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Create an MOTD

Contributors netapp-aaron-holt netapp-dbagwell netapp-barbe netapp-aherbin
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You can create a message of the day (MOTD) to communicate information to authenticated CLI users. The MOTD is displayed in a console session (for cluster access only) or an SSH session (for cluster or SVM access) after a user is authenticated but before the clustershell prompt appears.

Steps

  1. Use the security login motd modify command to create an MOTD for the cluster or SVM:

    If you want to…​ Then…​

    Specify a message that is a single line

    Use the -message "text" parameter to specify the text.

    Include newlines (also known as end of lines)

    Use the command without the -message or -uri parameter to launch the interactive mode for editing the MOTD.

    Upload content from a location to use for the MOTD

    Use the -uri parameter to specify the content's FTP or HTTP location.

    The maximum size for an MOTD is 2,048 bytes, including newlines.

    Security login motd modify describes the escape sequences that you can use to enable the MOTD to display dynamically generated content. Learn more about security login motd modify in the ONTAP command reference.

    An MOTD created by using the -uri parameter is static. It is not automatically refreshed to reflect subsequent changes of the source content.

    An MOTD created for the cluster is displayed also for all SVM logins by default, along with an SVM-level MOTD that you can create separately for a given SVM. Setting the -is-cluster-message-enabled parameter to false for an SVM prevents the cluster-level MOTD from being displayed for that SVM.

  2. Verify that the MOTD has been created by displaying it with the security login motd show command.

    Specifying the -message parameter with an empty string ("") displays MOTDs that are not configured or have no content.

    Learn more about security login motd modify and parameters to enable the MOTD to display dynamically generated content in the ONTAP command reference.

Examples of creating MOTDs

The following example uses the noninteractive mode to create an MOTD for the “cluster1” cluster:

cluster1::> security login motd modify -message "Greetings!"

The following example uses the interactive mode to create an MOTD for the "`svm1`"SVM that uses escape sequences to display dynamically generated content:

cluster1::> security login motd modify -vserver svm1

Enter the message of the day for Vserver "svm1".
Max size: 2048. Enter a blank line to terminate input. Press Ctrl-C to abort.
0        1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
Welcome to the \n SVM.  Your user ID is '\N'. Your last successful login was \L.

The following example displays the MOTDs that have been created:

cluster1::> security login motd show
Vserver: cluster1
Is the Cluster MOTD Displayed?: true
Message
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings!

Vserver: svm1
Is the Cluster MOTD Displayed?: true
Message
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the \n SVM.  Your user ID is '\N'. Your last successful login was \L.

2 entries were displayed.