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Getting Started

Getting Started

IBM Cloud® Databases for etcd is deprecated. As of 01 April 2025 you can't deploy new applications. Existing instances are supported until 15 October 2025. Any instances that still exist on that date will be deleted. For more information, see Deprecation of IBM Cloud® Databases for etcd.

This tutorial is a short introduction to using an IBM Cloud® Databases for etcd deployment.

Before you begin

  • You need to have an IBM Cloud account.
  • You also need a Databases for etcd deployment. You can provision one from the IBM Cloud catalog. Give your deployment a memorable name that appears in your account's Resource List.
  • Set the Root Password for your deployment.
  • Review the Getting to production documentation for general guidance on setting up a basic IBM Cloud® Databases for etcd deployment.

Connect with etcdctl

Download and install etcdctl, from the the coreos/etcd repository. Once it is installed, get the formatted connection strings from your deployment's Dashboard Overview, in Endpoints. The CLI tab contains information that a CLI client uses to make a connection to your deployment.

Endpoints panel
Endpoints panel

First, download (or save the contents of) the TLS certificate to a file and name the file with the TLS certificate name. Either save it to the location where you plan on running the etcdctl commands or remember where the file is saved so you can provide its full path to the environment variable.

Then, use the values in the Environment and Arguments fields to set up your environment so etcdctl can connect and issue commands on your deployment.

export ETCDCTL_API=3
export ETCDCTL_CACERT=b179a2b4-b76a-11e9-b9ae-c61492e0d24a
export ETCDCTL_ENDPOINTS=https://156ed317-3aea-4732-a8fd-349c2bb9d39c.bkvfu0nd0m8k95k94ujg.databases.appdomain.cloud:31220
export ETCDCTL_USER=root:password

You should now be able to use etcdctl to issue commands to your deployment, for example:

$ etcdctl put foo bar
OK
$ etcdctl get foo
foo
bar

Use etcd

A good way to get familiar with etcd is to play around with some of its features. This tutorial has a few quick examples on prefixes, transactions, leases, and watchers.

Expanded examples and features can be found in the etcd demo, and more general information on using etcd is in Interacting with etcd.

Prefixes

etcd stores key-values in a hierarchical system that allows you to store and retrieve information that is nested under layers of keys.

$ etcdctl put /foo-service/container1 examplename
OK

Use the --prefix option on the get command to query on the top-level directory.

$ etcdctl get --prefix /foo-service
/foo-service/container1
examplename

If adding more subdirectory keys and values, then the --prefix option returns all of them in the top-level directory.

$ etcdctl put /foo-service/container2 examplename2
OK
$ etcdctl put /foo-service/container3 examplename3
OK

$ etcdctl get --prefix /foo-service
/foo-service/container1
examplename
/foo-service/container2
examplename2
/foo-service/container3
examplename3

Transactions

Transactions take a series of etcd commands and apply them all as a single, atomic transaction. The txn command is broken into three parts.

  • Define the key you would like to modify and its value before modifying.
  • If the comparison is successful, enter the commands to run.
  • If the comparison is a failure, enter the commands to run.

If you use interactive mode, etcdctl txn -i, the session prompts for the parts.

$ etcdctl put key1 1
OK

$ etcdctl txn -i
# compares:
mod("key1") > "0"
# success requests (get, put, delete):
put key1 "overwrote-key1"
>
>
# failure requests (get, put, delete):
>
>
SUCCESS

OK

To check that the new value got assigned to the key,

etcdctl get key1
> key1
overwrote-key1

Leases

etcd3 uses leases to manage temporary keys. A lease is created with a time-to-live (TTL) and then attached to a key at creation. One lease can be used for multiple keys. When the TTL on the lease expires, it deletes all associated keys. To create a lease, use grant with a number of seconds for TTL.

$ etcdctl lease grant 500
lease 694d5cefe052b00d granted with TTL(500s)

Then, create a key/pair with the --lease option.

$ etcdctl put foo1 bar1 --lease=694d5cefe052b00d
OK

You can find out what keys are associated with a granted lease, along with the time remaining on the lease.

$ etcdctl lease timetolive 694d5cefe052b00d --keys
lease 694d5cefe052b00d granted with TTL(500s), remaining(377s), attached keys([foo1])

After the time on a lease expires, requesting the value of a key does not return anything. If you try to provision a key on a lease that has already expired, it returns an error.

$ etcdctl lease grant 10
lease 694d5cefe052b009 granted with TTL(10s)
$ etcdctl put foo1 bar1 --lease=694d5cefe052b009
Error:  etcdserver: requested lease not found

Watchers

Keep track of changes to keys by using the watch command. As an example, running etcdctl in one terminal window keeps the connection open and update with any changes to the key that it is watching. Updating the value of the key in a separate terminal displays in both terminals.

#Terminal 1
$ etcdctl put greeting 'Hello World'
>Hello World

#Terminal 2
$ etcdctl watch greeting

#Terminal 1
$ etcdctl put greeting 'Hello Watcher'
>Hello Watcher

#Terminal 2
> PUT
greeting
Hello Watcher

The connection is left open, and continues to watch that key for subsequent changes.

Next Steps

If you are just using etcd for the first time, it is a good idea to take a tour through the etcd documentation.

If you are planning to use Databases for etcd for your applications, check out Connecting an external application and Connecting an IBM Cloud application.

To ensure the stability of your applications and your database, check out High-Availability and Performance.