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aXAPI with Python

A10 Blog / Network Management / aXAPI with Python
Paul Nicholson
Paul Nicholson
|
October 3, 2013

A10 provides an aXAPI interface that utilizes REST Web services calls to make configuration changes. Here is a quick overview of how it works.

  1. Get a session ID via an HTTPS call with username and password.
  2. Construct your HTTPS post body in the format specified per guide (XML or JSon).
  3. Make POST request to the device.

Here is the code broken down into sections in accordance to the overview at the top:

Step 1. Get the Session ID

#!/usr/bin/env python

#

# v1, September 27, 2013

# by Eric Chou

#

# Reference: AX_aXAPI_Ref_v2-20121010.pdf

#

import httplib, json, urllib, urllib2

# Gets the session ID to host 172.31.31.121 (Student 12)

c = httplib.HTTPSConnection(""172.31.31.121"")

c.request(""GET"", ""/services/rest/V2/?method=authenticate&username=admin&password=a10&format=json"")

response = c.getresponse()

data = json.loads(response.read())

session_id = data['session_id']

print ""Session Created. Session ID: "" + session_id

Step 2. Construct the HTTP Post body

Note that I re-use the session ID because it has not timed out yet. I skip the repeated steps to create more because the only thing that is different is the HTTP body. Full script is at the end of the post.
###############################

#  Step 1. Create Servers     #

###############################

# Create slb servers s1 10.0.2.128

# Construct HTTP URL and Post Body

post_body = json.dumps(

{""server"":

{

""name"": ""s1"",

""host"": ""10.0.2.128"",

""health_monitor"": ""(default)"",

""port_list"": [

{""port_num"": 80,

""protocol"": 2,}

],

}

}

)

url = ""https: //172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id="" + session_id + ""&format=json&method=slb.server.create""

print ""URL Created. URL: "" + url + "" body: "" + post_body

(repeat and rinse for all the necessary configuration tasks)

Step 3. Make the request

# Making request

req = urllib2.Request(url, post_body)

rsp = urllib2.urlopen(req)

content = rsp.read()

print ""Result: "" + content

That is it! Simple, elegant, and repeatable with minimal effort. 🙂

Here is the device blank configuration before script:

AX12#sh run | s slb<

AX12#

AX12#

Here is the output after execution:

>>>

Session Created. Session ID: 69be80219842402d45f0488c52b782

URL Created. URL: https ://172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id=69be80219842402d45f0488c52b782&format=json&method=slb.server.create body: {""server"": {""host"": ""10.0.2.128"", ""name"": ""s1"", ""port_list"": [{""protocol"": 2, ""port_num"": 80}], ""health_monitor"": ""(default)""}}

Result: {""response"": {""status"": ""OK""}}

URL Created. URL: https ://172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id=69be80219842402d45f0488c52b782&format=json&method=slb.server.create body: {""server"": {""host"": ""10.0.2.129"", ""name"": ""s2"", ""port_list"": [{""protocol"": 2, ""port_num"": 80}], ""health_monitor"": ""(default)""}}

Result: {""response"": {""status"": ""OK""}}

URL Created. URL: https ://172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id=69be80219842402d45f0488c52b782&format=json&method=slb.service_group.create body: {""service_group"": {""protocol"": 2, ""name"": ""http"", ""member_list"": [{""port"": 80, ""server"": ""s1""}, {""port"": 80, ""server"": ""s2""}], ""health_monitor"": ""ping""}}

Result: {""response"": {""status"": ""OK""}}

URL Created. URL: https ://172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id=69be80219842402d45f0488c52b782&format=json&method=slb.virtual_server.create body: {""virtual_server"": {""subnet"": {""mask_len"": 24, ""address"": ""10.0.1.122""}, ""vport_list"": [{""service_group"": ""http"", ""protocol"": 2, ""port"": 80}], ""name"": ""vip1""}}

Result: {""response"": {""status"": ""OK""}}

>>>

Device configuration after

AX12#sh run | s slb

slb server s1 10.0.2.128

   conn-limit 8000000 no-logging

   port 80  tcp

slb server s2 10.0.2.129

   conn-limit 8000000 no-logging

   port 80  tcp

slb service-group http tcp

    health-check ping

    member s1:80

    member s2:80

slb virtual-server vip1 10.0.1.122 /24

   port 80  tcp

      service-group http

AX12#

And now I can see the fantastic web page by making a request to the VIP serviced by s1:

making a request to the VIP serviced by s1

aXAPI is pretty cool. I will probably play with it more and post my progress here.

Happy Coding! Leave me a comment on how you'd like to see aXAPI integration scripts. 🙂

Here is the full script:

Note. As you can see, the next step to optimize would be to make the HTTP body construct a function to cut down the code. Also use multiprocess to thread would be nice too.
#!/usr/bin/env python


#

# v1, September 27, 2013

# by Eric Chou

#

# Reference: AX_aXAPI_Ref_v2-20121010.pdf

#


import httplib, json, urllib, urllib2


# Gets the session ID to host 172.31.31.121 (Student 12)

c = httplib.HTTPSConnection(""172.31.31.121"")

c.request(""GET"", ""/services/rest/V2/?method=authenticate&username=admin&password=a10&format=json"")

response = c.getresponse()

data = json.loads(response.read())

session_id = data['session_id']

print ""Session Created. Session ID: "" + session_id


###############################

#  Step 1. Create Servers     #

###############################


# Create slb servers s1 10.0.2.128

# Construct HTTP URL and Post Body

post_body = json.dumps(

{""server"":

{

""name"": ""s1"",

""host"": ""10.0.2.128"",

""health_monitor"": ""(default)"",

""port_list"": [

{""port_num"": 80,

""protocol"": 2,}

],

}

}

)

url = ""https ://172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id="" + session_id + ""&format=json&method=slb.server.create""

print ""URL Created. URL: "" + url + "" body: "" + post_body


# Making request

req = urllib2.Request(url, post_body)

rsp = urllib2.urlopen(req)

content = rsp.read()

print ""Result: "" + content


# Create slb server s2 10.0.2.129

post_body = json.dumps(

{""server"":

{

""name"": ""s2"",

""host"": ""10.0.2.129"",

""health_monitor"": ""(default)"",

""port_list"": [

{""port_num"": 80,

""protocol"": 2,}

],

}

}

)

url = ""https ://172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id="" + session_id + ""&format=json&method=slb.server.create""

print ""URL Created. URL: "" + url + "" body: "" + post_body


# Making request

req = urllib2.Request(url, post_body)

rsp = urllib2.urlopen(req)

content = rsp.read()

print ""Result: "" + content


####################################

#  Step 2. Create Service Group    #

####################################


# Create service group http with member server s1 and s2

post_body = json.dumps(

{""service_group"":

{

""name"": ""http"",

""protocol"": 2,

""health_monitor"": ""ping"",

""member_list"": [

{""server"": ""s1"",

""port"": 80,},

{""server"": ""s2"",

""port"": 80,},

],

}

}

)

url = ""https ://172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id="" + session_id + ""&format=json&method=slb.service_group.create""

print ""URL Created. URL: "" + url + "" body: "" + post_body


# Making request

req = urllib2.Request(url, post_body)

rsp = urllib2.urlopen(req)

content = rsp.read()

print ""Result: "" + content


#####################################

#  Step 3. Create Virtual Server    #

#####################################


# Create virtual server

post_body = json.dumps(

{""virtual_server"":

{

""name"": ""vip1"",

""subnet"":

{

""address"": ""10.0.1.122"",

""mask_len"": 24,

},

""vport_list"": [

{""protocol"": 2,

""port"": 80,

""service_group"": ""http"",

},

],

}

}

)

url = ""https ://172.31.31.121/services/rest/V2/?&session_id="" + session_id + ""&format=json&method=slb.virtual_server.create""

print ""URL Created. URL: "" + url + "" body: "" + post_body


# Making request

req = urllib2.Request(url, post_body)

rsp = urllib2.urlopen(req)

content = rsp.read()

print ""Result: "" + content

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Paul Nicholson
Paul Nicholson
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October 3, 2013

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