This section describes several ways to interact with your containerized Community Edition InterSystems IRIS instance. The first step after connecting is to secure your instance by changing the instance’s default passwords.
Interact with InterSystems IRIS
Several ways to interact with your containerized InterSystems IRIS instance are listed in the following. The ones you’ll use depend on what InterSystems IRIS features you want to explore. For detailed information about using a containerized InterSystems IRIS instance, see Running InterSystems Products in ContainersOpens in a new tab.
Note:
If you are using InterSystems IRIS on a GCP cloud node and receive an error message when you use the iris or docker commands described in the following, see the Note in Change the Default Passwords.
Interacting from the Shell
At the shell prompt on a cloud node only, you can
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Use the special iris utility, which along with iris password includes the following commands:
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iris status to display the status of the InterSystems IRIS instance.
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iris info to show information about connecting to the instance.
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iris load to load data into the instance from a specified GitHub repo.
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iris help to list the above commands.
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Review the Docker compose file that was used to create the InterSystems IRIS container, located at /opt/ISC/docker-compose.yml.
At the shell prompt on any system hosting the InterSystems IRIS container, cloud node or otherwise, you can
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See how containerization makes upgrades a snap by exploring the instance-specific dataOpens in a new tab stored outside the InterSystems IRIS container.
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On the cloud node’s file system, it is in /ISC/dur.
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On the system hosting the container you ran from the downloaded image, it is on the volume you specified with the --volume option, in the directory you specified in the ISC_DATA_DIRECTORY environment variable. For example, suppose your docker run command included these options:
--volume /home/user/iris_external:/external
--env ISC_DATA_DIRECTORY=/external/dur
In this case, the instance-specific data would be located in /home/user/iris_external/dur outside the container and /external/dur inside the container.
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Issue Docker commands, including the following docker execOpens in a new tab command to open a shell within the InterSystems IRIS container, which is called iris. (The -i option makes the command interactive and -t allocates a text terminal.)
docker exec -it iris bash
Using the container command line you can interact directly with the containerized InterSystems IRIS instance, as described in the next section, and also explore the instance’s installation directory structure.
Interact Using the InterSystems Terminal
Open a shell within the container using docker exec -it iris bash as described in the previous section, then execute the InterSystems IRIS iris commandOpens in a new tab to connect to and manage the instance using the InterSystems TerminalOpens in a new tab. For example, to open a Terminal session for the instance (which is called IRIS), issue the commandiris terminal IRIS. You can also do this directly from the container host’s shell with the command docker exec -it iris iris terminal IRIS.
Note:
As described in Ownership and DirectoriesOpens in a new tab in Running InterSystems Products in Containers, commands issued from outside an InterSystems IRIS container using docker exec are executed inside the container as irisowner, and therefore do not require authentication. For this reason, you can use the commands cited above to open the InterSystems Terminal for the instance without being prompted for credentials.
You can also open the InterSystems IRIS SQL ShellOpens in a new tab by logging in as sqluser/sqluser.
Interact Using the Management Portal
To open the Management Portal for your Community Edition instance, load this URL in your browser.
http://host-IP:52773/csp/sys/UtilHome.csp
where host-IP is the IP address of the cloud node or other system hosting the container, for example http://35.192.00.154:52773/csp/sys/UtilHome.csp. 52773 is the default web server port, and this URL assumes it was published to the host as the same port. The specific link for your cloud node instance is shown when you connect to a cloud node using SSH, and you can display it at any time using the iris info command in the shell. If the container is running on your local system, you can use 127.0.0.1 or localhost in place of host-IP. If you published another host port for 52773 when you started the container, for example --publish 99999:52773, you need to use that host port instead, for example http://localhost:99999/csp/sys/UtilHome.csp.
When the portal opens, log in using _SYSTEM or one of the other predefined account usernames and
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If you changed the default passwords using the iris password command or another method, the new password you provided.
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If you have not yet changed the default passwords, and it is your first login to this user account, the default password SYS. You are immediately prompted to change it for that account, and should change it for the other predefined accounts as soon as possible.
The Management PortalOpens in a new tab is the comprehensive web-based user interface to an InterSystems IRIS instance. Load it in your browser to configure and manage the instance and to access the InterSystems IRIS data platform features you are interested in. For example, you can create a custom namespace and databaseOpens in a new tab, create resources, roles, and users for authorizationOpens in a new tab and manage other InterSystems IRIS security and encryptionOpens in a new tab features, and configure connectivity, national language supportOpens in a new tab, and other settings. You can also explore the pages used to create and manage interoperability productionsOpens in a new tab, and use the System ExplorerOpens in a new tab page to examine tables, views, and stored procedures on the instance, execute SQL queries and review query plans, and review the code on the instance and the globals that provide direct programmatic access to its data. You might want to search the documentationOpens in a new tab to review everything InterSystems IRIS has to offer on a topic of interest to you.
Connect an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
To connect an IDE to your Community Edition instance, you’ll need some or all of the following information:
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The hostname or external IP address of the container’s host (as in the Management Portal link).
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The host port the instance’s superserver port, 1972, was published to.
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Credentials to log in to the instance, either one of the predefined account usernames with the default or new password as explained above for the Management Portal, or a new user account you have created using the Management Portal.
You can use a variety of IDEsOpens in a new tab to develop InterSystems ObjectScript, Python, .NET, Java, JavaScript, and Node.js code on your InterSystems IRIS instance.