RESTFul API for DellEMC VxRail via Postman

RESTFul API for DellEMC VxRail via Postman.

In this blog, I will cover VxRail operations using RESTful API via Postman. The main goal of this blog is to provide handy example for VxRail operation using API’s. RESTful API reference guides can occasionally be long and yield significant effort to absorb therefore this blog gives some of the most common operational examples using Rest API’s.

Before we go through step-by-step API examples, I would like to highlight some background on DellEMC VxRail platform & Postman.

VxRail, powered by Dell EMC PowerEdge server platforms and VxRail HCI System Software, features next-generation technology to future proof your infrastructure and enable deep integration across the VMware ecosystem. Advanced VMware hybrid cloud integration and automation simplifies deployment of a secure VxRail cloud infrastructure.

• Consolidates compute, storage, and virtualization with end-to-end automated lifecycle management
• Automates upgrades from one known good state to the next, simplifying operations while reducing risk
• Only jointly engineered HCI system with deep VMware Cloud Foundation integration serving as hyperconverged platform for Dell Technologies Cloud
• Optimizes infrastructure operations with actionable insights, predictive analytics and intelligent upgrade staging across multiple clusters with VxRail ACE
• Provides a single point of support for all software and hardware

On other hand, Postman is a collaboration platform for API development. Postman’s features simplify each step of building an API and streamline collaboration so you can create better APIs—faster.

Let us go through some of VxRail operations using Postman client. I presume you have already installed or have access to Postman client or plugin whichever suites best for your environment.

We will start with creating some Environment Variables for VxRail Manager interface. The Environment variables will be using in sending your requests to API endpoints that you want to reach and perform some actions.

Variables allow you to store and reuse values in your requests and scripts. By storing a value in a variable, you can reference it throughout your collections, environments, and requests—and if you need to update the value, you only have to change it in one place. Using variables increases your ability to work efficiently and minimizes the likelihood of error.

Click the Environment quick look (eye button) in the top right of Postman and add necessary variables as below.

Here you see I have added VxRail Manager IP/FQDN and Password as my environment variables.

Once we have our variables set, we will see how to use these variables for sending requests to API endpoints. In this example, we are collecting VxRail cluster information using Rest API.

Notice I have used IP as a variable for the VxRail Manager FQDN. Also, have a look at ‘Password’ field in the request Authorization. We are calling both the environment variables that we setup earlier.

Once you click on ‘Send’ button, the API call GET request will be sent to the API endpoint i.e. VxRail Manager. Upon successful request, you will see necessary response with output.

You can save a request to a collection as well. Have a look how to save the request in collection below.

In case, you like to call this saved request, you can access it from the Saved collection as below.

Another great feature that Postman provides us with is the ability to generate sample code for many programming languages for every call in the collection. In order to use this feature you will need to create a free account with Postman. Once you do that you can click on the little triangle next to the collection name and then “View in web”

The web documentation for the API collection will appear in your Internet browser. The right tab shows the code for the language of choice. In this example, I am using NodeJS.

Following languages options are available in Postman.

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