The purpose of the Automation lab is to introduce participants to Nutanix REST API’s and developer tools that can be used to exercise the API’s, view their results, and implement a sequence of API calls in a script to automate workflows.
The Automation Lab starts with an introduction to REST, HTTP, Client/Server architecture, JSON, and an overview of Nutanix REST API Explorer. The introduction is followed by a set of exercises designed to walk participants through navigating the REST API Explorer, locating specific commands, executing the commands, and observing the results using both the Swagger generated API Explorer (Prism), and Postman (3^rd^ party API toolchain). Participants will then implement several commands using cURL.
The following is a list of hardware and software requirements needed to execute and complete the lab.
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Understanding of HTTP, and REST.
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Comfortable with Bash/Batch shell scripting, or other programming language/runtime.
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Familiar with both Postman™ and Prism Element™
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HPOCS Nutanix Hardware
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Laptop, 10Base-T, CAT5/CAT6 ethernet cable.
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Postman™ v4.10.7.
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Jq© v1.5
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Windows 2k12 Server™ .iso (smb://pocfs.nutanixdc.local/iso).
The REST (Web Services) APIs (i.e. WS-API) allow users to author scripts or integrate with 3^rd^ platform solutions, designed to automate the execution of system administration commands against a Nutanix endpoint or resource. The API is designed to expose backend data of a Nutanix cluster that can be read or written to using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems, and is the foundation for data communication for the World Wide Web. HTTP is a generic and stateless protocol which can be used for other purposes (i.e. Web Services, or RESTful API’s), including extensions of built-in request methods, error codes, and headers.
HTTP is based on the client-server architecture model and a stateless request/response protocol that operates by exchanging messages across a reliable TCP/IP connection.
An HTTP "client" is a program (Web browser, thick-client, script, etc.) that establishes a connection to a server for the purpose of sending one or more HTTP request messages. An HTTP "server" is a program (i.e. Apache web-server running on the CVM) that accepts connections in order to serve HTTP requests by sending HTTP response messages.
Client: sends a request-line to the server in the form of a request-method, URI, and protocol-version, followed by a MIME-like message containing request modifiers, client information, and possibly entity-body content (i.e. JSON) over a TCP/IP connection.
Server: responds with a status-line, including the message's protocol-version and a status-code (success or error code), followed by a MIME-like message containing server information, entity meta information, and possibly entity-body content (i.e. JSON).
HTTP makes use of the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to identify a given resource and establish a connection. Once the connection is established, HTTP messages are passed between client and server. These messages include requests from client to server and responses from server to client: HTTP-message = <Request> | <Response> ; [^1]HTTP/1.1 messages
Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) are formatted, case-insensitive strings containing name, location, etc., to identify a resource, for example, a website, or a web service (i.e. abs_path = /PrismGateway/Services/rest/v2.0/vms/). A general syntax of URI used for HTTP is as follows:
[^2]URI = “http:” “//” host [“:” port] [abs_path [“?” query]]
HTTP request(s) and response(s) use a generic message format for transferring required data. This generic message format consists of the following:
start-line [request-line | status-line]:
The request-line is initiated by the client and begins with a request-method specifying the action to be taken, followed by a request-URI identifying the resource the action is to be performed on, and ending with the protocol-version to determine the handshaking. The following are list of common [^3]request-methods found in most REST API implementations.
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GET: Retrieves information from a specified server for a given URI (resource).
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POST: Sends data to a specified server to create a resource for a given URI (resource).
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PUT: Update data for a specified resource for a given URI (resource).
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DELETE: Remove a resource instance for a given URI (resource).
e.g. request-line: GET /vms/ HTTP/1.1
A status-line is initiated by the server and consists of the protocol-version followed by a numeric status-code and associated textual phrase. The status-code element is a 3-digit integer where the first digit defines the class of response, and last 2 digits define detail.
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1XX: [Informational] Request was received and in-process.
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2XX: [Success] Request successfully received understood, and accepted.
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3XX: [Redirection] further action is required to complete request
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4XX: [Client Error] request contains incorrect syntax or can’t be fulfilled.
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5XX: [Server Error] server failed to fulfill the request.
e.g. status-line: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
header [field-name “:” [field-value]]:
The header provides information that qualifies the request or response messages, to include the message-body (assuming it exists). Header field-names and field-values vary depending on if the message is a request or response, and if there’s a message-body attached:
message-body (optional):
The message carries the entity-body associated with the request or response. If entity-body is present, **content-type **and content-length header lines specify the nature of the body (in the context of a REST API’s content-type: application/json, content-length: size of JSON in bytes).
Both the request and response message payloads in REST API implementations use a lightweight, self-describing data-interchange referred to as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) used to structure data (as text) composed of objects containing <key,value> pairs, or arrays of objects. Since JSON format is text, it can easily be sent to and from a server, and consumed by any programming language.
JSON syntax is derived from JavaScript Object Notation syntax where:
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Data is organized using key,value pairs, and separated by commas (“,”).
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Curly braces (“{“, “}”) hold objects containing key,value pairs.
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Square brackets ([ ]) hold arrays of objects.
A key/value pair consists of a field name (in double quotes), followed by a colon, followed by a value: e.g. "model":"nx3160". In JSON, values must be one of the following data types:
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String (values are in double quote “ ” notation)
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Number (must be integer or floating point)
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Object (surrounded by curly bracket { } notation. Can have embedded objects.)
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Array (square bracket [ ] notation, indexed by integers starting at 0)
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Boolean (literal: true or false)
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Null (written as null)
The following JSON example defines a Nutanix “disks” array, containing 3 “disk” objects:
{“disks":[
{“disk”:{ "vendor":"seagate", "type":"hdd", "capacity":8000000000000,“encrypted”:
false}, “device_bus”=”scsi”},
{“disk”:{ "vendor":"seagate", "type":"hdd", "capacity":8000000000000,“encrypted”:
false}, “device_bus”=”scsi”},
{“disk”:{ "vendor":"toshiba", "type":"ssd",
"capacity":1200000000000,“encrypted”: false}, “device_bus”=”scsi”}
]}
The Nutanix REST API Explorer is written and formatted using an API framework called Swagger (governed by Apache license v2.0), used to describe and document RESTful APIs. The framework generates an interactive API document users can visualize and interact with, which Nutant’s commonly refer to as the Nutanix REST API Explorer.
The explorer is an expandable/collapsible, interactive hypertext document, organized by top-level resources (i.e. images, vms, hosts, storage containers, etc…), and their associated HTTP request operations (i.e**. GET, POST, DELETE, PUT**). When a resource operation is expanded, consumers are provided with descriptions, JSON Model definitions, and request/response panes for viewing messages and header and information.
Users navigate the explorer by scanning the document for a top-level resource (i.e. vms) they want to perform work on. Once a resource has been located, users can then expand the resource by performing a mouse-click on the resource name, exposing the supported HTTP request operations. Users can then interact with, and manipulate a resource instance using a given request operation from within the explorer view.
The following illustration shows a message-body formatted in JSON used for creating a Virtual Machine (VM) using POST as defined using the Nutanix REST API Explorer.
The following illustration shows a message-body formatted in JSON for creating a Virtual Machine (VM) using POST from within the Nutanix REST API Explorer.
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In this section, participants will navigate the Nutanix REST API Explorer, execute a subset of API commands, and interpret their results.
The goal and/or objectives of this exercise include:
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Learn how to navigate and interact with the REST API Explorer.
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Understand how to locate REST endpoints, resources, and their associated operations (i.e. GET, POST, DELETE, and PUT).
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Learn how to successfully manage the lifecycle of a VM using HTTP request operations (i.e. GET, POST, DELETE, and PUT), and interpret their response and/or status codes.
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Learn how to apply requirements, and collect associated resource data to construct JSON needed for VM creation.
Steps:
- In this sequence of tasks, participants will prepare the AOS+AHV environment by creating a storage container labeled ISOs, and uploading the Windows™ Server 2012 R2 and Nutanix Virt-IO ISO images to the ISOs storage container needed for VM creation.
Note: If you’ve previously created the ISOs storage container and uploaded the .iso images, you may skip this task sequence and move on the to the next step.
a. Start a Prism™ Element Console session opening a browser instance and connect to Prism Element’s target IP address: e.g. https://10.68.69.102:9440.
b. From the dashboard pulldown menu, select the Storage dashboard
a. Create a storage container to persist the Windows ™ and NGT virt-io .iso images by performing a mouse-click on the + Storage Container button
a. In the Create Storage Container dialog box, create a container named ISOs from the default storage pool. Click the Save button when done.
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Upload the Windows™ .iso image to the ISOs container
a. From the Gear icon menu, select the Image Configuration link
a. In the Image Configuration dialog box, mouse-click the +Upload Image button
a. In the Create Image dialog box, complete the fields as shown below:
a. Mouse-click Choose File button.
b. Select the Windows™ ISO file from the location where you saved it to.
c. Mouse-click Save button.
d. Repeat Step-2, substituting Windows™ .iso image with NGT virt-io .iso image.
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In this step, you’ll locate and launch the REST API Explorer.
a. From the Prism™ UI, select REST API Explorer link from the Admin dropdown menu:
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In the next set of tasks, you’ll locate the vms resource in the REST API Explorer, and issue the GET /vms/ API command to retrieve all of the configured VM’s in the cluster. This is a check-point to quickly inventory what VM’s currently exist. Its recommended participants delete any existing VM’s using Prism™ before proceeding…
a. Using the REST API Explorer, locate the vms resource and mouse-click List Operations to expand.
b. The Explorer should appear as follows:
a. Mouse-click GET /vms/ to expand the operation. The page should appear as follows:
a. Mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue an HTTP GET /vms/ request.
b. The Response Body (shown above) should show a key:value of “count”:0 with a Response-Code 200 (Reference Appendix C for additional Response Codes).
EXPECTED RESULTS: “count”:0 //indicates \#of VM’s configured.
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In the following sequence of tasks participants will create and validate a POST /vms/ JSON message-body used as a template to define a Windows™ Guest VM.
a. We’ll start this exercise by modeling our JSON message-body using the template provided below. The template is a subset of the overall model scheme, containing a minimum-set of data needed for VM creation. Template verification is required to insure we start with a known working model. JSON verification can be achieved using a JSON Validator tool. Copy and paste the scheme below into the JSON FORMATTER & VALIDATOR tool textbox and mouse-click the Process button.
\*\*\*CUT-N-PASTE JSON SCHEME BELOW\*\*\*
{"description":"test","guest_os":"string","memory_mb":0,"name":"string","num_cores_per_vcpu":0,"num_vcpus":0,"vm_disks":[{"disk_address":{"device_bus":"ide","device_index":0},"is_cdrom":true,"is_empty":false,"vm_disk_clone":{"disk_address":{"vmdisk_uuid":"string"}}},{"disk_address":{"device_bus":"scsi","device_index":0},"vm_disk_create":{"storage_container_uuid":"string","size":0}},{"disk_address":{"device_bus":"ide","device_index":1},"is_cdrom":true,"is_empty":false,"vm_disk_clone":{"disk_address":{"vmdisk_uuid":"string"}}}],"hypervisor_type":"ACROPOLIS","affinity":null}
a. The results should appear as follows:
a. Make the recommended changes as needed.
b. Repeat steps ‘a’ - ‘c’ until JSON is valid.
c. Using the REST API Explorer, locate and expand the vms resource (if needed). Search for the POST /vms/ API. Once found, mouse-click to expand the POST operation.
d. Copy the validated JSON from the Formatted JSON Data textbox and paste it into the JSON message-body of the POST /vms/ API as shown:
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In the next set of tasks, we’ll begin constructing the JSON message-body. The message-body defines the VM’s name, compute, core-count, memory, and references to both the image and storage-container resources needed for VM imaging and VM runtime. We’ll begin by collecting the required storage-container and image resource references (i.e. UUIDs) for VM DISK and STORAGE CONTAINER id’s.
a. Using the REST API Explorer, locate the storage_containers resource and mouse-click List Operations to expand.
b. The Explorer should appear as follows:
a. Mouse-click GET /storage_containers/ API to expand the operation.
b. Mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue an HTTP GET /storage_containers/ request.
c. Verify the request executed successfully by checking for a Response Code of 200 (Reference Appendix C for additional Response Codes as needed for debug).
d. Scroll through the Response Body and locate the storage container instance with key:value “name”:”default-container-NNN”, where ‘NNN’ is a long sequence of integers.
e. Once you’ve located key:value “name”:”default-container-NNN”, where ‘NNN’ is a sequence of integers, copy the value corresponding to the “storage container uuid” key. Paste the value to notepad for future use.
NOTE: The value will be used for the “storage container uuid” key:value within the POST /vms/ JSON message-body.
a. Continue to scroll through the Response Body and locate the storage container instance with key:value “name”:”ISOs”.
b. Once key:value “name”:”ISOs” has been located, copy the value corresponding to the “storage container uuid” key. Paste the value to notepad for future use…
NOTE: The value will be used for referencing the “storage container uuid” key:value within the GET /images/ resource Response Body.
a. Now we’ll need to locate the vmdisk references for each of the .iso images we created earlier using Prism™ Image Services. These .iso images are needed to create the Windows™ Guest VM, and are located in the images resource.
b. Using the REST API Explorer, locate the images resource and mouse-click List Operations to expand.
c. The Explorer should appear as follows:
d. Mouse-click the GET /images/ API to expand the operation.
e. Mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue an HTTP GET /images/ request.
f. Verify the request executed successfully by checking for a Response Code of 200 (Reference Appendix C for additional Response Codes if needed for debug).
o. Scroll through the Response Body and locate “storage_container_uuid” key and cross-reference its value with the value previously discovered and saved for the storage_container resource instance ISOs “storage_container_uuid” key.
p. Once a match has been found, cross-reference the image resource instance key:value(s): “name”:”Nutanix Virt-IO”, and “name”:”Windows Server 2012 R2”. Copy and paste the values for each “vm_disk_id” key to notepad, tagging each value with the corresponding image resource instance “name”.
o. Now we can complete the construction of the POST /vms/ JSON message-body. Using the REST API Explorer, locate and expand the vms resource (if needed). Expand the POST /vms/ API (if needed). Edit the JSON message-body template using the following values:
Description : Tech Summit 2017
guest\_os : Windows Server 2012 R2
memory\_mb : 4096 (MB)
name : W2K12R2
num\_cores\_per\_vcpu : 2
num\_vcpus : 1
vm\_disk\_0: **\[CDROM mounted w/Windows™ Server 2012 R2 ISO\]**
device\_bus : ide (IDE Device)
device\_index : 0 (BUS ADDR: 0)
is\_cdrom : true (CDROM: true)
is\_empty : false (CDROM: has ISO)
vm\_disk\_clone :
disk\_address :
vmdisk\_uuid : \[vmdisk\_id from image resource instance - windows
iso\]
vm\_disk\_1: **\[Container/Datastore to be provisioned from Default
Storage Pool\]**
device\_bus : scsi (SCSI Device)
device\_index : 0 (BUS ADDR: 0)
vm\_disk\_create :
storage\_container\_uuid: \[uuid from “default” storage\_container
res instance\]
size : 10737418240 (BYTES)
vm\_disk\_2: **\[CDROM mounted w/Nutanix Virt-IO ISO\]**
device\_bus : ide (IDE Device)
device\_index : 1 (BUS ADDR: 1)
is\_cdrom : true (CDROM: true)
is\_empty : false (CDROM: has ISO)
vm\_disk\_clone :
disk\_address :
vmdisk\_uuid : \[vmdisk\_id from image resource instance - virt-io
iso\]
p. The POST /vms/ JSON message-body should look as follows:
o. The final JSON message-body needs to be verified prior to issuing an HTTP POST /vms/ request. Verification can be achieved using a JSON Validator tool. Copy and paste the JSON message-body into the JSON FORMATTER & VALIDATOR tool textbox and mouse-click the Process button. Make edits as needed. Repeat validation until successful.
Note: If there were corrections to the JSON, copy the entire JSON body from the validator and paste it into the POST /vms/ JSON message-body.
o. Once the JSON has successfully completed validation, mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue an HTTP POST /vms/ request.
p. Verify the HTTP POST /vms/ request was successful by verifying Response code 201.
o. Verify the VM can be read using the GET /vms/ API. Using the REST API Explorer, Navigate to GET /vms/ API, and mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue an HTTP GET /vms/ request. The page should look similar as follows:
o. Verify the new VM is visible in Prism™ Element.
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In the following sequence of tasks, participants will power the Windows Guest VM ON/OFF using the POST /vms/{uuid}/set_power_state/ API. We’ll first verify the current power-state of the Guest VM, and capture the Guest VM UUID to be used as a parameter for issuing the HTTP POST /vms/{uuid}/set_power_state/ request.
a. Using the REST API Explorer, navigate to vms resource and mouse-click List Operations to expand (if needed).
b. Navigate to GET /vms/ API, and mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue an HTTP GET /vms/ request.
c. Scroll through the Response Body to verify the Windows Guest VM Power State is “off”. Copy the VM’s “uuid” key value and paste it to notebook or clipboard for future reference.
d. Navigate to POST /vms/{uuid}/set_power_state/, and mouse-click the API to expand (if needed).
e. Click on the Model textbox to move the scheme to the JSON message-body.
f. Paste the VM’s “uuid” key value in the “uuid” key value field of the JSON message-body, to include the uuid textbox field. Set the “transition” key value to “ON”. Remove host_uuid key from the JSON message-body.
a. Mouse-click Try it out! button to issue an POST /vms/{uuid}/set_power_state/ request. Verify Response Code (201).
b. Verify the Windows Guest VM Power State has changed using the REST API Explorer. Navigate to GET /vms/ API and expand (if needed). Mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue an HTTP GET /vms/ request.
c. Verify Response Code 200. Scroll through the Response Body to verify Power State reflects “ON”.
a. Verify the VM power state is visible and powered on in Prism™ Element.
a. To power off the Windows Guest VM, use the REST API Explorer to navigate back the POST /vms/{uuid}/set_power_state/ API, and click to expand (if needed).
b. Edit the power state in the JSON message-body from “ON” to “OFF”. Be sure the uuid represents the correct VM target to be powered down.
a. Mouse-click Try it out! button to issue POST /vms/{uuid}/set_power_state/ request. Verify Response Code 201 to insure the command executed successfully.
b. Using the REST API Explorer, navigate to GET /vms/ API and expand (if needed). Mouse-click Try it out! button to issue HTTP GET /vms/ request. Check that the Windows Guest VM power-state is “off”.
- In the following sequence of tasks, participants will delete the Windows Guest VM using the REST API.
Note: DELETE destroys the VM using the VM’s uuid inline as part of the URI. There’s no JSON message-body to edit. The DELETE command also gives the user the option to delete any existing snapshots, and will continue even if the VM is powered ON, making the DELETE operation an idempotent action.
a. Using the REST API Explorer, navigate to DELETE /vms/{uuid}/ and expand (if needed).
b. Paste the target VM’s “uuid” key value in the “uuid” field, and mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue HTTP DELETE /vms/{uuid}/ request.
a. Using the REST API Explorer, navigate to GET /vms/ API and expand (if needed). Mouse-click the Try it out! button to issue an HTTP GET /vms/ request. Verify that the Windows™ Guest VM has been deleted.
a. Verify the VM is no longer visible in Prism™ Element.
In the following set of tasks, you will learn to combine the Nutanix REST API Explorer generated URL and JSON scheme’s with Postman to Create, Read, Update, and Delete a Windows™ Server 2012 R2 VM using REST API’s.
The goal and/or objectives of this exercise include:
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Learn how to use Postman to issue REST requests.
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Create Collections of REST API commands within Postman, Import/Export the Collections.
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Learn how to Autorun and test REST API commands within Postman.
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Learn how to generate code from Postman Collections.
-
Setup
a. Create a directory “postman” on your local filesystem.
b. Under the postman directory create the following subdirectories:
i. postman.collections ii. postman.testrunc. Copy the Postman archive/installer from the student-kit (flash drive) to the new postman directory.
Note: If on Mac OSX, unzip the bundle in the directory. If windows run the “setup” installer.
a. Once installed and or unzipped, launch postman. On Mac OSX you might see the following:
a. Click “Open” to proceed.
b. Postman should launch successfully
c. In some instances, you might see an Update request. Proceed by clicking “Remind me later” button and continue.
d. It’s recommended (but not required) to create an account to leverage some of the more advanced Postman features. If you have an account or choose to create one, click the “Sign In” button in the upper right of Postman’s main landing page and follow the steps provided by Postman. Otherwise proceed to the next step and use as-is.
a. Disable SSL Certificates by navigating Postman Main Menu and select “Preferences”.
a. Toggle “SSL certificate verification to “off”. Insure other settings are the same as follows:
a. Once settings have been changed, restart Postman.
Note: For additional document on using Postman, click the wrench icon in the upper right and select “Documentation”.
**
**
- Creating Postman collections. In this section, we’ll explore the creation of collections within Postman that can be leveraged to simplify the execution of REST APIs using Postman’s main application pane.
Note: A collection lets you group individual requests together. These requests can be
further organized into folders to accurately mirror the API. Requests can also store sample responses when saved in a collection. You can add metadata like name and
description too so that all the information that a user needs to use the API is easily accessible.
a. Start collection creation by clicking on “Collections” and the clicking the “Create New Collection Icon”.
a. Enter the collection Name “Nutanix” and a brief description as show below. Click Create button to save.
a. Create a subfolder under the Nutanix collection, by clicking the ellipses to access the dropdown menu and select Add Folder
a. Create the Add Folder by adding the name ‘V2:Images’, followed by a brief description, and then click Create button to save.
a. Repeat steps c & d to create the following subfolders
i. V2:VMS
ii. V2:StorageContainers
b. Results should appear as follows:
a. Now we’ll add requests (i.e. Nutanix REST APIs) to our newly created collection folders. This is accomplished using the following workflow:
i. Navigate the **Nutanix V2 REST API Explorer** to find the target
API to be added to a Postman collection.
ii. Execute the API within the REST API Explorer. Copy the **Request
URL** and paste to Postman’s execution tab.
iii. Select **Basic Authentication** within Postman and enter the
Prism console’s username and password.
iv. Select the appropriate HTTP request type (i.e. GET, POST, etc…)
within Postman and click **Send. **
Note: If executing a POST command, a JSON body will need to be entered in Postman to do work on a target resource instance.
i. Upon successful execution, click Save button and save the command to the proper collection folder.
a. Login into Prism Element, click Admin, and select REST API Explorer from the dropdown menu.
a. From the REST API Explorer, find the “GET /VMS/” API request and execute the API by clicking Try it out! button.
b. Upon successful execution (Response code: 200), copy the Request URL and paste it to Postman’s execution tab.
REST API Explorer – Copy Request URL:
Postman Execution tab – Paste URL:
a. Within Postman, click Authorization link, select type Basic Auth. Add Prism Elements username and password to their appropriate fields, and check “Save helper data to request”
a. Within Postman, insure GET is the selected HTTP request type, click Send button, and check for successful execution (Status: 200 OK).
a. Upon successful execution, click Save button. A Modal Dialog titled SAVE REQUEST should appear with the Request Name prepopulated with the Request URL that was just executed. Add a Request description, and click Save to existing collection / folder. Select Nutanix, and then V2:VMS. Click Save button when completed to save and close dialog.
a. The Collections within Postman should now show the new request added to folder Nutanix, V2:VMS .
a. Complete the following GET request operations using the REST API Explorer, and adding them to their appropriate Postman Collection folders.
i. GET StorageContainers (Nutanix-->V2:StorageContainers)
ii. GET Images (Nutanix-->V2:Images)
b. Using the REST API Explorer, navigate to, and expand the POST /vms/ API, define the JSON body, and execute the POST request.
Note: Assuming you’ve successfully completed adding GET /images/ and GET /storage_containers/ to Postman Collections, you can execute those requests within Postman by selecting the appropriate collection and clicking Send button to get the needed <key,value> pairs to build the POST /vms/ JSON body.
a. Upon successful execution of the of the POST /vms/ command from the REST API Explorer, copy the Request URL to Postman Execution tab. Set the HTTP Request type to POST.
a. Configure Authorization Type within Postman by selecting Basic Auth. Insure the username and password is set correctly, and Save helper data to request checkbox is checked.
a. Within Postman, click on Body, click raw, and click text to select JSON (application/json) from the dropdown menu.
a. Within the REST API Explorer, copy the JSON body used to create the VM to the text field within Postman’s execution pane, and click Send button.
a. The results should look similar as follows with a status of 201 Created:
Note: The task_uuid will most likely look different
a. Upon successful execution, click Save button. A Modal Dialog titled SAVE REQUEST should appear with the Request Name prepopulated with the Request URL that was just executed. Add a Request description, and click Save to existing collection / folder. Select Nutanix, followed by V2:VMS. Click Save button when completed to save and close dialog.
a. Repeat the steps above to add the following requests to their respective collection folder:
i. POST /vms/{uuid}/set\_power\_state (Nutanix-->V2:VMS)
ii. Delete /vms/{uuid}/ (Nutanix-->V2:VMS)
b. When complete, the Postman Nutanix collections should show 6 requests, and structured as follows:
a. At this point you should be able to run the various requests within Postman. And view the data as needed.
Note: Please take the time to run the commands/requests within Postman to get an understanding of how to execute commands and view the results.
In the following set of tasks, you will learn to leverage the Collections and Requests created in Postman to generate cURL code that can be ran from a terminal.
Once you’ve finalized and saved your requests in a Postman Collection, you might want to make the same request from your own application. Postman lets you generate snippets of code in various languages and frameworks that will help you do this. You’ll need to click the Generate Code link under the blue Send button to access this feature.
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Generate cURL code from existing requests within a Postman Collection
a. Using Postman, select your Nutanix collection defined from the previous tasks.
b. Select the GET request in Nutanix/V2:VMS, and the click Code under the Save button next to the blue Send button.
a. Select cURL from the dropdown menu. Add “--insecure” just after the curl command and before the –X. Click Copy to Clipboard button
Note: --insecure is required since we’re not using certificates…
a. Open a terminal (windows: cmd) session and paste the clipboard content to the command line, and hit enter. The cURL command should execute, generating the following output:
a. The above is raw output from curl, and represents JSON as a string.
b. In this exercise you should generate curl commands using Postman for each of the requests in the Nutanix Collection you’ve created.
i. Read the Storage Containers using - GET storage\_containers
ii. Read the images using - GET images
iii. Read the VM’s using - GET vms
iv. Create a VM using - POST vms
v. Power ON/OFF a VM using - POST vms/(uuid}/set\_power\_state
\[on|off\]
vi. Delete a VM using - DEL vms/{uuid}
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