--- title: "Managing the Portal from a Restricted Shell" slug: "managing-the-portal-from-a-restricted-shell-5-1-1" tags: ["Portal"] updated: 2026-04-12T10:31:21Z published: 2026-04-12T10:31:21Z canonical: "kb.ctera.com/managing-the-portal-from-a-restricted-shell-5-1-1" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.ctera.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Managing the Portal from a Restricted Shell ## All Platforms Except AWS **To configure the restricted shell:** 1. Generate both a private and public SSH key (.ppk) for the **admin** user. 2. Open a SSH session to the CTERA Portal instance and log in as the `root` user. 3. Run the following command to enable SSH key access to the portal: `portal-enable-appliance-mode.sh public_sshkey_chain` where *public_sshkey_chain* is the public SSH key generated for the **admin** user. **Note** In a separate SSH session use the private key file generated for the **admin** user to open the session, and verify that you can log in to the portal as the admin user. In a separate SSH session, verify that you cannot log in to the portal as the `root` user. When the portal is configured with multiple servers, for high availability, you need the private SSH Key when accessing any of the servers. **To disable the restricted shell:** - Run the following command to disable root access and enable the restricted shell: `portal-set-root-access.sh DISABLE` ## AWS When the CTERA Portal is installed on an AWS platform, access to the portal shell is, by default, limited to a restricted shell with a set of commands to manage the portal. The root user is disabled and a sudo superuser is authorized instead to perform portal related operations. **Note** Users who require additional shell functionality can access the full Linux shell from the restricted shell, if required. ## All Platforms The following operations are provided with the restricted shell: - Display command help - Stop/start/restart portal services - Display the portal status - Shutdown/reboot the server instance - Display the application/database/image log file - Create/extend/destroy portal storage - Turn on/off root access to the server - Enable/disable support access - Terminate the restricted shell session ### Logging In to the Restricted Shell Open a SSH session to the CTERA Portal instance and log in with the `admin` user. ### Getting Help Enter `Help` to display the available commands, described in [CTERA Portal Restricted Shell Commands](/v1/docs/managing-the-portal-from-a-restricted-shell-5-1-1#ctera-portal-restricted-shell-commands). ![image.png](https://cdn.document360.io/30792387-cdcb-4791-aa14-94929bbcd3fe/Images/Documentation/image-5FXWZZFP.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-11T04%3A29%3A02Z&se=2026-11-11T05%3A29%3A02Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=kN7NRg0M1b0MHLWQEsXoXcii26sBTZzcBqnOe9vnfds%3D) To get help for commands that require an argument, enter the command. For example, typing `storage` displays the syntax for the storage command. ![image.png](https://cdn.document360.io/30792387-cdcb-4791-aa14-94929bbcd3fe/Images/Documentation/image-OM4Y8DEY.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-11T04%3A29%3A02Z&se=2026-11-11T05%3A29%3A02Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=kN7NRg0M1b0MHLWQEsXoXcii26sBTZzcBqnOe9vnfds%3D) **Note** Entering a command that does not require an argument, immediately executes that command. ### CTERA Portal Restricted Shell Commands The following shell commands are available: **elevate** – The user has root access. A string is returned which is entered in the machine to elevate to enable the user to perform additional actions as a sudo user. Root access is granted for 24 hours, after which time the root session automatically ends. **elevate off** – The root session ends. **help** – Display details of the available shell commands. **portal** – Perform a specific option on the portal. The options are: **start** – Start the portal service. **stop** – Stop the portal service. **restart** – Restart the portal service. **status** – Display the portal status, including the status of the database and Tomcat services, the portal status and the percentage of storage used. **quit** – End the shell session. **show** – Show the specified log file. The options are: **db-log** – Display the database log. **application-log** – Display the application log. **image-log** – Display the CTERA portal log. Quit the display by entering Ctrl-C. **shutdown** – Shutdown the virtual machine running the CTERA Portal. **storage** – Options to manage portal storage. The options are: **create_storage** – Add a volume to the CTERA portal, to create a data pool. **extend_storage** – Add a volume to the CTERA portal data pool. **destroy_storage** – Remove a volume from the CTERA portal data pool. **create_db_archive_pool** – Create a copy of the CTERA portal data pool, to use for disaster recovery. **extend_db_archive_pool** – Add a volume to the archive CTERA portal data pool, used for disaster recovery. **destroy_db_archive_pool** – Remove a volume from the archive CTERA portal data pool, used for disaster recovery. **support** – For use with CTERA support to enable remote access by support personnel to help resolve problems. The options are: **enable** – Enable remote access by CTERA support. **disable** – Disable remote access by CTERA support. **Note** For portal management tasks that require root access, first run ‘elevate‘