Configuration file

There is a lot of information about instances available in EC2 that can be displayed and what everyone wants to see is different. Much like the web console is customizable so is the claws application via a configuration file written in YAML.

Initialization

To initialize claws with a configuration file run the --init option:

claws --init

This will generate a configuration file in your home directory:

$HOME/.claws.yml

Properties

This file is certainly going to change over time but at present the default generated file looks like:

---
capistrano:
  home: 
ssh:
  user: 
aws:
  access_key_id: 
  secret_access_key: 
ec2:
  fields:
    id:
      width: 10
      title: ID
    name:
      width: 20
      title: Name
    status:
      width: 8
      title: Status
    dns_name:
      width: 42
      title: DNS Name
    instance_type:
      width: 13
      title: Instance Type
    public_ip_address:
      width: 16
      title: Public IP
    private_ip_address:
      width: 16
      title: Private IP
    tags:
      width: 30
      title: tags

To make claws really work all you have to do is enter you AWS credentials and the ssh user and you should be able to connect to the host you select.

Capistrano

Though not supported yet you will be able to enter the home directory of your projects capistrano configuration files. Once this is enabled you will be able to display and filter hosts by their defined environment and role.

SSH

• user - The username for ssh to use when connecting to the selected host

AWS

• access_key_id - An active access key id for your account
• secret_access_key - The secret access key that is generated when you generate and access key

You can find your credentials by logging in to your AWS account, clicking the My Account link in the upper right, and then selecting Security Credentials under the Account tab on the left.

Fields

This section has the most significant content because it controls what you want to see in the status table. From the example it is clear that you can enter the following in the fields stanza:

• field name - This is the amazon name of the field. Consult the ruby aws-sdk documentation for a list of all of the available methods that can be entered.
• width - The visible width in characters to display on the screen. The default width is 10 characters.
• title - This is an optional field that can used for a more readable column heading title.