---
title: Executing remote commands in an OpenShift Container Platform container
---

# Executing remote commands in an OpenShift Container Platform container {#nodes-containers-remote-commands}

You can use the `oc exec` command to execute remote commands in OpenShift Container Platform containers from your local machine.

## Executing remote commands in containers {#nodes-containers-remote-commands-about_nodes-containers-remote-commands}

You can use the OpenShift CLI (`oc`) to execute remote commands in OpenShift Container Platform containers. By running commands in a container, you can perform troubleshooting, inspect logs, run scripts, and other tasks.

**Procedure**

- Use a command similar to the following to run a command in a container:

  ```terminal
  $ oc exec <pod> [-c <container>] -- <command> [<arg_1> ... <arg_n>]
  ```

  For example:

  ```terminal
  $ oc exec mypod date
  ```

  ```terminal {title="Example output"}
  Thu Apr  9 02:21:53 UTC 2015
  ```

  > [!IMPORTANT]
  > [For security purposes](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015:1650), the `oc exec` command does not work when accessing privileged containers except when the command is executed by a `cluster-admin` user.

## Protocol for initiating a remote command from a client {#nodes-containers-remote-commands-protocol_nodes-containers-remote-commands}

A client resource in your cluster can initiate the execution of a remote command in a container by issuing a request to the Kubernetes API server.

The following example is the format for a typical request to a Kubernetes API server:

```terminal
/proxy/nodes/<node_name>/exec/<namespace>/<pod>/<container>?command=<command>
```

where:

`<node_name>`
:   Specifies the FQDN of the node.

`<namespace>`
:   Specifies the project of the target pod.

`<pod>`
:   Specifies the name of the target pod.

`<container>`
:   Specifies the name of the target container.

`<command>`
:   Specifies the desired command to be executed.

```terminal {title="Example request"}
/proxy/nodes/node123.openshift.com/exec/myns/mypod/mycontainer?command=date
```

Additionally, the client can add parameters to the request to indicate any of the following conditions:

- The client should send input to the remote container’s command (stdin).
- The client’s terminal is a TTY.
- The remote container’s command should send output from stdout to the client.
- The remote container’s command should send output from stderr to the client.

After sending an `exec` request to the API server, the client upgrades the connection to one that supports multiplexed streams; the current implementation uses **HTTP/2**.

The client creates one stream each for stdin, stdout, and stderr. To distinguish among the streams, the client sets the `streamType` header on the stream to one of `stdin`, `stdout`, or `stderr`.

The client closes all streams, the upgraded connection, and the underlying connection when it is finished with the remote command execution request.