When you perform a task in the APIC graphical user interface (GUI), the GUI creates and sends internal API messages to the operating system to execute the task. By using the API Inspector, which is a built-in tool of the APIC, you can view and copy these API messages. A network administrator can replicate these messages in order to automate key operations, or you can use the messages as examples to develop external applications that will use the API. .

Using a Browser

To test an API request, you can assemble an HTTP message, send it, and inspect the response using a browser add-on utility. RESTful API clients, which are available as add-ons for most popular browsers, provide a user-friendly interface for interacting with the API. Clients include the following:

• For Firefox/Mozilla—Poster, RESTClient

• For Chrome—Advanced REST client, Postman

Browser add-ons pass the session token as a cookie so that there is no need to include the token in the payload data structure.

You can send API messages from a console or a command-line script using cURL, which is a tool for transferring files using URL syntax.

To send a POST message, create a file that contains the JSON or XML command body, and then enter the cURL command in this format:

curl -X POST --data "@<filename>" <URI>

You must specify the name of your descriptor file and the URI of the API operation.

Note	Make sure to include the "@" symbol before the descriptor filename.

This example creates a new tenant named ExampleCorp using the JSON data structure in the file "newtenant.json":

curl -X POST --data "@newtenant.json" https://192.0.20.123/api/mo/uni/tn-ExampleCorp.json

To send a GET message, enter the cURL command in this format:

curl -X GET <URI>

This example reads information about a tenant in JSON format:

curl -X GET https://192.0.20.123/api/mo/uni/tn-ExampleCorp.json

Note	When testing with cURL, you must log in to the API, store the authentication token, and include the token in subsequent API operations.

Using the Python requests module, you can send API messages from a Python program.

This example shows you how to log in to the API, store the authentication token, and read a sensor:

import json
import requests

base_url = 'https://192.0.20.123/api/'

# create credentials structure
name_pwd = {'aaaUser': {'attributes': {'name': 'georgewa', 'pwd': 'pa55word'}}}
json_credentials = json.dumps(name_pwd)

# log in to API
login_url = base_url + 'aaaLogin.json'
post_response = requests.post(login_url, data=json_credentials)

# get token from login response structure
auth = json.loads(post_response.text)
login_attributes = auth['imdata'][0]['aaaLogin']['attributes']
auth_token = login_attributes['token']

# create cookie array from token
cookies = {}
cookies['APIC-Cookie'] = auth_token

# read a sensor, incorporating token in request
sensor_url = base_url + 'mo/topology/pod-1/node-1/sys/ch/bslot/board/sensor-3.json'
get_response = requests.get(sensor_url, cookies=cookies, verify=False)

# display sensor data structure
print get_response.json()

In this example, you must manage the authentication token (cookie) for the session. The Python requests module contains a Session() method that manages the token automatically.

For more information about the Python requests module, see http:/​/​www.python-requests.org.