This article discusses the REST API URL modifier that can be used in ' curl' commands.

When querying the contrail-API database, we often query an object first to list all instances from the database, then perform another query on the specific object instance to get detailed information about it.

For example, to list all VNs:

  curl -u admin:Juniper http://localhost:8095/virtual-networks | python -mjson.tool
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  100 13909  100 13909    0     0  2616k      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 2716k
  {
    "virtual-networks": [
        {
            "fq_name": [
                "default-domain",
                "admin",
                "admin-test-vn"
            ],
            "href": "http://localhost:8095/virtual-network/15b43103-a0a0-4837-a567-98ad020a1bc3",
            "uuid": "15b43103-a0a0-4837-a567-98ad020a1bc3"
        },
        {
            "fq_name": [
                "default-domain",
                "tenant1",
                "VN-B"
            ],
            "href": "http://localhost:8095/virtual-network/949a8f40-da1c-4275-ab34-8b62a9f8f461",
            "uuid": "949a8f40-da1c-4275-ab34-8b62a9f8f461"
        },

Now, to get the details of each VN, we will run one more query on each specific VN's URL:

root@cont101:~# curl -u admin:Juniper http://localhost:8095/virtual-network/15b43103-a0a0-4837-a567-98ad020a1bc3 | python -mjson.tool
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  2574  100  2574    0     0   526k      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  628k
{
    "virtual-network": {
        "display_name": "admin-test-vn",
        "ecmp_hashing_include_fields": {},
        "export_route_target_list": {
            "route_target": []
        },
...<snipped>...

curl -u admin:Juniper http://localhost:8095/virtual-network/949a8f40-da1c-4275-ab34-8b62a9f8f461 | python -mjson.tool
{
    "virtual-network": {
        "display_name": "VN-B",
        "ecmp_hashing_include_fields": {},
        "export_route_target_list": {
            "route_target": []
        },
        "flood_unknown_unicast": false,
        "fq_name": [
            "default-domain",
            "tenant1",
            "VN-B"
        ],
...<snipped>...

Sometimes, we need a way to dump detailed information for all instances in the object list.

To dump detailed information for all instances in the object list, we can use the "details=True" modifier in the RES API URL.

curl -u admin:Juniper http://localhost:8095/virtual-networks?detail=True | python -mjson.tool

 {
     "virtual-networks": [
         {
             "virtual-network": {
                 "display_name": "admin-test-vn",
                 "ecmp_hashing_include_fields": {},
                 "export_route_target_list": {
                     "route_target": []
                 },
                 "flood_unknown_unicast": false,
                 "fq_name": [
 +------  3 lines: "default-domain",
                 ],
                 "href": "http://localhost:8095/virtual-network/15b43103-a0a0-4837-a567-98ad020a1bc3",
                 "id_perms": {
 +------ 17 lines: "created": "2018-11-30T22:25:38.577302",
                 },
                 "import_route_target_list": {
                     "route_target": []
                 },
                 "is_shared": false,
                 "multi_policy_service_chains_enabled": false,
                 "name": "admin-test-vn",
                 "network_ipam_refs": [
 +------ 25 lines: {
                 ],
                 "parent_href": "http://localhost:8095/project/ede15b5d-21eb-4401-bd2a-56e8d373aa71",
                 "parent_type": "project",
                 "parent_uuid": "ede15b5d-21eb-4401-bd2a-56e8d373aa71",
                 "perms2": {
 +------  4 lines: "global_access": 0,
                 },
                 "router_external": false,
                 "uuid": "15b43103-a0a0-4837-a567-98ad020a1bc3",
                 "virtual_network_network_id": 64,
                 "virtual_network_properties": {
 +------  3 lines: "allow_transit": false,
                 }
             }
         },
         {
             "virtual-network": {
 +----- 81 lines: "display_name": "VN-B",
             }
         },
         {
             "virtual-network": {
 +-----103 lines: "display_name": "VN-RIGHT-user1",
             }
         },
         {
 +---- 87 lines: "virtual-network": {
         },
         {
 +---- 88 lines: "virtual-network": {

Note: The above output text has been folded based on indentation to reduce overall length.