Using environment variables

note

For information on how to modify Zowe CLI default environment variables, see Configuring Zowe CLI environment variables.

You can define environment variables to execute commands more efficiently. Store a value such as your password in an environment variable, then issue commands without specifying your password every time.

The term environment can refer to your operating system, container environment, or automation server such as Jenkins.

Consider assigning a variable in the scenarios outlined in the following table.

Use case	Example	Benefit
Store a commonly used value.	Specify your mainframe username as an environment variable.	Issue commands without the --user option, and Zowe CLI automatically uses the value defined in the environment variable.
Override a value in existing profiles.	Override a value previously defined in multiple profiles. Specify the new value as a variable to override the value in profiles.	Avoid recreating each profile.
Secure credentials in an automation server or container	Set environment variables for use in scripts that run in your CI/CD pipeline. You can also define sensitive information in the Jenkins secure credential store.	Hide passwords and other sensitive information from plaintext in logs.

Store credentials securely in CI/CD pipelines

You can use environment variables when running CI/CD pipelines to load credentials that are securely stored.

To do so, use the ZOWE_OPT_ prefix to turn a Zowe CLI command option into the proper format for a Zowe CLI environment variable. For instructions, see Formatting environment variables.

The environment variables to use environment variables for a username and password are ZOWE_OPT_USER and ZOWE_OPT_PASSWORD.

Include the username and password environment variables in CI/CD pipelines that run Zowe CLI, as in the following example Jenkinsfile that uses the Jenkins credential store:

pipeline {
    agent {
        // Define agent details here
    }
    environment {
        ZOWE_OPT_USER = credentials('jenkins-lpar1-zosmf-user')
        ZOWE_OPT_PASSWORD = credentials('jenkins-lpar1-zosmf-password')

    }
    stages {
        stage('Run Zowe CLI') {
            steps {
                sh "zowe jobs list jobs"
            }
        }
        stage('Example stage 2') {
            steps {
                //
            }
        }
    }
}

For more information on Jenkins credential storage, see Using credentials and Using a Jenkinsfile.