SimpleAciUiLogServer 1.0.1

A remote API Inspector written in Python

A Simple HTTP server that accepts POSTs from the APIC UI as a remote API Inspector.

The simplest method to use this module is to execute it as a standalone script:

$ SimpleAci
SimpleAciUiLogServer     SimpleAciUiLogServer.py
$ SimpleAciUiLogServer
serving at:
http://10.1.2.11:8987/apiinspector

08:17:14 DEBUG -
  method: GET
  url: http://10.1.2.1/api/subscriptionRefresh.json?id=72057843163791365
  response: {"imdata":[]}

08:17:14 DEBUG -
  method: GET
  url: http://10.1.2.1/api/subscriptionRefresh.json?id=72057843163791488
  response: {"imdata":[]}

08:17:14 DEBUG -
  method: GET
  url: http://10.1.2.1/api/subscriptionRefresh.json?id=72057843163791514
  response: {"imdata":[]}

The standalone script can be invoked using any of these commands:

• SimpleAciUiLogServer

• SimpleAciUiLogServer.py

• acilogserv

The standalone script also allows you to set several options:

• -a or –apicip: The IP address of an APIC or an IP address on the same subnet as the APIC. This allows the standalone server to be able to print the correct IP address when it announces what IP address, port and location it is listening on if the server is multi-homed.

• -p or –port: The port the server should listen on.

• -l or –location: The local path that the server should look for, anything sent to the server outside of this location will result in the server returinging a 404. The default is /apiinspector

• -r or –logrequests: This will cause the server to log a message about the POST request to sys.stderr, the default is False, possible values are True and False.

When the module is run as a standalone script it simply prints the log messages to sys.stdout in a somewhat easy to read format.

You can also import the module and use it as a server as part of another application. This provides you with flexibility as it allows you to register callback functions for each “method” found in the log message. From this, you could do things like use the data from the log message for other purposes or filter out specific logs messages based on the “method.” The methods that the APIC uses are:

• GET

• POST

• EventChannelMessage

• undefined - NOTE: it seems like this method gets set for unknown reasons. I need to investigate it more.

Example:

>>>
>>> from SimpleAciUiLogServer.SimpleAciUiLogServer import \
... SimpleAciUiLogServer
>>> def GET(**kwargs):
...     print "Got a GET"
...
>>> def POST(**kwargs):
...     print "Kwargs/params: {0}".format(kwargs)
...
>>> server = SimpleAciUiLogServer(("", 8987), location='/acilogs')
>>> server.register_function(GET)
>>> server.register_function(POST)
>>> server.serve_forever()
Got a GET
Got a GET
08:50:52 DEBUG -
  method: Event Channel Message
  response: {"subscriptionId":["72057843163791520","72057843163791488",
  "72057843163791521","72057843163791516"],"imdata":[{"fvTenant":{
  "attributes":{"childAction":"","dn":"uni/tn-mtimm-simple2",
  "modTs":"2014-11-24T12:50:36.706-04:00","rn":"","status":"deleted"}}}]}

08:50:53 DEBUG -
  method: Event Channel Message
  response: {"subscriptionId":["72057843163791523"],
  "imdata":[{"fvRsTenantMonPol":{"attributes":{"childAction":"",
  "dn":"uni/tn-mtimm-simple2/rsTenantMonPol",
  "modTs":"2014-11-24T12:50:36.706-04:00","rn":"","status":"deleted"}}}]}

Kwargs/params: {'data': {'url':
'http://10.1.2.1/api/node/mo/uni.json', 'response': '{"imdata":[]}',
'preamble': '08:50:53 DEBUG - ', 'method': 'POST', 'payload':
'{"polUni":{"attributes":{"dn":"uni","status":"modified"},
"children":[{"fvTenant":{"attributes":{"dn":"uni/tn-mtimm-simple2",
"status":"deleted"},"children":[]}}]}}'}, 'layout': 'PatternLayout'}
Got a GET

Note that since there were no functions registered for the EventChannelMessage method, it went the default route which is to print info about the log message. However, both GET and POST have registered functions and they do different things than the default dispatch action.

It is also possible to override the _dispatch method to create your own dispatch logic, for example rather than dispatch based on method maybe you would like to dispatch based on subscription id.

Once the server is running, you can start remote logging from the APIC UI by selecting “Start Remote Logging” from the ‘welcome, username’ menu in the top right corner of the APIC UI.

Then enter the URL the server is listening on:

If you need to disable the remote logging from the APIC, you can do so from the same menu and selecting ‘Stop Remote Logging.’

Limitations: Does not support HTTPS/TLS at this time.

Written by Mike Timm ([e-mail]) Based on code written by Fredrik Lundh & Brian Quinlan.