Managing Shells

Note: The procedures in this article apply to 2nd Gen Shells, unless stated otherwise. For information about 1st Gen Shells, contact CloudShell Support.

This article explains how to add, update and remove Shells from CloudShell. Note that Shell management operations are performed by system administrators in the Global domain. For additional information, see Shells Overview.

In this article:

• Viewing Shells
• Importing Shells
• Adding custom attributes to a Shell
• Updating Shells
• Downloading Shells from CloudShell
• Deleting Shells

Viewing Shells

The Shells page is only displayed for system administrators in the Global domain.

To view Shells:

1. As system administrator, access the Global domain.

2. In the Manage dashboard, in the left sidebar, click Shells.

   The Shells page is displayed.
   

You can use the toolbar to only display official Quali shells, sort the Shells according to Name or date of modification, and filter them according to Shell Type.

Importing Shells

To import a new Shell into CloudShell:

1. Make sure you have the Shell's ZIP file.

   To download a compatible Shell from the Shell repository, click Get More Shells and download the relevant Shell labeled “2nd Gen”.

   Note: To import a 1st Gen Shell, see Import a Blueprint Package into CloudShell.

2. Click Import.

   A dialog box is displayed.

3. In the dialog box, navigate to the Shell's ZIP file, select it and click Open.

   The Shell is displayed in the Shells page and can be used by domain administrators in all CloudShell domains to create new inventory resources, as explained in Adding Inventory Resources.

   Note: If you are planning on running CloudShell in offline mode, and the Shell has dependencies, make sure to update the dependencies repository - see Updating Python Dependencies for Shells, Drivers and Scripts.

   Important: Python 3 automation requires Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2015 to be installed on the Execution Server(s).

Adding custom attributes to a Shell

This section explains how to add an attribute from the pool of global attributes to the Shell and set the attribute's defaults. Note that this capability applies to the Shell's root model and sub-models.

Note: Starting with CloudShell 9.1 GA, custom attributes you add to already installed service shells are defined as "user input". As such, when adding the service into the blueprint/sandbox diagram, these attributes will be displayed in the service's details form. In addition, when upgrading CloudShell to 9.1 or a later version, CloudShell will set these attributes as user input.

To add a custom attribute to a Shell:

1. Click the Shell's row or menu button and select Details/Edit.

   The Details/Edit Resource dialog box is displayed.

2. Click the Add Custom Attribute link at the bottom.

   A New Attribute is added to the list of attributes.

3. Select the Attribute Name.
4. Select the Model Name that will contain the attribute.
5. Optionally specify a Default Value.
6. (For Lookup attributes) Use the Restricted Values field to optionally determine the attribute's possible values in this resource.

Updating Shells

Shell update overrides that existing Shell's settings with the new Shell.

To update a Shell:

1. Click the Shell's menu button and select Update.

   A dialog box is displayed.

2. In the dialog box, navigate to the updated Shell's ZIP file, select it and click Open.

   Note: If you are planning on running CloudShell in offline mode, and the Shell has dependencies, make sure to update the dependencies repository - see Updating Python Dependencies for Shells, Drivers and Scripts.

Downloading Shells from CloudShell

CloudShell enables you to download Shells from the Shells page. This can be useful if you or a developer in your organization wants to make changes or updates to a specific Shell, as explained in the CloudShell Developer Guide. You can then update the existing Shell in CloudShell with the updated one.

To download a Shell from CloudShell:

1. Click the Shell's menu button and select Download.

   Depending on your web browser, a dialog box prompting you to save the Shell's ZIP file or a "downloading" indication is displayed.

2. Save the file.

Deleting Shells

Shells that have inventory resources cannot be deleted.

Note: To delete a 1st Gen Shell, you must use the DeleteResourceTemplate method in the TestShell API.

To delete Shells:

• Click the Shell's menu button and select Remove.

  If the Shell cannot be deleted, an error message is displayed, prompting you to download a CSV file.

  

  The file lists the Shell's dependencies that need to be removed before deleting the Shell, and contains the following details:

  Entity Name	Names of the elements in CloudShell
  Entity Type	Type of elements (Resource, Service, App, Abstract Resource, Abstract Template)
  Blueprint Names	Names of the blueprints containing the elements
  Blueprint Template Names	Names of the blueprint templates containing the elements
  Sandbox Names	Names of sandboxes containing the elements

Related Topics

• Adding Inventory Resources