Bug (ID 775845) Workaround; REST API httpd restart

The code finds the httpd processes and kills them off; then restarts the service. It also grabs diagnostic and command runtime output data and sends it to the logs that the Python script uses to determine if the restart was successful.

Then the following Python script performs the restart of the httpd using a series of REST API calls that put the script on the VM or host, then executes the bash script. Additional REST API bash commands are executed to fetch parts of the log to verify if the restart was a success or not.

PLEASE NOTE: The Python code below will NOT execute on its own. It requires an outside loop and homegrown/written functions that do not exist natively in Python, but the gist is there; showing how I was able to get this working, working around the bug.

The above batch script is encoded in base64, and if you care, copy the encoded text found in the code below, and put it into a text file. Pipe that text file into "bash64 -d" and it will out the above bash script.  I did this to effectively be able to upload the script utilizing the REST API bash command to write the script to a file that could be executed. I could not find any other reliable way to ensure the script was present on the F5.

# Restart the "httpd" service to read and apply the new certificate bundle.
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
# Create (if it does not exist) the directory path: /opt/scripts
doLog("info", "Creating installation directory (/opt/scripts) on "+str(aHost))
cpURL = "https://"+aHost+"/mgmt/tm/util/bash"
headers = { "content-type" : "application/json", "X-F5-Auth-Token" : str(f5AuthToken)}
theData = { "command": "run",
            "utilCmdArgs": "-c 'mkdir -p /opt/scripts'" }
apiResponse = requests.post(cpURL, headers=headers, verify=False, json=theData)
try:
    apiData = json.loads(apiResponse.text)
except:
    apiData = apiResponse.__dict__
doLog("info", "Directory Create Result: "+str(apiData))
 
# Ensure that the script that will perform the restart and get status info is 
# installed on the F5 host in /opt/scripts/restart_httpd.sh
# The script has been encoded with base64 to prevent the execution of lines and 
# other issues with REST API bash command.
 
script_body = ('Iy9iaW4vYmFzaAojIFBhdXNlLCByZXN0YXJ0IGh0dHBkCiMgR3JlZyBKZXdldHQsIDIwMjEtMDgt'
            'MjYsIGpld2V0dGdAYXVzdGluLnV0ZXhhcy5lZHUKIwojIEEga25vd24gYnVnIChCdWcgSUQgNzc1'
            'ODQ1KSB3aGVuIHVzaW5nIHRoZSBSRVNUIEFQSSB0byByZXN0YXJ0IHRoZSBodHRwZCBzZXJ2aWNl'
            'LiAgCiMgVGhlIHBhdXNlIGlzIHRvIGFsbG93IHRoZSBSRVNUIEFQSSBjYWxsIHRvIGNvbXBsZXRl'
            'LCBhcyBzY3JpcHQgd2lsbCBiZSBsYXVuY2hlZCAKIyBpbiBiYWNrZ3JvdW5kLCBhbmQgc2hvdWxk'
            'IGhhdmUgc3VjY2Vzc2Z1bCBleGl0IGNvZGUuIFRoaXMgc2NyaXB0IHByb3ZpZGVzIGFuIAojIGlt'
            'bWVkaWF0ZSBmaXggdG8gYnJpbmcgZW52aXJvbm1lbnQgYmFjayB1cCwgd2l0aG91dCBtYW51YWxs'
            'eSByZXN0YXJ0aW5nIHRoZSAKIyBodHRwZCBkYWVtb24gb24gZWFjaCBWTSBvciBob3N0LgoKc2Vy'
            'dmljZSBodHRwZCBzdGF0dXMgfCBsb2dnZXIgLXAgbG9jYWwwLm5vdGljZSAtdCBSU1RfSFRUUEQK'
            'bG9nZ2VyIC1wIGxvY2FsMC5ub3RpY2UgLXQgUlNUX0hUVFBEIFdhaXRpbmcgMiBzZWNvbmRzLi4u'
            'CnNsZWVwIDJzCmxvZ2dlciAtcCBsb2NhbDAubm90aWNlIC10IFJTVF9IVFRQRCBSZXN0YXJ0aW5n'
            'IGh0dHBkIGRhZW1vbgoKdGhlcGlkcz1gcGdyZXAgLWQgIiAiIC1mICIvdXNyL3NiaW4vaHR0cGQi'
            'YAplY2hvICJodHRwZCBwaWRzIGFyZTogJHRoZXBpZHMiIHwgbG9nZ2VyIC1wIGxvY2FsMC5ub3Rp'
            'Y2UgLXQgUlNUX0hUVFBECmZvciBhUGlkIGluICR0aGVwaWRzOyBkbwoJZWNobyAiS2lsbGluZyBQ'
            'SUQgJGFQaWQiIHwgbG9nZ2VyIC1wIGxvY2FsMC5ub3RpY2UgLXQgUlNUX0hUVFBECglraWxsIC05'
            'ICRhUGlkCmRvbmUKc2VydmljZSBodHRwZCBzdGFydCB8IGxvZ2dlciAtcCBsb2NhbDAubm90aWNl'
            'IC10IFJTVF9IVFRQRApzZXJ2aWNlIGh0dHBkIHN0YXR1cyB8IGxvZ2dlciAtcCBsb2NhbDAubm90'
            'aWNlIC10IFJTVF9IVFRQRApsb2dnZXIgLXAgbG9jYWwwLm5vdGljZSAtdCBSU1RfSFRUUEQgRG9u'
            'ZQo=')
 
doLog("info", "Installing 'restart_httpd.sh' script on "+str(aHost))
cpURL = "https://"+aHost+"/mgmt/tm/util/bash"
headers = { "content-type" : "application/json", "X-F5-Auth-Token" : str(f5AuthToken)}
theData = { "command": "run",
            "utilCmdArgs": "-c 'echo \'"+script_body+"\' | base64 -d > /opt/scripts/restart_httpd.sh'" }
apiResponse = requests.post(cpURL, headers=headers, verify=False, json=theData)
try:
    apiData = json.loads(apiResponse.text)
except:
    apiData = apiResponse.__dict__
doLog("info", "Install Result: "+str(apiData))
 
# Execute the script that was uploaded to the F5; and restart the httpd daemon
 
doLog("info", "Restarting the httpd service on "+str(aHost))
cpURL = "https://"+aHost+"/mgmt/tm/util/bash"
theData = { "command": "run",
            "utilCmdArgs": "-c '/bin/bash /opt/scripts/restart_httpd.sh &'" }
try:
    apiResponse = requests.post(cpURL, headers=headers, verify=False, json=theData)
except:
    doLog("info", "Expected error exit code from restart on "+str(aHost))
    doLog("info", str(apiResponse.__dict__))
 
# Wait a few seconds to allow the script to perform the tasks.
time.sleep(2)
 
# Get the last 15 lines of the log file and look for a successful restart message
# The excerpt "Starting httpd: [  OK  ]" will indicate the service was successfully
# killed off and restarted.
 
cpURL = "https://"+aHost+"/mgmt/tm/util/bash"
doLog("info", "Verifying httpd service restart on "+str(aHost))
theData = { "command": "run",
            "utilCmdArgs": "-c 'tail -n15 /var/log/ltm | grep -i RST_HTTPD'" }
apiResponse = requests.post(cpURL, headers=headers, verify=False, json=theData)
try:
    apiData = json.loads(apiResponse.text)
except:
    apiData = apiResponse
 
doLog("info", "RESTART Service Result: "+str(apiData.get("commandResult",apiData)))
if "Starting httpd: [  OK  ]" in apiData.get("commandResult",""):
    doLog("info", "Successful restart!")
else:
    doLog("info", "Restart result found issues!  ABORTING!")
    sys.exit(1)
 

 I hopes this helps someone out who wants to automate this same or similar tasks that require the httpd to be restarted. ULTIMATELY I hope that this ENCOURAGES F5 to fix the BUG and makes this solution OBSOLETE! 🙂