POSTMAN APIs

All the steps that we have performed so far can be done via a REST API call. In this section we will go over the process of how to use the F5 ACI ServiceCenter API’s call to get health stats of VIPs/Pools/Nodes

We will be using POSTMAN to execute the API’s. Steps that will be performed:

  • Login to APIC to get the authentication token
    • This token will be used in the header field of the remaining API calls
  • Login to BIG-IP
  • Get BIG-IP Virtual IP health statistics
  • Get BIG-IP network configuration

Lets begin

Open the POSTMAN application which is present on the desktop


../_images/postman02.png

Once you login go to the ‘Collections tab’


../_images/postman011.png

Go to collection ‘F5 ACI ServiceCenter API’

APIC login

Click on APIC Login request

  • The POST request is directed towards the APIC
  • The body of the POST has the login credentials

../_images/postman1.png

Click Send

Look at the response and copy the value of token, example shown below

If you cannot see the response make sure you adjust the response frame, sometimes its hidden below after you hit send


../_images/postman2.png

Note

The token value that you will see will not be the same. Copy value within the “”.

In the above example it will be

BAgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA54dmF2+r631W7tYgsxLmreN+ Mb4jQofX4ToMj1BcmUreeEwlBxGYQGlchNQ16ZyRKZHwET 9Ww5fPrzF9pkqYy3o+HOmWQHppD3c6g2fFCGZOHYRVhK5U uikkdDeqMUMOqapRQJu/+vIYXPkpY5h6YbYXcfrN4xNje3 I2B+GOBD6xJh8/8NXEJGuB4YFOju3Q==

In POSTMAN client you will see output in Raw format, if you want to view it in JSON format under the response of the POSTMAN request

  • Click on Pretty
  • From the dropdown choose JSON

../_images/postman_body_json.png

BIG-IP Login

Click on the BIG-IP Login request

Go to the Headers tab and under the Key DevCookie put the value of the token from the APIC login request


../_images/postman3.png

Take a look at the body of the POST. Here we are specifying the BIG-IP credentials that we want to log into. This is equivalent to adding a new device through the user interface


../_images/postman4.png

Click Send

You should get a response of 200 ok with the output of the login request similiar to the following

 {
  "code": 200,
  "message": {
   "clustername": "none",
   "packageVersionJson": {
     "installRequired": false,
     "message": "Current version of f5-appscvs package is 3.12.0",
     "role": "admin"
   },
   "type": "VIRTUAL",
   "urls": [
     "198.18.128.130:443"
   ]
 }
}
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Get Virtual IP health statistics

Click on the ‘Visibility - VIP Table’ postman request

Go to the Headers tab and under the Key DevCookie put the value of the token from the APIC login request

Have a look at the body of the POST. Here we are specifying the BIG-IP address as well as the partition. This is equivalent to viewing the VIP table from the visbility tab for a particualr parition on the user interface

Click Send

You should get a response of 200 ok with the output of the request similiar to the following

In the output you can view the VIP/Pool/Node member status, IP address and other infomration

[
 {
     "vip": {
         "status": "offline",
         "name": "serviceMain",
         "partition": "DemoPartition",
         "enabled": "enabled",
         "address": "10.10.10.100:80",
         "fullpath": "/DemoPartition/DemoApplication/10.10.10.100:80"
     },
     "nodes": [
         {
             "status": "unknown",
             "name": "10.193.101.2",
             "app": {
                 "dn": "uni/tn-LAX/ap-LAX-APN",
                 "name": "LAX-APN"
             },
             "partition": "DemoPartition",
             "enabled": "enabled",
             "address": "10.193.101.2",
             "epg": {
                 "dn": "uni/tn-LAX/ap-LAX-APN/epg-Provider-EPG",
                 "name": "Provider-EPG"
             },
             "fullpath": "/DemoPartition/10.193.101.2",
             "tenant": {
                 "dn": "uni/tn-LAX",
                 "name": "LAX"
             }
         },
         {
             "status": "unknown",
             "name": "10.193.101.3",
             "app": {
                 "dn": "uni/tn-LAX/ap-LAX-APN",
                 "name": "LAX-APN"
             },
             "partition": "DemoPartition",
             "enabled": "enabled",
             "address": "10.193.101.3",
             "epg": {
                 "dn": "uni/tn-LAX/ap-LAX-APN/epg-Provider-EPG",
                 "name": "Provider-EPG"
             },
             "fullpath": "/DemoPartition/10.193.101.3",
             "tenant": {
                 "dn": "uni/tn-LAX",
                 "name": "LAX"
             }
         }
     ],
     "pool": {
         "status": "offline",
         "fullpath": "/DemoPartition/DemoApplication/web_pool",
         "partition": "DemoPartition",
         "enabled": "enabled",
         "name": "web_pool"
     }
 }
]
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Note

Output might differ from what you see below. Also output shown above is in JSON format

In POSTMAN client you will see output in Raw format, if you want to view it in JSON format under the response of the POSTMAN request

  • Click on Pretty
  • From the dropdown choose JSON

../_images/postman_body_json.png

Get BIG-IP network information

Click on the ‘L2-L3 - Get Network Information’ postman request

Go to the Headers tab and under the Key DevCookie put the value of the token from the APIC login request

Take a look at the body of the POST. Here we are specifying the BIG-IP address as well as the APIC tenant and logical device. This is equivalent to viewing the Self-IP and VLAN information that has been stitched for a particular logical device cluster using the L2-L3 network stitching tab on the user interface.

Click Send

You should get a response of 200 ok with the output of the request similiar to the following

In the output you can view the Self-IP and VLAN infomration.

 {
  "cdevs": [
      {
          "interfaces": [
              {
                  "name": "Internal"
              },
              {
                  "name": "External"
              }
          ],
          "vmName": "BIGIP1-VM",
          "name": "Device1",
          "vcenterName": "dCloud-DC"
      }
  ],
  "svctype": "ADC",
  "devtype": "VIRTUAL",
  "vlans": [
      {
          "lif": "uni/tn-LAX/lDevVip-BIGIP-VE-Standalone/lIf-Internal",
          "disableConfig": {
              "disable": false,
              "ldev": null,
              "tenant": null
          },
          "appinfo": {
              "lif": "uni/tn-LAX/lDevVip-BIGIP-VE-Standalone/lIf-Internal",
              "name": "apic-vlan-b8b36edf",
              "interfaces": [
                  {
                      "tagged": "untagged",
                      "name": "1.2"
                  }
              ],
              "bigip": "198.18.128.130:443",
              "tag": 1171,
              "lIfCtxDn": "uni/tn-LAX/GraphInst_C-[uni/tn-LAX/brc-BIGIP-VE-Standalone-Contract]-G-[uni/tn-LAX/AbsGraph-2ARM-Template]-S-[uni/tn-LAX]/NodeInst-N1/LegVNode-0/EPgDef-provider",
              "selfips": [
                  {
                      "netmask": "255.255.255.0",
                      "traffic_group": "traffic-group-local-only",
                      "name": "apic-selfip-10.193.101.50",
                      "allow_service": "default",
                      "address": "10.193.101.50"
                  }
              ]
          },
          "insync": true,
          "deployed": true,
          "encap": "vlan-1171",
          "lIfCtxDn": "uni/tn-LAX/GraphInst_C-[uni/tn-LAX/brc-BIGIP-VE-Standalone-Contract]-G-[uni/tn-LAX/AbsGraph-2ARM-Template]-S-[uni/tn-LAX]/NodeInst-N1/LegVNode-0/EPgDef-provider",
          "lifName": "Internal"
      },
      {
          "lif": "uni/tn-LAX/lDevVip-BIGIP-VE-Standalone/lIf-External",
          "disableConfig": {
              "disable": false,
              "ldev": null,
              "tenant": null
          },
          "appinfo": {
              "lif": "uni/tn-LAX/lDevVip-BIGIP-VE-Standalone/lIf-External",
              "name": "apic-vlan-99821226",
              "interfaces": [
                  {
                      "tagged": "untagged",
                      "name": "1.1"
                  }
              ],
              "bigip": "198.18.128.130:443",
              "tag": 1003,
              "lIfCtxDn": "uni/tn-LAX/GraphInst_C-[uni/tn-LAX/brc-BIGIP-VE-Standalone-Contract]-G-[uni/tn-LAX/AbsGraph-2ARM-Template]-S-[uni/tn-LAX]/NodeInst-N1/LegVNode-0/EPgDef-consumer",
              "selfips": [
                  {
                      "netmask": "255.255.255.0",
                      "traffic_group": "traffic-group-local-only",
                      "name": "apic-selfip-10.10.10.50",
                      "allow_service": "default",
                      "address": "10.10.10.50"
                  }
              ]
          },
          "insync": true,
          "deployed": true,
          "encap": "vlan-1003",
          "lIfCtxDn": "uni/tn-LAX/GraphInst_C-[uni/tn-LAX/brc-BIGIP-VE-Standalone-Contract]-G-[uni/tn-LAX/AbsGraph-2ARM-Template]-S-[uni/tn-LAX]/NodeInst-N1/LegVNode-0/EPgDef-consumer",
          "lifName": "External"
      }
  ],
  "ldev": "uni/tn-LAX/lDevVip-BIGIP-VE-Standalone",
  "tenant": "LAX"
}
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For a complete list of the API’s supported refer to link

This brings us to the end of this section