step 3 - Installing Vultr CLI

Compile and install the source using go get:

go get github.com/JamesClonk/vultr

Export your Vultr API key into a VULTR_API_KEY env variable:

export VULTR_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY

You can get your API key from the members area (Account → Settings API).

Confirm that you have installed Vultr CLI correctly by running the following command:

vultr version

The output will look something like this:

Client version:         1.15.0
Vultr API endpoint:     https://api.vultr.com/
Vultr API version:      v1
OS/Arch (client):       linux/amd64
Go version:             go1.11.2

You are ready now to create and manage your virtual machines, SSH public keys, snapshots and startup scripts on your command line interface.

Usage Examples

List available plans for region:

vultr plans -r 9

Output:

VPSPLANID NAME                                VCPU  RAM   DISK  BANDWIDTH PRICE
30        1024 MB RAM,20 GB SSD,2.00 TB BW    1     1024  20    2.00      7.00
29        768 MB RAM,15 GB SSD,1.00 TB BW     1     768   15    1.00      5.00
3         2048 MB RAM,40 GB SSD,3.00 TB BW    2     2048  40    3.00      15.00
28        8192 MB RAM,120 GB SSD,5.00 TB BW   4     8192  120   5.00      70.00
27        4096 MB RAM,65 GB SSD,4.00 TB BW    2     4096  65    4.00      35.00

Create a new virtual machine:

vultr server create -n "nodejs-server" -r 9 -p 29 -o 127

Output:

Virtual machine create success!

SUBID           NAME            DCID    VPSPLANID       OSID
1685089         nodejs-server     9       29              127

Show information about virtual machine:

vultr server show 1685089

Output:

Id (SUBID):             1685089
Name:                   nodejs-server
Operating system:       CentOS 6 x64
Status:                 active
Power status:           running
Location:               Frankfurt
Region (DCID):          9
VCPU count:             1
RAM:                    768 MB
Disk:                   Virtual 15 GB
Allowed bandwidth:      1000
Current bandwidth:      0
Cost per month:         5.00
Pending charges:        0.01
Plan (VPSPLANID):       29
IP:                     107.62.131.240
Netmask:                255.255.254.0
Gateway:                107.62.131.1
Internal IP:
#1 IPv6 IP:
#1 IPv6 Network:        ::
#1 IPv6 Network Size:   0
Created date:           2018-10-08 12:36:36
Default password:       sbiecxo8yk!5
Auto backups:           no
KVM URL:                https://my.vultr.com/subs/vps/novnc/api.php?data=ILXS..