iControl Proxy API Details¶

DCO Home Page :: iControl Proxy API
Details
This Enterprise Manager feature set (available starting with version
2.3) uses APIs and the iControl interface to help you manage objects
(such as devices, pools, pool members, virtual servers, and so on) and
perform a number of management, monitoring, and control functions on
BIG-IP devices managed by Enterprise Manager.
The table lists the iControl Proxy application programing interfaces
(APIs) written for the Enterprise Manager. These APIs provide the
ability to interact with a BIG-IP system using Enterprise Manager.
Details about the syntax, inputs, outputs, and exceptions for each API
are provided with the iControl API documentation. Click an API name to
see this information.
Important: The client user account used to authenticate these API
calls must have the role of Administrator on Enterprise Manager.

Name

Description

Usage Scenario

get_context_id

Use the

get_context_id

API to retrieve a unique context ID. The context ID serves as a unique identifier that the iControl web proxy can use for client/user session management.

Important: the

get_context_id

API must be called before you make any other iControl Proxy API calls. The context ID identifies the BIG-IP device to which you want to communicate. This is significant because Enterprise Manager (which establishes your iControl-proxied connection) could be managing multiple BIG-IP devices. For example, if the first instruction in your iControl script is to add a pool member, the context ID identifies a client/user session that will connect to the BIG-IP device to which you want to add a pool member.

`set_device_context < Management__EM__set_d evice_context.html>`_ _

Use the

set_device_context

API to establish a device context for the specified client/user context.

When the computer from which you initiate iControl proxied connections has multiple clients, the device context identifies the client that is initiating the connection. The context ID can also be used to create multiple iControl web proxy references from within the same client. Each context ID corresponds to an iControl web proxy reference that connects to a single device. The iControl Proxy API call sequence diagram illustrates the order in which API calls run to perform the iControl Proxy functions.

set_device_context

Associated libraries¶

The iControl Proxy APIs use the iControl web interface, which is a simple object application protocol (SOAP) web service.

Calling sequence¶

The following diagram illustrates the sequence of API calls that route between the client, Enterprise Manager, and it’s BIG-IP devices when DCO iControl Proxy commands execute. ` <https://devcentral.f5.com/wiki/iControl..ashx>`__