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Introduction

Overview

The pan-scm-cli is a command-line interface tool designed to simplify interactions with Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager (SCM). It provides a consistent and intuitive way to manage SCM configurations directly from your terminal, allowing for efficient management of security objects and policies.

Why Use pan-scm-cli?

Manually managing configurations in the SCM web interface can be time-consuming and prone to errors. The CLI provides a streamlined way to automate these tasks, ensuring consistency and efficiency. It's especially valuable for:

  • Bulk operations that would be tedious to perform in the web interface
  • Integrating SCM management into scripts and automation workflows
  • Consistent application of configuration changes across multiple environments

Key Features

  • Consistent Command Structure: Standardized command patterns for easy learning and usage
  • Resource Management: Create, update, delete, and list SCM objects using simple commands
  • Bulk Operations: Apply configurations from YAML files for efficient batch processing
  • Validated Input: Built-in validation ensures configurations are properly formatted
  • Error Handling: Clear error messages to help identify and resolve issues
  • Dry Run Mode: Preview changes before applying them to your environment

Command Structure

Commands in pan-scm-cli follow a consistent structure:

scm-cli <action> <resource-type> <resource> [options]

Where:

  • <action>: The operation to perform (set, delete, load)
  • <resource-type>: The category of resource (objects, deployment, network, security)
  • <resource>: The specific resource type (address, address-group, zone, etc.)
  • [options]: Resource-specific parameters and global options

Who Should Use This CLI?

  • Network Engineers looking to automate configuration tasks
  • Security Professionals managing SCM deployments
  • DevOps Teams integrating SCM into deployment workflows
  • Automation Engineers building scripts that interact with SCM

Getting Help

  • Documentation: Explore the CLI Reference for detailed command information
  • GitHub Repository: Visit the pan-scm-cli GitHub repository for source code and issue tracking
  • Help Command: Use scm-cli --help or scm-cli <command> --help for command-specific assistance

Next Steps

Proceed to the Getting Started Guide to set up pan-scm-cli and begin managing your SCM configurations.