Configuring REST API Access

---

Netvisor ONE enables you to use REST API over HTTP and HTTPS to manage the switches in a fabric, in addition to using the CLI. Though REST API access over HTTP is simpler to configure, Pluribus recommends using HTTPS for security reasons. The vREST web application that runs on the switch enables the REST API client to access the resources on the switch.

Follow the steps below to configure REST API access over HTTP:

• Enable the web service using the command admin-service-modify.

CLI (network-admin@switch1) admin-service-modify if mgmt web

• Verify configuration using the command admin-service-show:

CLI (network-admin@switch1) admin-service-show

switch      if   ssh nfs web web-ssl web-ssl-port web-port snmp net-api icmp

----------- ---- --- --- --- ------- ------------ -------- ---- ------- ----

switch1     mgmt on  off on  on      443          80       on   off     on

switch1     data on  off on  off     443          80       on   off     on

• Download Swagger tool onto the desktop and open index.html file.

• Paste the URL http://<ip-address>/vRest/api-docs into the URL field.

        <ip-address> should be the hostname or management IP address of your switch.

• Click 'Explore'. Commands are populated as below:

       

Figure 2- 1:  Swagger UI for Pluribus REST API

• Right click to enable Chrome Inspect, and view the network tab to ensure that all the commands are loaded.

• Expand one of the CLI commands to see the corresponding GET/POST/DELETE/PUT options.

• Click on the model schema to view the list of configurable options supported under that model (vRest API) which are populated as key-value pairs. Make the required modifications to the values and click 'Try it out!'.

Using cURL with REST API

To create a VLAN, use the vREST API:

$ curl -u network-admin:pluribus!23 -H "Content-Type:application/json" -X POST http://switch1/vRest/vlans -d

   '{

    "scope": "local",

    "id": 1111,

    "description": "hello world"

    }'

By default, all the vRest APIs provide fabric level information. To specifically access the resources of the switch (scope : local ), the switch ID needs to be specified in the URL.

For switch ID specific information, use the command:

$ curl -u network-admin:pluribus!23 http://switch1/vRest/vlans?api.switch={hostid} | python -m json.tool

as in the following example:

$ curl -u network-admin:pluribus!23 http://10.10.10.10/vRest/vlans?api.switch=201327131 | python -m json.tool

For switch information listing a local scope:

$ curl -u network-admin:pluribus!23 http://switch1/vRest/vlans?api.switch=fabric | python -m json.tool

or

$ curl -u network-admin:pluribus!23 http://switch1/vRest/vlans | python -m json.tool

as in the following example:

$ curl -u network-admin:pluribus!23 http://10.110.0.48/vRest/vlans | python -m json.tool

Configuring REST API Access over HTTPS

To enable HTTPS communication between a REST API client and Netvisor vREST web service, you have two options:

1. You can generate a self-signed certificate using Netvisor CLI and use this certificate for REST web service.

2. After creating a self-signed certificate using Netvisor CLI, create a certificate request, get the certificate request signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA), import the signed certificate and CA certificate into Netvisor ONE and use the certificates for REST web service.

Follow the steps below to create the certificates and deploy them:

• Generate self-signed certificate (the private key and the certificate file, in PEM format) using the web-cert-self-signed-create command.

CLI (network-admin@switch1) > web-cert-self-signed-create

For example:

CLI (network-admin@switch1) > web-cert-self-signed-create country US state California city "Santa Clara" organization "Pluribus Networks Inc" organizational-unit Engineering common-name switch1.pluribusnetworks.com

Successfully generated self-signed certificate.

• ·If you want to get the certificate signed by a trusted Certificate Authority(CA), generate a CSR from the self-signed certificate by using the command web-cert-request-create.

CLI (network-admin@switch1) > web-cert-request-create

Certificate signing request successfully generated at /sftp/export/switch1.pluribusnetworks.com.csr.

• To view the CSR, use the command web-cert-request-show.

CLI (network-admin@switch1) > web-cert-request-show

For example:

CLI (network-switch1) > web-cert-request-show

cert-request

----------------------------------------------------------------

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

MIICnDCCAYQCAQEwVzELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxCzAJBgNVBAgMAkNBMQswCQYDVQQH

DAJTSjELMAkGA1UECgwCUE4xDTALBgNVBAsMBEVuZ2cxEjAQBgNVBAMMCWVxLWNv

bG8tMTCCASIwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADggEPADCCAQoCggEBALMmrZ8hvZ5J+FRs

Lo1sfVtwmmLEaxyhaxD/HNVdXSRhzbQDT20+qySfOudxtWGKyCsuCFFbgMUz7rgu

H1Xle8uwPSoxgTjLGq20sgBQIfNBT5UwDLDuzUUPzMEEjFb3/9Cg1VWju2t1KPim

Gqg3rcA3PCsMeCr/q+9Gz6gfLe6Rfx91yxTA44ZWsOWnvgDdXAPfHOLZ5zBWG8a3

ohgOwMLjy21ytDTA6aR1M9I12MkJwev3t0y6n/CLp6Zigp5wXiArPPnR9sZ+E7so

MqpEzz0rjFDfrNwNAGMzT3WPcmlYRjYrUJ0QsOEQ+O1uHJaNbw1pJEmK2jm97kbk

/HvEFmMCAwEAAaAAMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAA4IBAQCnlgEwzoesbuiCYG7HZJN/

Rxm/NcznpvJXxdlTAdzSbTWWLswrZMyX6bQqUTWEb3qvVccD4tIZShyIGiR0CpCD

22m8LD4+e6/FA6NijjanHkKsRW9Z7ka97TFpsUaH27sUTtfFDDkDImwRIGfns+nu

kTRNMuNiyC/+uHovsvCxS8is3OasQtS1lkG28sZgxisvP17qmfjlb9fQC3pcvR4t

K8GciPMUfgcIA5qLDmCZAg1A6JBMb/UHtUuEnztLrLz4qjWqJJK3pWvdLWZcKDEz

C0t5Dre9ByJ2RT75GdUq2c16xYBGAwZNCzjdhParyBnvn00Mwb6PpPmLGcBQiRNn

-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

• Send the CSR to your trusted CA. You can copy the web-cert-request-show output and send it to the CA for signing the certificate. 

        You can also connect to the switch by using SFTP and copy the certificate file from /sftp/export location and send it to the CA.

        If disabled, use the command admin-sftp-modify enable to enable SFTP.

• Upload the signed certificate, the CA root certificate, and the intermediate CA certificate (if the certificate is signed by an intermediate CA) to /sftp/import directory on the switch using SFTP.

For example, to upload the file server-cert.pem to the /sftp/import directory, follow the steps below:

$ sftp sftp@switch1

Password: 

sftp> cd /sftp/import

sftp> put server-cert.pem

• Import the signed server certificate, CA root certificate, and the intermediate certificate (if available) onto the switch using the web-cert-import command:

CLI (network-admin@switch1) > web-cert-import

CLI (network-admin@switch1) > web-cert-import file-ca ca.pem file-server server-cert.pem file-inter intermediate.pem

Successfully imported certificates.

• After the import is successful, enable web-ssl using the admin-service-modify command.

CLI (network-admin@switch) > admin-service-modify if mgmt web-ssl

• Download the Swagger tool and follow the general steps above to complete the configuration of REST API access.

Related Commands

• web-cert-clear

Use this command to delete previously generated certificates.

For example:

CLI (network-admin@switch1) > web-cert-clear

Successfully deleted all certificate files.

• web-cert-info-show

Use this command to display web certificate information.

CLI (network-admin@switch1) web-cert-info-show

For example:

CLI (network-admin@switch1) web-cert-info-show

switch:        switch1

cert-type:     ca

subject:       /C=US/ST=CA/L=SJ/O=PN/OU=Engg/CN=switch1

issuer:        /C=US/ST=CA/L=SJ/O=PN/OU=Engg/CN=switch1

serial-number: 1

valid-from:    May  7 18:16:10 2019 GMT

valid-to:      May  6 18:16:10 2020 GMT

----------------------------------------

switch:        switch1

cert-type:     server

subject:       /C=US/ST=CA/L=SJ/O=PN/OU=Engg/CN=switch1

issuer:        /C=US/ST=CA/L=SJ/O=PN/OU=Engg/CN=switch1

Using cURL to Implement SSL Certificates

Use cURL to automate the upload of the CA root, CA intermediate, and signed switch certificates.

Run the following command for each of the PEM formatted certificates:

awk 'NF {sub(/\r/, ""); printf "%s\\n",$0;}' <file-name>.pem

For example:

$ awk 'NF {sub(/\r/, ""); printf "%s\\n",$0;}' /tmp/server-cert.pem.bkp

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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\nhRIHysvZXF/dghtrLXDMSBWLlLofUsDQsh+qLxpo1+k=\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n

Copy the output into the JSON payload.

Note: The escape character syntax of \n" must be used as highlighted in red in the example below. Otherwise, the script will fail, and the certificates will not install.

$ curl -u network-admin:test123 http://10.100.64.5/vRest/web-certs/upload -H "content-type:application/json" -v -X POST -d '{"cert-ca":"-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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\nhRIHysvZXF/dghtrLXDMSBWLlLofUsDQsh+qLxpo1+k=\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n", "cert-server":"-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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\nhRIHysvZXF/dghtrLXDMSBWLlLofUsDQsh+qLxpo1+k=\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n"}'

Note: Unnecessary use of -X or --request, POST is already inferred.

* Trying 10.100.64.5...

* TCP_NODELAY set

* Connected to 10.100.64.5 (10.100.64.5) port 80 (#0)

* Server auth using Basic with user 'network-admin'

> POST /vRest/web-certs/upload HTTP/1.1

> Host: 10.100.64.5

> Authorization: Basic bmV0d29yay1hZG1pbjp0ZXN0MTIz

> User-Agent: curl/7.54.0

> Accept: */*

> content-type:application/json

> Content-Length: 2348

> Expect: 100-continue

>

< HTTP/1.1 100 Continue

* We are completely uploaded and fine

< HTTP/1.1 200 OK

< Server: Apache-Coyote/1.1

< Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *

< Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, DELETE, PUT

< Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=C52C3170DEEAC8E4996FF428D152BF25; Path=/vRest/; HttpOnly

< Date: Tue, 05 May 2020 19:34:05 GMT

< Content-Type: application/json

< Content-Length: 162

<

* Connection #0 to host 10.100.64.5 left intact

{"result":{"status":"Success","result":[{"api.switch-name":"local","scope":"local","status":"Success","code":0,"message":"Successfully uploaded certificates."}]}}