---
layout: docs
page_title: Deploy and log in
description: >-
  Learn about the requirements for using HCP Boundary. Deploy a cluster, and log in for the first time. Discover resources to learn more.
---

# Deploy HCP Boundary and log in

HCP Boundary provides secure access to remote hosts and infrastructure
endpoints. Boundary enables secure connectivity to cloud service catalogs,
on-premise infrastructure, and Kubernetes clusters without needing to manage any
of the underlying systems or operations.

## Requirements

The Getting Started section uses HCP Boundary, a HashiCorp hosted and
fully-managed version of the Boundary product.

To get started with HCP Boundary, users need:

- A [HashiCorp Cloud Platform](https://portal.cloud.hashicorp.com/sign-up)
  account
- [Installation](/boundary/tutorials/hcp-getting-started/hcp-getting-started-install)
  of the Boundary CLI
- A [Boundary binary](/boundary/downloads) in your `$PATH`
- Optionally, an [installation of Boundary
  Desktop](/boundary/tutorials/hcp-getting-started/hcp-getting-started-desktop-app)

If you prefer to test Boundary on your local machine, refer to [Run and log in to Boundary](/boundary/docs/oss/installing/run-and-login). For more information on Boundary
Community Edition and self-managed installations, refer to [Which edition of Boundary is right for me?](/boundary/docs/what-is-boundary#which-edition-of-boundary-is-right-for-me) or [Deploy Boundary in a self-managed environment](/boundary/docs/deploy/self-managed).

## Deploy an HCP Boundary cluster

To deploy an HCP Boundary instance:

1. Navigate to [HashiCorp Cloud Platform](https://portal.cloud.hashicorp.com/)
   and login using your credentials.

1. Click the **Boundary** tab, and then and click **Deploy Boundary** on the
   right-hand pane.

1. Fill out the following form details:

   - Instance Name
   - Administrator Username
   - Administrator Password

1. Store the administrator username and password in a safe location. These
   credentials will be used when authenticating using the Admin Console, CLI, or
   Terraform.

1. Click **Deploy** after completing the form. It may take a few minutes to
   initialize the HCP Boundary instance.

![Deploy boundary](/img/hcp-deploy-form.png)

## Log in to HCP Boundary

Once the deployment is complete, the HCP Boundary instance can be accessed
directly from the HCP Boundary portal using the credentials created during
setup.

1. From the HCP Boundary portal page, click the **Open Admin UI** button.

1. Enter the admin username and password you created when you deployed the new
instance, and click **Authenticate**.

1. The **Welcome to Boundary** setup wizard will launch automatically.

   There are two options for Boundary’s initial setup:

   - Quick setup
   - Manual

   ![Setup Wizard](/img/setup-wizard.png)

   The **Quick setup** is recommended for new users, and generates a set of initial
   resources to assist in connecting to your first target.

   ![Setup Wizard](/img/setup-wizard-address-target.png)

   The **Manual** setup drops the user directly into Boundary, without any
   provisioned resources.

   Upon completion of the setup wizard, you will be logged into your HCP Boundary
   instance's Global scope via the web UI. This is the default scope for all new
   Boundary clusters.

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="CLI">

1. In the HCP Boundary portal, open the **Boundary Overview** page, and click
the **copy icon** in the **Copy this into Boundary Desktop** section. This
copies your environment’s Boundary **Cluster URL**.

1. Open a terminal session and set the `BOUNDARY_ADDR` environment variable to
the copied Cluster URL.

  ```shell-session
  $ export BOUNDARY_ADDR=<boundary-cluster-url>
  ```

1. Log in with the administrator credentials you created when you deployed the
HCP Boundary instance.

  ```shell-session
  $ boundary authenticate
  Please enter the login name (it will be hidden):
  Please enter the password (it will be hidden):

  Authentication information:
    Account ID:      acctpw_VOeNSFX8pQ
    Auth Method ID:  ampw_wxzojlKJLN
    Expiration Time: Mon, 13 Feb 2023 12:35:32 MST
    User ID:         u_1vUkf5fPs9

  The token was successfully stored in the chosen keyring and is not displayed here.
  ```

You are now logged into your HCP Boundary instance's Global scope via the CLI.
This is the default scope for all new Boundary clusters.

If you are on Windows or macOS, the system password store will be used to store
the new token. On any other operating system, you may get an error indicating
that the token could not be stored. Boundary defaults to using
[pass](https://www.passwordstore.org/) on these machines, which uses [GNU
Privacy Guard](https://gnupg.org/) to encrypt values. If it is not available,
the token will be displayed and can be stored in a system of your choice and
passed in via the `BOUNDARY_TOKEN` environment variable.

It is recommended to make use of `pass` or another alternative (such as any
implementation of the freedesktop.org Secret Service feature). Installation and
configuration of `pass` or other alternatives is beyond the scope of this
article; consult the documentation for `pass` or your specific OS distribution
help pages.

Note that if `-format json` is used on this command, Boundary will not save the
token to the system password store. In this case, the authentication information
will only be printed to your terminal in JSON format. You can use the
`BOUNDARY_TOKEN` environment variable or `-token` flag to provide the token in
subsequent commands.

</Tab>
<Tab heading="Desktop Client">


[Boundary Desktop](/boundary/downloads) can be used to
connect to HCP Boundary.

To get started with Boundary Desktop:

1. Install Boundary Desktop.
1. Enter your HCP Boundary instance’s Cluster URL.
1. Enter the login name and password.

To authenticate using the Boundary desktop client, launch Boundary desktop
client and connect to boundary to using your environment's **Cluster URL**.

You can find your environment’s Cluster URL In the HCP portal. Open the
**Boundary Overview** page and click the **copy icon** in the **Copy this into
Boundary Desktop** section. This copies your environment’s Boundary **Cluster
URL**.

The admin username and password from instance creation can be used for initial
setup. Once additional users have been created, they can also log in to HCP
Boundary using the Boundary Desktop app.


<video
  muted
  playsInline
  autoPlay
  loop
  class="boundary-clickthrough-video boundary-clickthrough-desktop-video"
>
  <source
    type="video/mp4"
    src="https://www.datocms-assets.com/2885/1613612831-boundary-desktop-clickthrough-authenticate-v1-0-0.mp4"
  />
</video>

</Tab>
<Tab heading="Terraform">


You can also use these overrides to configure the [Terraform provider for
Boundary](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/boundary):

```hcl
provider "boundary" {
    base_url             = "hcp-boundary-cluster-url"
    auth_method_id       = "auth-method-id"
    auth_method_username = "admin-username"
    auth_method_password = "admin-password"
}
```

To find your environment’s `base_url`:

1. In the HCP portal, open the **Boundary Overview** page.
1. Click the **copy icon** in the **Copy this into Boundary Desktop** section.
   This copies your environment’s Boundary **Cluster URL**.

To find your environment’s default `auth_method_id`:

1. In your HCP Boundary portal, click the Admin UI button.
1. Log in to the Admin Console by entering the admin username and password you
   created when you deployed the HCP Boundary instance, and click **Authenticate**.
1. Click **Auth Methods**.
1. Click the **copy icon** for the Password **Auth Method ID**

</Tab>
</Tabs>

## Tutorial

- Refer to the [Create a Boundary Instance on
  HCP](/boundary/tutorials/hcp-getting-started/hcp-getting-started-create)
  tutorial to learn how to deploy a Boundary instance.
- Refer to the [Install Boundary
  Desktop](/boundary/tutorials/hcp-getting-started/hcp-getting-started-desktop-app)
  tutorial to learn how to use the Boundary desktop to connect to a running HCP
  Boundary instance.


## Next steps

Refer to [Connect to your first target](/boundary/docs/getting-started/connect-to-target) to use HCP Boundary to run your first SSH session.
