Before you begin

Before you can initialize your service instance, make sure that you have done the following:

1. Install the latest version of IBM Cloud CLI.

2. Install the latest Trusted Key Entry (TKE) CLI plug-in with the following command:

   ibmcloud plugin install tke
   

   If you have installed the TKE CLI plug-in, make sure to update your plug-in to the latest version with the following command:

   ibmcloud plugin update tke
   

3. Set the environment variable CLOUDTKEFILES on your workstation to specify the directory where you want to save master key part files and signature key files. The signature keys are used to sign TKE administrative commands. Make sure that the directory exists before you set the environment variable.

   • On the Linux operating system or macOS, add the following line to the .bash_profile file:

     export CLOUDTKEFILES=<path>
     

     For example, you can specify the path to /Users/tke-files.

   • On Windows, in Control Panel, type environment variable in the search box to locate the Environment Variables window. Create a CLOUDTKEFILES environment variable, set the value to the path for storing key files (For example, C:\users\tke-files), and restart your computer.

   The TKE_PRIVATE_ADDR environment variable is used to set the API endpoint URL both for public endpoint and private endpoint. If you want to use the public endpoint, unset the TKE_PRIVATE_ADDR environment variable or set the TKE_PRIVATE_ADDR environment variable as the public endpoint URL: https://tke.<region>.hs-crypto.cloud.ibm.com.

4. Log in to IBM Cloud with the CLI with the following command:

   ibmcloud login
   

   If you have multiple accounts, select the account that your service instance is created with. Make sure that you're logged in to the correct region and resource group where the service instance locates with the following command:

   ibmcloud target -r <region> -g <resource_group>
   

   To find out the regions that Hyper Protect Crypto Services supports, see Regions and locations.