This guide covers the initial setup and verification of SambaRack Manager software, which initializes your configuration directory, generates encryption keys, and creates the necessary files.
The complete setup process is:
- Install SambaRack Manager software
- Initial setup and verification (this page)
- Add SambaRack to the SambaRack Manager inventory
- Configure device credentials in SambaRack Manager
Initial setup
Follow these steps to initialize and verify your SambaRack Manager configuration.
Step 1. Initialize configuration
Run the initialization command to set up snctl:
This interactive wizard prompts you for:
- Folder location (default:
~/.snctl): Where to store configuration files. This directory is created if it doesn’t exist.
- Service account (optional): Service account for GCS access.
- Logs location (optional): Where to store logs.
The initialization aborts if the provided folder location already contains configuration files.
.snctl/
├── config.yaml # Main configuration file
├── encryption.key # AES-GCM encryption key to encrypt secrets.json.enc
├── inventory.json # Your infrastructure inventory (empty initially)
├── logs/ # Logs directory
├── private_key.json # Private key for encrypting secrets during CLI operations
├── public_key.key # Public key for encrypting secrets during CLI operations
├── secrets.json.enc # Encrypted credentials (created with blank placeholders)
└── secrets.json.enc.lock # File lock for secrets file (created when accessing/updating secrets)
Step 2. Set environment variable (if using custom location)
If you chose a custom folder location during snctl config init (different from ~/.snctl), you see the following note at the end:
Note: Configuration created at /path/to/custom/.snctl/config.yaml
To use this configuration, run 'export SNCTL_DIR=/path/to/custom/.snctl' or use --snctl-dir=/path/to/custom/.snctl
export SNCTL_DIR=/path/to/custom/.snctl
snctl --snctl-dir /path/to/custom/.snctl node list
If the path used with either option doesn’t end with .snctl, the CLI automatically appends .snctl to it. For example, SNCTL_DIR=/home/user/myconfig uses /home/user/myconfig/.snctl.
Step 3. Verify the setup
After initialization, verify that everything is properly configured:
Verify snctl is working:
Expected output:
0.0.2 # Exact version may vary
.snctl/config.yaml.
Expected output:
Current Configuration
+---------------------+-------------------------------------------+
| Setting | Value |
+---------------------+-------------------------------------------+
| Folder Location | /home/user1/.snctl |
| Encryption Key File | /home/user1/.snctl/encryption.key |
| Inventory File | /home/user1/.snctl/inventory.json |
| Service Account | None |
| Logs Location | /home/user1/.snctl/logs |
| Version | 0.0.2 |
| Last Updated | 2025-12-08T11:19:27.403696Z |
+---------------------+-------------------------------------------+
Running snctl config show with SambaRack Manager already installed updates the config.yaml to the currently running version if the versions don’t match.
# Replace ~/.snctl with your actual path if using a custom location
ls -l ~/.snctl
total 48
-rw-r--r-- 1 user1 user1 234 Dec 8 11:19 config.yaml
-rw------- 1 user1 user1 32 Dec 8 11:19 encryption.key
-rw-r--r-- 1 user1 user1 2 Dec 8 11:19 inventory.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 user1 user1 128 Dec 8 11:19 secrets.json.enc
-rw-r--r-- 1 user1 user1 0 Dec 8 11:19 secrets.json.enc.lock
-rw-r--r-- 1 user1 user1 1674 Dec 8 11:19 private_key.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 user1 user1 451 Dec 8 11:19 public_key.key
drwxr-xr-x 2 user1 user1 4096 Dec 8 11:19 logs
Step 4. Verify required dependencies
Verify that all required dependencies are installed:
For more information, see snctl doctor.
Step 5. Secure your encryption key
Store your encryption key securely. The encryption key is required to:
- Decrypt your secrets
- Run commands on your infrastructure
Anyone with access to your encryption key can decrypt all stored secrets. Protect this file accordingly.
Security considerations
SambaRack Manager currently has the following security limitations that you should be aware of.
Access control
Anyone with access to snctl has full permissions to manage all infrastructure.
- All users with snctl access can perform all operations
- No separation between read-only and write permissions
- No distinction between monitoring and power operations
- Network admins and SysAdmins cannot be separated
Audit and logging
Currently, snctl does not maintain an audit log of who performed what operations.
Next step
After completing the initial setup, add your racks to the SambaRack Manager inventory. See Rack Administration. 