#nsxramlclient
This Python based client for NSX for vSphere 6.x gets its API structure information (e.g. URLs, parameters, schema, etc.) from a RAML file which describes the NSX for vSphere REST API. It has been developed and tested for use with VMware NSX for vSphere 6.x.
The latest version of the NSX for vSphere 6.x RAML file can be found at http://github.com/vmware/nsxraml
The following install instructions are based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, but installations on other Linux distributions or on the Apple MacOS should be relatively similar and should be familiar to those familiar with Python.
Check whether pip is installed
pip --versionIf pip is not installed, install it with apt-get or the package manager appropriate for your operating system.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install python-pipNow you can use pip to install the nsx raml client
sudo pip install nsxramlclientIn some cases the installation may fail because of missing dependencies. You may see the following message and will have to install the required packages
ERROR: /bin/sh: 1: xslt-config: not found
** make sure the development packages of libxml2 and libxslt are installed **
This example shows installing the dependencies using the apt package manager and the apt-get command. Once dependencies are installed you can retry the pip installation of the nsxramlclient shown above.
sudo apt-get install libxml2-dev libxslt-dev python-dev zlib1g-devIt is required to create a session object with which you will interact with the NSX REST API. This session object will then expose the create, read, update and delete (CRUD) methods of each NSX object as well as some helper methods that will be useful.
from nsxramlclient.client import NsxClient
nsxraml_file = '/raml/nsxraml/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. It allows the client to extract the body schema and convert the schema into python dictionaries.
:param nsxmanager:
This mandatory parameter is either the hostname or IP Address of the NSX Manager appliance.
:param nsx_username:
This mandatory parameter is the username on NSX Manager used for authentication to the NSX REST API running on the NSX Manager.
:param nsx_password:
This mandatory parameter is the password of the user used for authentication to the NSX REST API running on the NSX Manager.
: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. It is recommmended in all production environments to use signed certificates for the NSX REST API. Please refer to the NSX for vSphere documentation for information on how to convert from the self-signed certificate to a signed certificate.
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 method outputs the OrderedDict in human readable text to stdout.
-
extract_resource_body_schema: This method will retrieve the body schema from 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 subsequent API calls.
-
view_resource_body_schema: This method retrieves the body schema from 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 human readable format to stdout.
-
view_resource_display_names: This method outputs displayNames and descriptions of all resources in the RAML File with their associated URI & query parameters, additional headers, and what methods are supported.
In [1]: client_session.read('vCenterStatus')
Out[2]: OrderedDict([('status', 200), ('body', {'vcConfigStatus': {'connected': 'true', 'lastInventorySyncTime': '1440444721014'}}), ('location', None), ('objectId', None), ('Etag', None)])The create, read, update and delete methods return a 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 the response will be
None - location: If a location header is returned, this value will be the location URL as a string otherwise it will return
None - objectId: If a location header is returned, the value of objectId will be the last part of the location url as a string otherwise it will return
None - Etag: If a Etag header is returned, the value of Etag will be the content of the Etag header returned otherwise it will return
None
To output the response in a human readable format when working in an interactive session 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 the call. You can supply multiple URI parameters in the call if 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 supports one or more query parameters, you can supply those optional query parameters in your request, and 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 ....It is possible to use URI and query parameters concurrently in any call and add as many as the resource specifies.
If a resource requires a body to be supplied with data the body can be composed in the following way:
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>It is possible to create a template python dictionary using extract_resource_body_schema and display the output structure in a human readable format 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'}}It is possible to change any of the values in the dictionary with the data to be sent 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'}}This example shows how to 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'Some resources in NSX Manager will additionally need the If-match header.
To compose the If-match header, retrieve the content of the Etag and return it in the
If-match header. For example, this is used in the distributed firewall configuration to deal with
conflicts when multiple users try to concurrently edit rule sets.
This example shows how to retrieve a dfw rule, edit it, and update it via the NSX API:
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)Note that the If-match header is supplied by the additional_headers dictionary.
Some resources in NSX expect values to be set in XML Tags. This example shows a dfw resource:
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 ....The 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 ....It is possible to 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'In some cases NSX uses lists of parameters with repeating keys. For 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>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.
This example shows 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. The same holds true for the destinationsand sources keys.
Copyright © 2015 VMware, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
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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