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This page introduces the cockroach commands for configuring, starting, and managing a CockroachDB cluster, as well as environment variables that can be used in place of certain flags.
You can run cockroach help in your shell to get similar guidance.
Commands
| Command | Usage |
|---|---|
cockroach start |
Start a node. |
cockroach init |
Initialize a cluster. |
cockroach cert |
Create CA, node, and client certificates. |
cockroach quit |
Temporarily stop a node or permanently remove a node. |
cockroach sql |
Use the built-in SQL client. |
cockroach sqlfmt |
Reformat SQL queries for enhanced clarity. |
cockroach user |
Get, set, list, and remove users. |
cockroach zone |
Deprecated To configure the number and location of replicas for specific sets of data, use ALTER ... CONFIGURE ZONE and SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATIONS. |
cockroach node |
List node IDs, show their status, decommission nodes for removal, or recommission nodes. |
cockroach dump |
Back up a table by outputting the SQL statements required to recreate the table and all its rows. |
cockroach demo |
Start a temporary, in-memory, single-node CockroachDB cluster, and open an interactive SQL shell to it. |
cockroach gen |
Generate manpages, a bash completion file, example SQL data, or an HAProxy configuration file for a running cluster. |
cockroach version |
Output CockroachDB version details. |
cockroach debug ballast |
Create a large, unused file in a node's storage directory that you can delete if the node runs out of disk space. |
cockroach debug encryption-active-key |
View the encryption algorithm and store key. |
cockroach debug zip |
Generate a .zip file that can help Cockroach Labs troubleshoot issues with your cluster. |
cockroach debug merge-logs |
Merge multiple log files from different machines into a single stream. |
cockroach workload |
Run a built-in load generator against a cluster. |
Environment variables
For many common cockroach flags, such as --port and --user, you can set environment variables once instead of manually passing the flags each time you execute commands.
- To find out which flags support environment variables, see the documentation for each command.
- To output the current configuration of CockroachDB and other environment variables, run
env. - When a node uses environment variables on startup, the variable names are printed to the node's logs; however, the variable values are not.
CockroachDB prioritizes command flags, environment variables, and defaults as follows:
- If a flag is set for a command, CockroachDB uses it.
- If a flag is not set for a command, CockroachDB uses the corresponding environment variable.
- If neither the flag nor environment variable is set, CockroachDB uses the default for the flag.
- If there's no flag default, CockroachDB gives an error.
For more details, see Client Connection Parameters.
