nsxramlclient 1.0.0rc1

A "pseudo dynamic" client for the VMware NSX for vSphere API that uses a RAML file describing the API as an Input to generate the API calls

nsxramlclient

This ‘somewhat dynamic client’ gets its API structure information (e.g. URLs, parameters, schema, etc.) from a RAML file. It is only tested and used with the RAML file specific to VMware NSX Manager (NSX for vSphere).

The latest version of the NSXv RAML file can be found at http://github.com/yfauser/nsxraml

How to install nsxramlclient

The following install instructions will focus on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, but installations on other Linux distributions or on MAC should be relatively similar.

Check whether pip is installed

pip --version

If pip is not installed, install it with apt-get

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install python-pip

Now you can install the nsx raml client using pip

sudo pip install nsxramlclient

If the installation fails because of missing dependencies of lxml, you will see the following message

ERROR: /bin/sh: 1: xslt-config: not found
** make sure the development packages of libxml2 and libxslt are installed **

In this case install the following packages through apt-get, and then repeat the above pip installation of the nsx raml client:

sudo apt-get install libxml2-dev libxslt-dev python-dev zlib1g-dev

How to use nsxramlclient

Create a session object

The first thing you do is to create a session object to work with. This session object will then expose the create, read, update and delete (CRUD) as well as some helper methods to you.

from nsxramlclient.client import NsxClient

nsxraml_file = '/raml/nsxvraml/nsxvapiv614.raml'
nsxmanager = 'nsxmanager.invalid.org'
nsx_username = 'admin'
nsx_password = 'vmware'

client_session = NsxClient(nsxraml_file, nsxmanager, nsx_username,
                           nsx_password, debug=False)

The NsxClient Class has the following initialization parameters:

"""
:param raml_file:
This mandatory parameter is the RAML File used as the basis of all URL
compositions and to extract the body schema and convert them into python dictionaries

:param nsxmanager:
This mandatory parameter is either the hostname or IP Address of the NSX Manager

:param nsx_username:
This mandatory parameter is the Username on NSX Manager used to do API Calls

:param nsx_password:
This mandatory parameter is the Password of the User used to do API Calls

:param debug: Optional:
If set to True, the client will print extensive HTTP session information to stdout.
Default: False

:param verify: Optional:
If set to True, the client will strictly verify the certificate passed by NSX Manager.
Default: False

:param suppress_warnings: Optional:
If set to True, the client will print out a warning if NSX Manager uses a self signed certificate.
Default: True

:return: Returns a NsxClient Session Object
"""

After you initialized a session object you have access to the following methods: - create: Sends a HTTP POST to NSX Manager. More details will follow later in this readme

• read: Sends a HTTP GET to NSX Manager

• update: Sends a HTTP PUT to NSX Manager

• delete: Sends a HTTP DELETE to NSX Manager

• view_response: Each of the above methods returns a Python OrderedDictionary with the HTTP Status code, location header, NSX Object Id, eTag Header and Body. This methods outputs the OrderedDict out in a human readable text to stdout

• extract_resource_body_schema: This method will retrieve the body schema out of the RAML File (if the method has a body schema like most create methods), and will return a template python dictionary that can be used to construct your call

• view_resource_body_schema: This method retrieves the body schema out of the RAML file and outputs it to stdout as a pretty printed XML document

• view_body_dict: This method takes a body dictionary (any python dictionary), and outputs it in a more human readable way to stdout

• view_resource_display_names: This method outputs all displayNames and description of all resources in the RAML File with their associated URI & Query parameters, additional Headers and what methods (CRUD) are supported

Use the create, read, update and delete methods

In [1]: client_session.read('vCenterStatus')
Out[2]: OrderedDict([('status', 200), ('body', {'vcConfigStatus': {'connected': 'true', 'lastInventorySyncTime': '1440444721014'}}), ('location', None), ('objectId', None), ('Etag', None)])

As you can see the create, read, update and delete methods return an Python OrderedDict with the following key/value pairs: - status: The HTTP status code returned as an integer - body: The response body returned as a dict. If no body was returned this will be None - location: If a location header is returned, this value will be the returned location URL as a string, else it will be None - objectId: If a location header is returned, the value of objectId will be the last part of the location url as a string, else it will be None - Etag: If a Etag header is returned, the value of Etag will be the content of the Etag header returned, else it will be None

To output the response in a more human readable way when working in an interactive session, you can use the view_response method:

In [3]: response = client_session.read('vCenterStatus')
In [4]: client_session.view_response(response)
HTTP status code:
200

HTTP Body Content:
{'vcConfigStatus': {'connected': 'true',
                    'lastInventorySyncTime': '1440445281484'}}

If a method needs a URI parameter to work, the NSX RAML Client will compose the URL based on the base URL, parent and child method URL and the supplied URI parameter. To supply a URI parameter, add a URI parameter dict to your call. You can supply multiple URI parameters in the call when needed.

In [5]: response = client_session.read('vdnSegmentPool',
                                       uri_parameters={'segmentPoolId': '2'})
In [6]: client_session.view_response(response)
HTTP status code:
200

HTTP Body Content:
{'segmentRange': {'begin': '5000',
                  'end': '10000',
                  'id': '2',
                  'name': 'legacy'}}

If a method needs one or more query parameters to work, or you want to supply optional query parameters, the NSX RAML Client will add the query parameter for you. To use this pass a query parameter dict to the call:

In [7]: response = client_session.read('nwfabricStatus',
                                       query_parameters_dict={'resource':
                                                              'domain-c1632'})
In [8]: client_session.view_response(response)
HTTP status code:
200
.... truncated for brevity ....

Of course you can use URI and query parameters concurrently in any call you make, and add as many as the resource specifies.

Finally if a resource requires a body to be supplied with data, you can compose the body in the following way:

First you can check what the body of a call needs to look like by retrieving it out of the RAML file, and displaying it to stdout using view_resource_body_schema:

In [9]: client_session.view_resource_body_schema('logicalSwitches', 'create')

<virtualWireCreateSpec>
    <name>mandatory</name>
    <description/>
    <tenantId>mandatory</tenantId>
    <controlPlaneMode>mandatory</controlPlaneMode>
</virtualWireCreateSpec>

Also you can create a template python dictionary using extract_resource_body_schema, and if you want you can also output its structure in a human readable way to stdout:

In [10]: new_ls = client_session.extract_resource_body_schema('logicalSwitches',
                                                              'create')

In [11]: client_session.view_body_dict(new_ls)
{'virtualWireCreateSpec': {'controlPlaneMode': 'mandatory',
                           'description': None,
                           'name': 'mandatory',
                           'tenantId': 'mandatory'}}

You can now change some values in the dictionary with the data you want to send to the API:

In [12]: new_ls['virtualWireCreateSpec']['controlPlaneMode'] = 'UNICAST_MODE'
In [13]: new_ls['virtualWireCreateSpec']['name'] = 'TestLogicalSwitch1'
In [14]: new_ls['virtualWireCreateSpec']['tenantId'] = 'Tenant1'

In [15]: client_session.view_body_dict(new_ls)
{'virtualWireCreateSpec': {'controlPlaneMode': 'UNICAST_MODE',
                           'description': None,
                           'name': 'TestLogicalSwitch1',
                           'tenantId': 'Tenant1'}}

And finally you send the call to the NSX Manager API by supplying the body dictionary in the call:

In [16]: new_ls_response = client_session.create('logicalSwitches',
                                                 uri_parameters={'scopeId':
                                                                 'vdnscope-1'},
                                                 request_body_dict=new_ls)

In [17]: client_session.view_response(new_ls_response)
HTTP status code:
201

HTTP location header:
/api/2.0/vdn/virtualwires/virtualwire-1305

NSX Object Id:
virtualwire-1305

HTTP Body Content:
'virtualwire-1305'

Note on Etag header and additional headers (e.g. If-match)

Some resources in NSX Manager will need an additional header supplied, namely the If-match header. To compose the If-match header, one retrieves the content of the Etag and returns it in the If-match header. This is e.g used in the distributed firewall configuration to deal with conflicts when two users concurrently try to edit the rule sets.

Here’s an example on how to retrieve a dfw rule, edit it, and update it on NSX Manager:

rule_read_response = client_session.read('dfwL3Rule',
                                         uri_parameters={'sectionId': section_id,
                                                         'ruleId': new_rule_id})
updated_rule = l3_dfw_rule_read_response['body']
etag_value = l3_dfw_rule_read_response['Etag']

updated_rule['rule']['name'] = 'UpdatedByRAMLClient'

update_response = client_session.update('dfwL3Rule',
                                        uri_parameters={'sectionId': section_id,
                                                        'ruleId': rule_id},
                                        additional_headers={'If-match': etag_value},
                                        request_body_dict=updated_rule)

As you can see the If-match header is supplied by the additional_headers dictionary.

Note on the use of XML Tags in body schemas

Some resources in NSX Manager expect values to be set in XML Tags. Here’s an example of a dfw resource were this is the case:

In [18]: client_session.view_resource_body_schema('dfwL3Rules', 'create')
<rule disabled="false" logged="false">
    <name>AddRuleTest</name>
    <action>allow</action>
    <notes/>
.... truncated for brevity ....

As you can see rulehas the Tags disabled and logged. When this type of Tag is found, it is converted to a key prefixed by @ in the resulting dictionary:

In [19]: l3rule = client_session.extract_resource_body_schema('dfwL3Rules',
                                                              'create')
In [20]: client_session.view_body_dict(l3rule)
{'rule': {'@disabled': 'false',
          '@logged': 'false',
          'action': 'allow',
.... truncated for brevity ....

You can set values using the @ prefix, and they will be converted to a XML Tag of the top level object.

l3section_bdict['section']['rule'][0]['@logged'] = 'true'

Note on repeating key/value pairs and resulting python lists containing dicts

In some cases NSX Manager uses lists of parameters with repeating keys. Here’s an example:

In [21]: client_session.view_resource_body_schema('dfwL3Section', 'create')
<section name="Test">
    <rule disabled="false" logged="true">
        <name/>
        <action>ALLOW</action>
        <appliedToList>
            <appliedTo>
                <name/>
                <value/>
                <type/>
                <isValid/>
            </appliedTo>
        </appliedToList>
        <sources excluded="false">
            <source>
                <name/>
                <value/>
                <type/>
                <isValid/>
            </source>
            <source>
                <name/>
                <value/>
                <type/>
                <isValid/>
            </source>
        </sources>
        <destinations excluded="false">
            <destination>
                <name/>
                <value/>
                <type/>
                <isValid/>
            </destination>
            <destination>
                <name/>
                <value/>
                <type/>
                <isValid/>
            </destination>
        </destinations>
        <services>
            <service>
                <destinationPort/>
                <protocol/>
                <subProtocol/>
            </service>
        </services>
    </rule>
    <rule disabled="false" logged="true">
       <name/>
       <action>DENY</action>
    </rule>
</section>

As you can see, there are multiple destination keys under destinations. To be able to work with python dictionaries, nsxramlclient will convert those list of equally named parameter ‘groups’ to a python list containing dictionaries. Here’s the resulting python dictionary for this type of resource body schema:

In [22]: dfw_l3_sec = client_session.extract_resource_body_schema('dfwL3Section',
                                                                  'create')
In [31]: client_session.view_body_dict(dfw_l3_sec)
{'section': {'@name': 'Test',
             'rule': [{'@disabled': 'false',
                       '@logged': 'true',
                       'action': 'ALLOW',
                       'appliedToList': {'appliedTo': {'isValid': None,
                                                       'name': None,
                                                       'type': None,
                                                       'value': None}},
                       'destinations': {'@excluded': 'false',
                                        'destination': [{'isValid': None,
                                                         'name': None,
                                                         'type': None,
                                                         'value': None},
                                                        {'isValid': None,
                                                         'name': None,
                                                         'type': None,
                                                         'value': None}]},
                       'name': None,
                       'services': {'service': {'destinationPort': None,
                                                'protocol': None,
                                                'subProtocol': None}},
                       'sources': {'@excluded': 'false',
                                   'source': [{'isValid': None,
                                               'name': None,
                                               'type': None,
                                               'value': None},
                                              {'isValid': None,
                                               'name': None,
                                               'type': None,
                                               'value': None}]}},
                      {'@disabled': 'false',
                       '@logged': 'true',
                       'action': 'DENY',
                       'name': None}]}}

Note the rule key, its value is a python List containing multiple rule objects that themselves are python dictionaries. Same holds true for the destinationsand sources keys.

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2015 nsxramlclient

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

How to contribute

Any contributions are welcome, bug reports, additional tests, enhancements, etc. Also we welcome your feedback if you find that anything is missing that would make nsxramlclient better