VNX RESTful access & examples location?

Question

Hello community,

I'm trying to access the restful XML API for "EMC VNX Control Station Linux release 3.0 (NAS 7.0.53)". According to the "XML API Programmer Guide for VNX™ for File", page 181:

Note: In this release, EMC does not supply libraries that implement the session protocol. However, it provides Java and C++ source-level implementations. If you intend to use either of these implementations, you can skip this chapter.

I would really like to take a look at those as I'm running into some difficulty with the information returned from Celerra vs what is in the API guide. For example, if I:

# Connect to the server and get a cookie

[user@xxx ~]$ curl --insecure -X POST https://[my.ip]/Login -d user=[my.user] -d password=[my.password] -d Login=Login -D temp.file

# Then I can see the cookie that is set by the server. (sanitized, for brevity)

[user@xxx ~]$ cat temp.file

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:39:56 GMT

Server: Apache

Refresh: 1; URL=/

Set-Cookie: Ticket=time&---&ip&---&last&---&idle&&hash&----&user&---&useraccess&&type&User&persists&&expires&480; path=/

Accept-Ranges: none

Pragma: no-cache

Transfer-Encoding: chunked

Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1

# Then I can test the cookie...

[user@xxx ~]$ curl --insecure -X POST https://[my.ip]/servlets/CelerraManagementServices --cookie 'Ticket=time&---&ip&---&last&---&idle&&hash&----&user&---&useraccess&&type&User&persists&&expires&480;path=/;' -d ' http://www.emc.com/schemas/celerra/xml_api "/>'

# Which responds with:

http://www.emc.com/schemas/celerra/xml_api " time="---"/>

This is all well and good except that I don't get back the CelerraConnector-Sess or JSESSIONID cookies needed, as far as I can tell, by the server for 'real' transactions. I am hoping that with vetted example code I can get arround this, seemingly, small problem. As an FYI, yes I will ultimately be interacting with the console via Java. I'm using command line above for simplicity of the example.

I assume that I'm missing some rather mundane detail but I've been spinning on this for too long. Any thougths you might have on this would be most apperciated.

Thanks!

-Kevin

Refs: https://community.emc.com/message/596754#596754

baunk · Answer

Update: I was just missing the the session id, of course I noticed this about 3 seconds after sending the above message :-/   I still can't find the examples though. Any thoughts?

Rainer_EMC · Answer

Take a look at the developers corner here on the forum – it has Java examples for using the XML API What programming language are you using ?

jineshkj · Answer

Hi there,

Glad that you figured that out.

I'm trying to do the same thing but with Wget right now (against VNX File Simulator). After sending the empty request packet I do get login session cookie, tomcat session cookie and celerra connector session.

But, when I then send a simple query like CheckpointQueryParams, I am getting a 503 Service Unavailable error. I tried searching but could not find any log files within the simulator with relevant information.

Do you have any clue why I am getting this error ? Am I supposed to do anything to enable XML API access in the VNX Simulator !!

Rainer_EMC · Answer

Yes, you might have to enable it – see the XML API Programmers guide in the section 'Starting the XML API Server'

Rainer_EMC · Answer

sorry, I'm not really a programmer

you can find some sample code on the developer network here

https://community.emc.com/community/edn/unified/content?filterID=contentstatus[published]~objecttype~objecttype[document]#start=20

Rainer

jineshkj · Answer

Hi Rainer,

Thanks for the reply. I checked the VNX Simulator and it looks like the XML API Server was already enabled and running. I restarted 'nas' service and still get the same error. Maybe I am using Wget in wrong way.

I see that you are an expert in this matter. Would you be kind enough to share any shell script or C++/Java code that can demonstrate the usage of XML API ? Any help would be great !!

Thanks a lot,

Jinesh.

Rainer_EMC · Answer

I found this snippet - might be useful for debugging

for real work I would suggest a real programming language and not wget though

Rainer

---------

[root@vnx5700cse xml]# cat dump.sh
wget --keep-session-cookies --save-cookies cookie -O /dev/null --no-check-certificate "https://$1/Login?user=nasadmin&password=nasadmin&Login=Login"
wget --keep-session-cookies --load-cookies cookie -O $2.out --no-check-certificate --post-file=$2 "https://$1/servlets/CelerraManagementServices"
cat $2.out

[root@vnx5700cse xml]# cat serial.xml

http://www.emc.com/schemas/celerra/xml_api " xmlns:xsi=' http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance '>

[root@vnx5700cse xml]# ./dump.sh xx.xx.xx.xx serial.xml
--13:22:08-- https://xx.xx.xx.xx/Login?user=nasadmin&password=nasadmin&Login=Login
Connecting to xx.xx.xx.xx:443... connected.
WARNING: cannot verify xx.xx.xx.xx certificate, issued by `/O=VNX Certificate Authority/CN=vnx5700cse':
Self-signed certificate encountered.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [text/html]
Saving to: `/dev/null'

    [ <=>                                                               ] 469         --.-K/s   in 0s

13:22:08 (7.90 MB/s) - `/dev/null' saved [469]

--13:22:08-- https://xx.xx.xx.xx/servlets/CelerraManagementServices
Connecting to xx.xx.xx.xx:443... connected.
WARNING: cannot verify xx.xx.xx.xx certificate, issued by `/O=VNX Certificate Authority/CN=vnx5700cse':
Self-signed certificate encountered.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 449 [text/xml]
Saving to: `serial.xml.out'

100%[==================================================================>] 449         --.-K/s   in 0s

13:22:15 (5.02 MB/s) - `serial.xml.out' saved [449/449]

http://www.emc.com/schemas/celerra/xml_api">

jineshkj · Answer

Hi Rainer,

You have been great !! . The shell script worked just fine and now I am able to get XML API access to the VNX File Simulator (1 DM). Just one more problem though. I am getting the following error for CheckpointQueryParams when used with the simulator:

http://www.emc.com/schemas/celerra/xml_api ">

Appliance Layer (APL) subsystem that the XML API server talks to failed to execute a query. This indicates a problem with the APL subsystem in Control Station software.

If the problem persists, collect support materials by running the /nas/tools/collect_support_materials script or the newer /nas/tools/automaticcollection script. Note any symptoms. If you require more information on the materials collection process, refer to the Problem Resolution Roadmap for Celerra, available on EMC Powerlink, or EMC Knowledgebase Support Solution number emc135846. For more information on this message, use the text from the error message's brief description or the message's ID to search the Knowledgebase on Powerlink. After logging in to Powerlink, go to Support > Knowledgebase Search > Support Solutions Search.

Exception tag: 13d459f5803

Exception message: com.emc.nas.ccmd.common.MessageInstanceImpl@50020001

Does this mean that the VNX Simulator does not have support for Checkpoints ? /nas/log/cel_api.log shows the following:

Mar 7, 11:11:42 APL reply is:

http://www.emc.com/schemas/celerra/apl_

1.0">

snapsure

Mar 7, 11:11:43 Creating API status -------------->

Mar 7, 11:11:43 Diagnostics tag: 13d459f5803

com.emc.celerra.api.RequestException: com.emc.nas.ccmd.common.MessageInstanceImpl@50020001

at com.emc.celerra.api.apl.AbstractQuery.makeAplListCall(AbstractQuery.java:144)

at com.emc.celerra.api.apl.AbstractQuery.makeAplListCall(AbstractQuery.java:300)

at com.emc.celerra.api.apl.fs.FsQuery.query(FsQuery.java:107)

at com.emc.celerra.api.apl.AplSession.query(AplSession.java:188)

at com.emc.celerra.api.Session.doQuery(Session.java:416)

at com.emc.celerra.api.Session.processRequest(Session.java:343)

at com.emc.celerra.api.RequestRunner.processUserPacket(RequestRunner.java:303)

at com.emc.celerra.api.RequestRunner.processOneRequest(RequestRunner.java:173)

at com.emc.celerra.api.RequestRunner.run(RequestRunner.java:94)

at org.concurrent.PooledExecutor$Worker.run(PooledExecutor.java:743)

at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Mar 7, 11:11:43 Done creating API status ------->

Mar 7, 11:11:43 RequestRunner:8050/57643:Sending Reply ----------->

jineshkj · Answer

It is : [nasadmin@localhost ~]$ nas_version 7.1.47-5

Rainer_EMC · Answer

Probably a bug What version is your Simulator ? See nas_version

jineshkj · Answer

Looks like it was an issue with snapsure license. It started working when I enabled it. Thanks a lot for your help Rainer.

Rainer_EMC · Answer

Make sense even though the error could have been nicer

jineshkj · Answer

Yes, definitely.

kelleg · Answer

Was your question answered correctly? If so, please remember to mark your question Answered when you get the correct answer and award points to the person providing the answer. This helps others searching for a similar issue.

glen

jineshkj · Answer

Hi Glen, My queries were answered. But the original question was posted by someone else and I don't see an option for me to mark the query as answered. Sorry.

VNX

VNX RESTful access & examples location?

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