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elastic_82555's avatar
elastic_82555
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Sep 24, 2013
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Retrieving VS, pool, and nodes from F5

Hi, Using Chef extensively internally, and now would like to take all the node ip's(hostnames) out of chef, then programatically(using RESTful) interface, query the F5, to retrieve the nodes, pool and untimately the VS ip address. This will allow me to dynamically build a page which can be updated in real-time to allow us a dynamic view of our current network, which will give front end VS(dns/ip's), back end nodes(dns/ip's), then we can populate this further with metadata from chef.

  For now I have been able to pull a list of all front end VS, and all node ip's.  But I am having serious problems trying to successfully get a mapping from node to VS.  Probably I need to iterate over all the pools, but I am unable to get a list of all the pools, for now only a subset....eg...
        curl -k -u admin:password -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X GET https://192.168.1.1/mgmt/tm/ltm/pool?\$expand=* |python -m json.tool</mypassword>
`


This only returns 6 items, basically only "objects"(sorry on terminology), that appear at the root of the /common partition.  It does not appear to go down further.  I have over 50 pools, but seem only to be able to list pools with no path  eg  /common = OK,  /common/Myapp will not display.    I am happy to iterate over them, but for that I would need to understand how to get a list to iterate over in the first place.   


`    Would be happy to do this over iControl soap interface instead, if that is easier, but the RESTful interface just seems easier.   

                 Any help or advice greatly appreciated.

                                                                                                         Sc0tt...
cloud
devops
iApps
iControl
management
TMSH
vmware
  • mhite_60883's avatar
    mhite_60883
    Oct 09, 2013

    Example Python code:

     

    try:
    logging.info("Connecting to BIG-IP and pulling statistics...")
    b = bigsuds.BIGIP(hostname=ltm_host, username=user, password=password)
    logging.info("Requesting session...")
    b = b.with_session_id()
except bigsuds.Connecti , detail:
    logging.critical("Unable to connect to BIG-IP. Details: %s" % pformat(detail))
    sys.exit(1)
logging.info("Setting recursive query state to enabled...")
b.System.Session.set_recursive_query_state(state='STATE_ENABLED')
logging.info("Switching active folder to root...")
b.System.Session.set_active_folder(folder="/")

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  • elastic_82555's avatar
    elastic_82555
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Sep 24, 2013
    From withing tmsh, the pool can be retreived as follows:- list ltm pool Myapp_as.app/Myapp_as_pool However, this syntax does not seem to work via the RESTful interface, ie... curl -k -u admin:password -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X GET https://192.168.1.1/mgmt/tm/ltm/pool/Myapp_as.app/Myapp_as_pool |python -m json.tool
  • elastic_82555's avatar
    elastic_82555
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Sep 24, 2013
    Hi, Just some further information. The additional pools I am trying to retireve from the RESTful interface are created by iApps, and take the form as follows:- /Common/Myapp_as.app Myapp_as_pool This may be the reason why I cannot retrieve them, so it is probably something fundamental I am missing/doing. thanks Sc0tt....
  • mhite_60883's avatar
    mhite_60883
    Icon for Cirrocumulus rankCirrocumulus
    Sep 27, 2013

    Not sure how to do this with the REST API, but you need to set recursive mode on. Otherwise you'll receive only the current partition and not its subfolders.

     

  • elastic_82555's avatar
    elastic_82555
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Oct 09, 2013

    Hi, Thanks for the suggestion, and not aware of how do do this with the REST API, but I also tried the same on the SOAP API, and again I get the same answer, with all the missing servers, so I also don't know how to turn recursive mode on for the SOAP API. Any hints on how to do so, appreciated.

     

  • mhite_60883's avatar
    mhite_60883
    Icon for Cirrocumulus rankCirrocumulus
    Oct 09, 2013

    Example Python code:

     

    try:
    logging.info("Connecting to BIG-IP and pulling statistics...")
    b = bigsuds.BIGIP(hostname=ltm_host, username=user, password=password)
    logging.info("Requesting session...")
    b = b.with_session_id()
except bigsuds.Connecti , detail:
    logging.critical("Unable to connect to BIG-IP. Details: %s" % pformat(detail))
    sys.exit(1)
logging.info("Setting recursive query state to enabled...")
b.System.Session.set_recursive_query_state(state='STATE_ENABLED')
logging.info("Switching active folder to root...")
b.System.Session.set_active_folder(folder="/")
  • elastic_82555's avatar
    elastic_82555
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Oct 10, 2013

    Hi, Yes, that was the magic. Using the ruby icontrol, and using the example filelist-virtual-servers.rb, here are the code changes

     

    bigip = F5::IControl.new(bigip_address, bigip_user, bigip_pass, ["LocalLB.VirtualServer", "LocalLB.Rule", "System.Session"]).get_interface   
   sapi = bigip["System.Session"]
   puts "recursive query state = ", sapi.get_recursive_query_state.to_s
 sapi.set_recursive_query_state(state='STATE_ENABLED')
 puts "recursive query state = ", sapi.get_recursive_query_state.to_s

 The rest of the code is left as is, and this produces the entire list.

    Also for further reference, used the following links to fill in the background on "folders" with F5.

     

    https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/icontrol-101-24-folders

     

    many thanks