Client quick start

This section describes the basic functionality of the library for users, who only need a basic client configured for an HPE Legacy Rest or Redfish host. For performing higher level functionality or for users unfamiliar with Redfish implementations, refer to the RmcApp Usage.

This Quick Start covers client object creation, a simple call to the API, and a response object.

Scripts of the information provided below are available in the quickstart_redfish.py and quickstart_legacy_rest.py files.

For more elaborate examples that use the Redfish API and the HPE Python Redfish library, refer to the Examples section.

The HPE Python Redfish library provides support for communication using both remote using HTTPS and local in-band using CHIF.

Importing the HPE Python Redfish library

Import the library.

import redfish

The very first thing that needs to be done for a RESTful request is to create a LegacyRestClient or RedfishClient object.

A RedfishClient is for interacting with a Redfish API, and a LegacyRestClient is for interacting with HPE Legacy Rest API.

For maximum compatibility between iLOs and other vendor hardware that implements Redfish, it is recommended to use the Redfish API whenever possible.

Creating a Remote Object

Creating a remote client requires including the iLO hostname or IP address and credentials.

Create a Redfish Object

RedfishClient takes as parameters iLO hostname/IP address, username, password, and other optional arguments.

For a full list of optional arguments refer to the Reference documentation section.

REST_OBJ = redfish.RedfishClient(base_url=iLO_host, username=login_account, password=login_password)

Create a LegacyRest Object

LegacyRestClient takes as parameters iLO hostname/IP address, username, password, and other optional arguments. For a full list of optional arguments see here <Reference.html#redfish.rest.v1.LegacyRestClient> TBD_.

REST_OBJ = redfish.LegacyRestClient(base_url=iLO_host, username=login_account, password=login_password)

Creating a Local Object

Requirements

• You must be running on a server with iLO and the latest iLO drivers from the SPP.
• You will need to download the iLOrest ChIF DLL/SO for your corresponding operating system and place it in your working environment path.

By downloading, you agree to the terms and conditions of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software License Agreement.

Windows Download: ilorest_chif.dll

Linux Download: ilorest_chif.so

Create a Redfish or LegacyRest Object

If you create a LegacyRest or Redfish object without a base_url argument it will automatically create an object configured for a local CHIF connection.

A username and password may be included in object creation if they are required. For most operations in Production security mode no credentials are required locally.

Some reasons credentials may be required locally:

• iLO is operating in a higher security mode (Such as HighSecurity).
• Some operations require the credentials of an account with a specific privilege to complete (Even in Production security mode).

REST_OBJ = redfish.RedfishClient()

Create a login session

Next the rest object's login method is called to initiate a rest session. The login method takes the credentials specified in the REST object we created. Login also takes an authentication type optional parameter, if the argument is not included the Client will choose an authentication type for you based on the arguments given with session being the default.

For session authentication, a session key is generated through a rest request, the default for username and password arguments.

For basic authentication, the username and password is base64 encoded and sent in a header for each request. For security, session authentication is preferred.

REST_OBJ.login(auth="session")

Remember to call logout method once the session is completed to free up sessions.

Perform your first RESTful API GET operation

The following example performs a GET operation on the systems resource (/redfish/v1/systems/1) using the HPE RESTful API for iLO. It does an HTTP GET request on the iLO SSL(HTTPS) port (typically 443 but the iLO can be configured to use another port as well). The interface is not available over open HTTP (port 80), so SSL handshake must be used.

Perform a HTTP GET request by using the get method. A Response dictionary called response is returned.

>>> response = REST_OBJ.get('/redfish/v1/systems/1')

 >>> response.status
 200

>>> response.dict

The getheaders() method returns a dictionary of all http response headers:

>>> response.getheaders()
{'Transfer-Encoding': 'chunked', 'X_HP-CHRP-Service-Version': '1.0.3', 'ETag': 'W/"0129EA9F"',
'Link': '</redfish/v1/SchemaStore/en/ComputerSystem.json>;
rel=describedby', 'Allow': 'GET, HEAD, POST, PATCH',
'Cache-Control': 'no-cache', 'Date': 'Tue, 06 Aug 2019 19:42:26 GMT',
'OData-Version': '4.0', 'X-Frame-Options': 'sameorigin', 'Content-type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8'}

You can also print the Response object directly:

>>> sys.stdout.write("%s\n" % response)

200

| Transfer-Encoding chunked
| X_HP-CHRP-Service-Version 1.0.3
| ETag W/"E4BDA463"
| Link </redfish/v1/SchemaStore/en/ComputerSystem.json>; rel=describedby
| Allow GET, HEAD, POST, PATCH
| Cache-Control no-cache
| Date Thu, 01 Aug 2019 19:13:17 GMT
| OData-Version 4.0
| X-Frame-Options sameorigin
| Content-type application/json; charset=utf-8

The formatted Response body (Truncated for size):

{
    "@odata.context": "/redfish/v1/$metadata#ComputerSystem.ComputerSystem",
    "@odata.etag": "W/\"E4BDA463\"",
    "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/1",
    "@odata.type": "#ComputerSystem.v1_4_0.ComputerSystem",
    "Id": "1",
    "Actions": {
        "#ComputerSystem.Reset": {
            "ResetType@Redfish.AllowableValues": [
                "On",
                "ForceOff",
                "ForceRestart",
                "Nmi",
                "PushPowerButton"
            ],
            "target": "/redfish/v1/Systems/1/Actions/ComputerSystem.Reset"
        }
    },
    "AssetTag": "",
    "Bios": {
        "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/systems/1/bios"
    }
}

A full description of the Response Object is available in the reference documentation section.

Other HTTP requests

Other HTTP Requests HEAD, PATCH, POST, DELETE, and PUT are just as simple to use as GET.

>>> response = REST_OBJ.head('/redfish/v1/systems/1')
>>> response = REST_OBJ.patch('/redfish/v1/systems/1', {'AssetTag': 'newtag'})
>>> response = REST_OBJ.post('/redfish/v1/Systems/1/Actions/ComputerSystem.Reset/', {'ResetType': 'ForceRestart'})
>>> response = REST_OBJ.delete(REST_OBJ.session_location)
>>> response = REST_OBJ.put('<uri>', 'data')

Close the login session

Logout of the current session. This is only required for session based authentication.

REST_OBJ.logout()

Continued reading

That's it! You're ready to perform some Redfish requests! If you are looking for more advanced topics like setting timeouts, more detail on the response object, or configuration of the Redfish or LegacyRest objects check out the Advanced usage section.