Lab 1: API-First Console

This lab will focus on demonstrating the API-first capabilities of the F5 Distributed Cloud Console. Students will begin by creating an API token for authenticating to the API, followed by exploring the Distributed Cloud Developer Portal and utilizing it to query a live configuration. Finally, the lab concludes with using the Distributed Cloud Developer Portal to create an Application Firewall.

For the tasks that follow, you should have already noted your individual namespace. If you failed to note it, return to the Introduction section of this lab, follow the instructions provided and note your namespace accordingly. The Delegated Domain and the F5 Distributed Cloud Tenant are listed below for your convenience as they will be the same for all lab attendees.

By following the tasks in the prior Introduction Section, you should now be able to access the F5 Distributed Cloud Console, having set your Work Domain Roles and Skill levels. If you have not done so already, please login to your tenant for this lab and proceed to Task 1.

Expected Lab Time: 20 minutes

Task 1: Review Developer Portal

The following steps will allow you to create an API Token and query the Distributed Cloud API utilizing the Developer Portal.

Create API Token from the Distributed Cloud Console

  1. Following the Introduction section instructions, you should now be in the My Namespaces mangagement

    window. If, for some reason, you are not in the My Namespaces management window, In the top right

    corner of the Distributed Cloud Console, click the User Icon dropdown and select Account Settings.

lab1-Account_Settings

  1. In the resulting screen, click Credentials under the Personal Management Heading on the left.

lab1-Credentials

  1. Click Add Credentials.

lab1-Add_Credentials

  1. Fill in the resulting form with the following values and then click Generate

    • Credential Name ID: <namespace>-api-token

    • Credential Type: Select: API Token

    • Expiry Date: Select: <date two days in the future of today’s date>

lab1-Generate_API_Token

  1. On the form that appears, copy your API token and save it for use later. Then click Done.

lab1-API_Token

Note

If you don’t save your API token or you lose it, you will need to generate a new API token. After an API token is generated, it cannot be retrieved again later.

Access the Distributed Cloud Developer Portal

  1. In the top right corner of the Distributed Cloud Console, click the Support dropdown and select API

    Documentation.

lab1-API_Documentation

Note

This takes you to the online documentation for the F5 Distributed Cloud Services API. Here, you can review or download the API specification.

  1. In the resulting screen, click the API Developer Portal link in the top menu.

lab1-API_Developer_Portal

  1. In the resulting window, enter f5-xc-lab-app in the Please enter your domain text field and click

    Access portal.

lab1-Portal_Domain

  1. In the resulting screen, click the Authorize link in the top right corner.

lab1-Portal_Authorize

  1. In the form that appears, enter your API Token in the Paste your API token field and click

    Authorize.

lab1-Portal_Set_Token

Use the Distributed Cloud Developer Portal to Query Data

  1. In the Dev Portal, scroll through the APIs on the left until you find Namespace and then click

    Namespace.

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  1. Under the default section in schemes, scroll down through the Namespace APIs until you find

    GET /api/web/namespaces/{name} and click the arrow to expand this API and then click Try it out.

lab1-Portal_Namespaces_Name

  1. Enter your namespace name in the name field and then click Execute.

Note

Your namespace name is unique to your deployment. You should have recorded your namespace name in the Introduction Lab Task 2 Step 10. If you don’t remember your namespace, please refer back to the Introduction Lab.

lab1-Portal_Namespaces_Name_Execute

  1. Review the Response body data. You may have to scroll down slightly to show the Response body data

    depending on your screen resolution.

lab1-Portal_Namespaces_Name_JSON

Note

The parameters you entered in the name field were used to execute the API query and limit the returned values. Parameters can also be used when creating new objects.

Use the Distributed Cloud Developer Portal to Create an Object

  1. In the Dev Portal, scroll through the APIs on the left until you find Application Firewall and then

    click Application Firewall.

lab1-Portal_Firewall

  1. Under the default section in schemes, find the

    POST /api/config/namespaces/{metadata.namespace}/app_firewalls and click the arrow to expand this

    API and then click Try it out.

lab1-Portal_Firewall_Post

  1. Enter your namespace name in the metadata.namespace field and in the body object field paste the

    following content.

{
    "metadata": {
       "name": "non-standard",
       "namespace": "<namespace>"
    },
    "spec": {
       "blocking": null,
       "default_detection_settings": null,
       "default_bot_setting": null,
       "allow_all_response_codes": null,
       "default_anonymization": null,
       "use_default_blocking_page": null
    }
}

Note

Be sure to change the <namespace> value in the above JSON block to match your namespace.

lab1-Portal_Firewall_Post_Execute

  1. Review the Response body data. If everything worked correctly you should have received a 200 response

    code along with a response body.

lab1-Portal_Firewall_Post_JSON

  1. Open the Distribute Cloud Console tab in your web browser to validate the App Firewall was created. You

    should still be in the My Account configuration window. From here use the Select Workspace

    dropdown in the left-hand navigation, and click Web App & API Protection.

lab1-Portal_Console_WebApp

Note

If you recieve a message that You cannot access this feature with your current role, select your namespace from the namespace dropdown in the top left under Web App & API Protection.

  1. From the left navigation sidebar click Manage and click App Firewall. You should see an App

    Firewall named non-standard.

lab1-Portal_Console_WebApp_Firewall

Note

The firewall you create in this section of the lab will be used in future labs. If you don’t see the App Firewall named non-standard please verify and repeat the steps in this section. If you are still not seeing the non-standard App Firewall please ask a lab assistant for help.

End of Lab 1

This concludes Lab 1. In this lab, you learned about the Distributed Cloud Developer Portal and how it can

help you test API calls.

labend