NVUE CLI Overview

The NVUE CLI has a flat structure as opposed to a modal structure. This means that you can run all commands from the primary prompt instead of only in a specific mode.

Command Syntax

NVUE commands all begin with nv and fall into one of four syntax categories:

• Configuration (nv set and nv unset)

• Monitoring (nv show)

• Action commands (nv action) 

• Configuration management (nv config).

Command Completion

As you enter commands, you can get help with the valid keywords or options using the Tab key. For example, using Tab completion with nv set displays the possible options for the command and returns you to the command prompt to complete the command.

admin@nvos:~$ nv set <<press Tab>>
acl        interface  platform   system

Command Question Mark

You can type a question mark (?) after a command to display required information quickly and concisely. When you type ?, NVUE specifies the value type, range, and options with a brief description of each; for example:

admin@nvos:~$ nv set system config auto-save ?

    [Enter]               
    state                  Enable/Disable configuration automatic save feature

NVUE also indicates if you need to provide specific values for the command:

admin@nvos:~$ nv set interface ?
    <interface-id>         Interface (interface-name)

Command Abbreviation

NVUE supports command abbreviation, where you can type a certain number of characters instead of a whole command to speed up CLI interaction. For example, instead of typing nv show interface, you can type nv sh int.

If the command you type is ambiguous, NVUE shows the reason for the ambiguity so that you can correct the shortcut. For example:

admin@nvos:~$ nv s i 
Ambiguous Command: 
   set interface 
   show interface 

Command Help

As you enter commands, you can get help with command syntax by entering -h or --help at various points within a command entry. For example, to examine the options available for nv set interface, enter nv set interface -h or nv set interface --help.

admin@nvos:~$ nv set interface -h
usage: 
  nv [options] set interface <interface-id>

Description:
  interface             Update all interfaces. Provide single interface or multiple interfaces using ranging (e.g. sw1-2p1-2 -> sw1p1,sw1p2,sw2p1,sw2p2).

Identifiers:
  <interface-id>        Interface (interface-name)

General Options:
  -h, --help            Show help.

Command List

You can list all the NVUE commands by running nv list-commands.

Command History

At the command prompt, press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to move back and forth through the list of commands you entered. When you find a given command, you can run the command by pressing Enter. Optionally, you can modify the command before you run it.

Command Ranges

A single interface or multiple interfaces can be provided using a range such as sw1-2p1-2 -> sw1p1,sw1p2,sw2p1,sw2p2.

Example:

admin@nvos:~$ nv set interface sw1p1s1,sw1p1s2 description TEST
admin@nvos:~$ nv config diff
- set:
    interface:
      sw1p1s1-2:
        description: TEST
        type: nvl

admin@nvos:~$  nv set interface sw1p1-2s1 description TEST
admin@nvos:~$  nv config diff
- set:
    interface:
      sw1p1-2s1,sw2p1-2s1:
        description: TEST
        type: nvl

Command Categories

The NVUE CLI has a flat structure; however, the commands are in four functional categories:

• Configuration

• Monitoring

• Action

• Configuration Management

Configuration Commands

The NVUE configuration commands modify switch configuration. You can set and unset configuration options.

The nv set and nv unset commands are in the following categories. Each command group includes subcommands. Use command completion (press the Tab key) to list the subcommands.

Monitoring Commands

The NVUE monitoring commands show various parts of the network configuration. For example, you can show the complete network configuration or only interface configuration. The monitoring commands are in the following categories. Each command group includes subcommands. Use command completion (press the Tab key) to list the subcommands.

Additional options are available for the nv show commands. For example, you can choose the configuration you want to show (pending, applied, startup, or operational). You can also turn on colored output, and paginate specific output.

Action Commands

The NVUE action commands run immediate change in the switch.

The nv action  command is in the following categories. Each command group includes subcommands. Use command completion (Tab key) to list the subcommands.

Configuration Management Commands

The NVUE configuration management commands manage and apply configurations.

List All NVUE Commands

To show the full list of NVUE commands, run nv list-commands. For example:

admin@nvos:~$ nv list-commands
nv show platform environment
nv show platform environment fan
nv show platform environment fan <fan-id>
nv show platform environment temperature
nv show platform environment temperature <sensor-id>
nv show platform environment psu
nv show platform environment psu <psu-id>
nv show platform environment led
nv show platform environment led <led-id>
nv show platform software
nv show platform software installed
nv show platform software installed <installed-id>
...

You can show the list of commands for a command grouping. For example, to show the list of system commands:

admin@nvos:~$ nv list-commands system 
nv show system
nv show system message
nv show system log
nv show system log file
nv show system log file <file-name>
nv show system log file list
nv show system log file follow
nv show system log component
nv show system log component <component-name>
nv show system log component <component-name> file
nv show system log component <component-name> file list
nv show system log component <component-name> file follow
nv show system log component <component-name> file <file-name>
nv show system reboot
nv show system reboot reason
...

Use the Tab key to get help for the command lists you want to see. For example, to show the list of command options available for the interface eth0, run:

admin@nvos:~$ nv list-commands interface eth0 <<press Tab>>
ip      link    pluggable

Search for a Specific Configuration

To search for a specific portion of the NVUE configuration, run the nv config find <search string> command. The search shows all items above and below the search string. For example, to search the entire NVUE object model configuration for any mention of ptm:

admin@nvos:~$ nv config find system
 - set:
    system:
      aaa:
        authentication:
          restrictions:
            fail-delay: 0
            lockout-state: disabled
        user:
          admin:
            password: '*'
      timezone: Asia/Jerusalem

Clear Switch Configuration

Users can apply an empty configuration by running the following command:

admin@nvos:~$ nv config apply empty

The above clears the current configuration, essentially returning settings to default values.

Example Configuration Commands

This section provides examples of how to configure a NVOS switch using NVUE commands.

Configure the System Hostname

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to change the hostname for the switch to nvos:

admin@nvos:~$ nv set system hostname nvos
admin@nvos:~$ nv config apply

Configure an Interface

The example below shows the NVUE commands required to bring up sw1p1.

admin@nvos:~$ nv set interface sw1p1s1 link state up
admin@nvos:~$ nv config apply  

Example Monitoring Commands

This section provides monitoring command examples.

Show Installed Software

The following example command lists the software installed on the switch:

admin@nvos:~$ nv show platform software installed
Installed software                        description                                                                                   package                                   version
----------------------------------------  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  ----------------------------------------  ------------------------------
acl                                       access control list - utilities                                                               acl                                       2.2.53-10
adduser                                   add and remove users and groups                                                               adduser                                   3.118
apparmor                                  user-space parser utility for AppArmor                                                        apparmor                                  2.13.6-10
apt                                       commandline package manager                                                                   apt                                       2.2.4
apt-transport-https                       transitional package for https support                                                        apt-transport-https                       2.2.4
audisp-tacplus                            audisp module for TACACS+ accounting                                                          audisp-tacplus                            1.0.2
auditd                                    User space tools for security auditing                                                        auditd                                    1:3.0-2
base-files                                Debian base system miscellaneous files                                                        base-files                                11.1+deb11u3
base-passwd                               Debian base system master password and group files                                            base-passwd                               3.5.51
bash                                      GNU Bourne Again SHell                                                                        bash                                      5.1-2+b3
bash-completion                           programmable completion for the bash shell                                                    bash-completion                           1:2.11-2
bash-tacplus                              Bash TACACS+ plugin for per-command TACACS+ authorization.                                    bash-tacplus                              1.0.0
bridge-utils                              Utilities for configuring the Linux Ethernet bridge                                           bridge-utils                              1.7-1
bsdextrautils                             extra utilities from 4.4BSD-Lite                                                              bsdextrautils                             2.36.1-8+deb11u1
bsdmainutils                              Transitional package for more utilities from FreeBSD                                          bsdmainutils                              12.1.7+nmu3
bsdutils                                  basic utilities from 4.4BSD-Lite                                                              bsdutils                                  1:2.36.1-8+deb11u1
busybox                                   Tiny utilities for small and embedded systems                                                 busybox                                   1:1.30.1-6+b3
ca-certificates                           Common CA certificates                                                                        ca-certificates                           20210119 
...

Show Interface Configuration

The following example command shows the running, applied, and pending sw1p1s1 interface configuration.

admin@nvos::~$ nv show interface sw1p1s1
                      operational          applied  
--------------------  -------------------  --------
link                                                         
  auto-negotiate      on                   on          
  duplex                                   full       
  speed                                    auto         
  counters                                                   
    in-bytes          0 Bytes                                
    in-pkts           0                                      
    in-drops          0                                      
    in-errors         0                                      
    out-bytes         0 Bytes                                
    out-pkts          0                                      
    out-drops         0                                      
    out-errors        0                                      
    in-symbol-errors  0                                      
    out-wait          0                                      
  [diagnostics]                                              
  mtu                                      4096        
  op-vls                                   VL0-VL7 
  lanes                                    1X,2X,4X
  state               down                 up            
  supported-speed     800G                    
  max-supported-mtu   4096                                   
  physical-state      Polling                                
  logical-state       Down                                   
  supported-lanes     1X,2X,4X                               
  vl-capabilities     VL0-VL7                                                    
 type                 nvl                  nvl          

Reset NVUE Configuration to Default Values

To reset the NVUE configuration on the switch back to the default values, run the following command:

admin@nvos:~$ nv config replace /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cue_config_v1/initial.yaml
admin@nvos:~$ nv config apply

Add Configuration Apply Messages

When you run the nv config apply command, you can add a message that describes the configuration updates you make. You can see the message when you run the nv config history command.

To add a configuration apply message, run the nv config apply -m <message> command. If the message includes more than one word, enclose the message in quotes.

admin@nvos:~$ nv config apply -m "this is my message"

Configure Auto Save

By default, when you run the nv config apply command to apply a configuration setting, NVUE applies the pending configuration to become the applied configuration and automatically saves the changes to the startup configuration file (/etc/nvue.d/startup.yaml).

To disable auto save so that NVUE does not save applied configuration changes, run the nv set system config auto-save enable off command:

admin@nvos:~$ nv set system config auto-save enable off
admin@nvos:~$ nv config apply

When you disable auto save, you must run the nv config save command to save the applied configuration to the startup configuration so that the changes persist after a reboot.

Example Configuration Management Commands

This section provides examples of how to use the configuration management commands to apply, save, and detach configurations.

Apply and Save a Configuration

The following example command configures the front panel port interfaces sw1p1 state. The configuration is only in a pending configuration state. The configuration is not applied. NVUE has not yet made any changes to the running configuration.

admin@nvos:~$ nv set interface sw1p1s1 link state down

To apply the pending configuration to the running configuration, run the nv config apply command. The configuration does not persist after a reboot.

admin@nvos:~$ nv config apply

To save the applied configuration to the startup configuration, run the nv config save command. The configuration persists after a reboot.

admin@nvos:~$ nv config save

Detach a Pending Configuration

The following example configures the IP address of the eth0 interface, then detaches the configuration from the current pending configuration. NVOS saves the detached configuration to a file with a numerical value to distinguish it from other pending configurations.

admin@nvos:~$ nv set interface eth0 ip address 10.10.10.1
admin@nvos:~$ nv config detach

View Differences Between Configurations

To view differences between configurations, run the nv config diff command.

To view differences between two detached pending configurations, run the nv config diff «TAB» command to list all the current detached pending configurations, then run the nv config diff command with the pending configurations you want to diff:

admin@nvos:~$ nv config diff <<press Tab>> 
1        2        3        4        5        6        applied  empty    startup  
admin@nvos:~$ nv config diff 1 2
- set:
    system:
      security:
        password-hardening:
          state: disabled

To view differences between the applied configuration and the startup configuration:

admin@nvos:~$ nv config diff applied startup

Replace and Patch a Pending Configuration

The following example replaces the pending configuration with the contents of the YAML configuration file called nv-02/13/2021.yaml located in the /deps directory:

admin@nvos:~$ nv config replace /deps/nv-02/13/2021.yaml

The following example patches the pending configuration (runs the set or unset commands from the configuration in the nv-02/13/2021.yaml file located in the /deps directory):

admin@nvos:~$ nv config patch /deps/nv-02/13/2021.yaml

Passwords and Special Characters

If you use certain special characters in a password, you must quote or escape (with a backslash) these characters so that the system understands that they are part of the password.

The following table shows if you need to quote or escape a special character.

• Normal Use indicates that you can use the special character without quotes or a backslash.

• Single Quotes and Double Quotes indicate that the entire password needs to be enclosed in quotes.

1. Requires escape (\) in addition to the double quotes ("").

2. You cannot use this character at the beginning of a word.

3. A word cannot consist entirely of white space, even inside double quotes.

The following example shows a password that includes a question mark (?):

nvos@admin:~$ nv set system aaa user nvos password “Hello?world123”

The following example shows a password that includes a dot (.):

nvos@admin:~$ nv set system aaa user nvos password “Hello.world.123”

The following example shows a password that includes a dot (.) and tilde (~):

nvos@admin:~$ nv set system aaa user nvos password “Hello.world\~123”

You might need to encode special characters in a password, for example in a URL. The following table shows the special character encoding.

• ✓ indicates that encoding is not needed.

• %xx indicates that you need to replace the special character with %xx.

The following example fetches an image stored on a device with IP address 10.0.1.251 using the password Pass#pass1 for user1:

nvos@admin:~$ nv action fetch system image scp://user1:Pass1%23pass1@10.0.1.251/host/nos-images/nvos-amd64-25.02.1857.bin

Last updated: June 01, 2026