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Linux Installation Guide

This guide describes how to install the strongDM Client, which consists of a command line interface (CLI) utility, on your Linux machine.

Note that it is not recommended to use the strongDM Client with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). WSL2 explicitly does not work with the strongDM Client, and neither WSL1 or WSL2 are supported.

The Linux client can run without being installed first. If you wish to use sdm in this way, check out the Running Without Installation section below.

  1. When you receive the email inviting you to your strongDM account, open the email and click the enclosed link to set your password.
  2. After logging in, open a terminal and execute the following command: curl -J -O -L https://app.strongdm.com/releases/cli/linux
  3. Unzip the file: unzip sdmcli_VERSION-NUMBER_linux_amd64.zip
  4. Follow instructions provided by the install command (must be executed using sudo): sudo ./sdm install

  • If you have any issues, consider the following pointers:

    • The installer must be run by a user that exists in the /etc/passwd file. Any users remotely authenticated, such as with LDAP or an SSO service, may fail to complete the installation.
    • If you are installing with Fedora Linux, use the -E flag to preserve the user environment. This is necessary due to the way Fedora handles sudo.
    • If you are attempting to set up a Relay, see the Relay guide.

  1. After executing sdm install, you'll notice that strongDM has installed at /opt/strongdm and created a symlink to the sdm binary in /usr/local/bin. Next, ensure that the sdm binary is usable from the command line with the following command:

    sdm --version

  2. Proceed to the CLI Tour to learn how to connect to Datasources and Servers.

  3. If any errors occur or if the installation fails in any way, please contact support@strongdm.com for assistance.

Run Without Installation

Once you've downloaded and unzipped the Linux client (step 3 above), some commands can be run with no installation needed. To run audit or admin commands, you can provide an admin token in the SDM_ADMIN_TOKEN environment variable. Connecting to datasources or servers, however, requires a running SDM daemon so it is suggested to install using the above steps.

$ curl -J -O -L https://app.strongdm.com/releases/cli/linux
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100   128  100   128    0     0    384      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--   384
100 6733k  100 6733k    0     0  2896k      0  0:00:02  0:00:02 --:--:-- 3435k
curl: Saved to filename 'sdmcli_1.1.19_linux_amd64.zip'
$ unzip sdmcli_1.1.19_linux_amd64.zip
Archive:  sdmcli_1.1.19_linux_amd64.zip
  inflating: sdm
$ export SDM_ADMIN_TOKEN=<token here>
$ ./sdm audit users
User ID,Email,First Name,Last Name,Role ID,strongDM Permission,Role Name
1111,user1@organization.com,User,One,0,user,,{},[],0
2222,user2@organization.com,User,Two,,10011,admin,Engineers,{},[],0
3333,user3@organization.com,User,Three,10011,admin,Engineers,{},[],0
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