Obtaining a Token Using Curl for VCF Operations for Networks

calendar Jan 14, 2025 · 2 min read · VCF Public APIs operations-networks  ·
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In this post we will look at the process of obtaining an authentication token from VCF Operations for networks which we can then use in subsequent API requests.

VCF Operations for Networks APIs Used

  • POST /api/ni/auth/token
  • DELETE /api/ni/auth/token
  • GET /api/ni/info/version

Obtaining an Authentication Token From VCF Operations for Networks

In this procedure, we will use the /api/ni/auth/token API passing valid credentials to perform the authentication process and obtain an authentication token for the session. Then reading the response from the curl request we will extract the token portion placing it into a variable named TOKEN. Once we have done this we will have a valid authentication token which can be used within future curl requests.

Procedure

  1. Connect to a Linux based operating system over SSH.
  2. Replace the values in the sample code with values for your VCF Operations for networks instance and run the following commands:
1vcfOpsForNetworksFqdn=$'flt-net01a.rainpole.io'
2vcfOpsForNetworksUser=$'admin@local'
3vcfOpsForNetworksPass=$'VMw@re1!VMw@re1!'
  1. Authenticate to the VCF Operations for networks instance and obtain a token by running the following command:
1TOKEN=$(curl -k -X POST https://$vcfOpsForNetworksFqdn/api/ni/auth/token -H 'Content-Type:application/json' -d '{"username": "'$vcfOpsForNetworksUser'","password": "'$vcfOpsForNetworksPass'", "domain": {"domain_type": "LOCAL"}}' | jq -r '.token')
  1. Verify the token works and retrieve the API version of VCF Operations for networks instance by running the following command:
1curl -k -X GET "https://$vcfOpsForNetworksFqdn/api/ni/info/version" -H "Authorization: NetworkInsight $TOKEN" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-Type: application/json" | json_pp
  1. Delete the token by running the following command:
1curl -k -X DELETE "https://$vcfOpsForNetworksFqdn//api/ni/auth/token" -H "Authorization: NetworkInsight $TOKEN" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-Type: application/json"

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