Tag: vExpertEUC

Creating a RDS farm using the Python module for VMware Horizon

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One of the goals and hopes I had with my 100DaysOfCode (I am writing this on day 100!) was that the Horizon REST api’s to create desktop pools and RDS farms would have been available at the end. Only half of that came out and with Horizon 8 2103 we can finally create a RDS farm using those rest api’s. I have decided to add this to the Python module based on a dictionary that the user sends to the new_farm method. I could still add a fully fetched function but that would require a lot of arguments and using **kwargs is an option but than the user would still need to find out what to use.

First I will need to know what json data I actually need, let’s have a look at the api explorer page to get a grip on this

{
  "access_group_id": "6fd4638a-381f-4518-aed6-042aa3d9f14c",
  "automated_farm_settings": {
    "customization_settings": {
      "ad_container_rdn": "CN=Computers",
      "cloneprep_customization_settings": {
        "post_synchronization_script_name": "cloneprep_postsync_script",
        "post_synchronization_script_parameters": "p1 p2 p3",
        "power_off_script_name": "cloneprep_poweroff_script",
        "power_off_script_parameters": "p1 p2 p3",
        "priming_computer_account": "a219420d-4799-4517-8f78-39c74c7c4efc"
      },
      "instant_clone_domain_account_id": "6f85b3a5-e7d0-4ad6-a1e3-37168dd1ed51",
      "reuse_pre_existing_accounts": false
    },
    "enable_provisioning": true,
    "max_session_type": "LIMITED",
    "max_sessions": 50,
    "min_ready_vms": 0,
    "nics": [
      {
        "network_interface_card_id": "c9896e51-48a2-4d82-ae9e-a0246981b473",
        "network_label_assignment_specs": [
          {
            "enabled": true,
            "max_label": 1,
            "max_label_type": "LIMITED",
            "network_label_name": "vm-network"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "pattern_naming_settings": {
      "max_number_of_rds_servers": 5,
      "naming_pattern": "vm-{n}-sales"
    },
    "provisioning_settings": {
      "base_snapshot_id": "snapshot-1",
      "datacenter_id": "datacenter-1",
      "host_or_cluster_id": "domain-s425",
      "im_stream_id": "6f85b3a5-e7d0-4ad6-a1e3-37168dd1ed51",
      "im_tag_id": "3d45b3a5-e7d0-4ad6-a1e3-37168dd1ed51",
      "parent_vm_id": "vm-2",
      "resource_pool_id": "resgroup-1",
      "vm_folder_id": "group-v1"
    },
    "stop_provisioning_on_error": true,
    "storage_settings": {
      "datastores": [
        {
          "datastore_id": "datastore-1"
        }
      ],
      "replica_disk_datastore_id": "datastore-1",
      "use_separate_datastores_replica_and_os_disks": false,
      "use_view_storage_accelerator": false,
      "use_vsan": false
    },
    "transparent_page_sharing_scope": "VM",
    "vcenter_id": "f148f3e8-db0e-4abb-9c33-7e5205ccd360"
  },
  "description": "Farm Description",
  "display_name": "ManualFarm",
  "display_protocol_settings": {
    "allow_users_to_choose_protocol": true,
    "default_display_protocol": "PCOIP",
    "grid_vgpus_enabled": true,
    "session_collaboration_enabled": false
  },
  "enabled": true,
  "load_balancer_settings": {
    "cpu_threshold": 10,
    "disk_queue_length_threshold": 15,
    "disk_read_latency_threshold": 10,
    "disk_write_latency_threshold": 15,
    "include_session_count": true,
    "memory_threshold": 10
  },
  "name": "ManualFarm",
  "rds_server_ids": [
    "5134796a-322g-5fe5-343f-4daa5d25ebfe",
    "2a43f96c-102b-4ed3-953f-35deg43d43b0ge"
  ],
  "server_error_threshold": 0,
  "session_settings": {
    "disconnected_session_timeout_minutes": 5,
    "disconnected_session_timeout_policy": "NEVER",
    "empty_session_timeout_minutes": 5,
    "empty_session_timeout_policy": "AFTER",
    "logoff_after_timeout": false,
    "pre_launch_session_timeout_minutes": 10,
    "pre_launch_session_timeout_policy": "AFTER"
  },
  "type": "MANUAL",
  "use_custom_script_for_load_balancing": false
}

This also includes some that are not required so for my own farm I settled with this json. This is for an Instant Clone farm.

{
    "access_group_id": "6fd4638a-381f-4518-aed6-042aa3d9f14c",
    "automated_farm_settings": {
        "customization_settings": {
            "ad_container_rdn": "OU=Pod1,OU=RDS,OU=VMware,OU=EUC",
            "instant_clone_domain_account_id": "6f85b3a5-e7d0-4ad6-a1e3-37168dd1ed51",
            "reuse_pre_existing_accounts": true
        },
        "enable_provisioning": false,
        "max_session_type": "LIMITED",
        "max_sessions": 50,
        "min_ready_vms": 1,
        "pattern_naming_settings": {
            "max_number_of_rds_servers": 2,
            "naming_pattern": "vm-{n}-sales"
        },
        "provisioning_settings": {
            "base_snapshot_id": "snapshot-1",
            "datacenter_id": "datacenter-1",
            "host_or_cluster_id": "domain-s425",
            "parent_vm_id": "vm-2",
            "resource_pool_id": "resgroup-1",
            "vm_folder_id": "group-v1"
        },
        "stop_provisioning_on_error": true,
        "storage_settings": {
            "datastores": [
                {
                    "datastore_id": "datastore-1"
                }
            ],
            "use_separate_datastores_replica_and_os_disks": false,
            "use_view_storage_accelerator": false,
            "use_vsan": false
        },
        "transparent_page_sharing_scope": "VM",
        "vcenter_id": "f148f3e8-db0e-4abb-9c33-7e5205ccd360"
    },
    "description": "demo_farm",
    "display_name": "demo_farm",
    "display_protocol_settings": {
        "allow_users_to_choose_protocol": true,
        "default_display_protocol": "BLAST",
        "grid_vgpus_enabled": false,
        "session_collaboration_enabled": true
    },
    "enabled": false,
    "load_balancer_settings": {
        "cpu_threshold": 10,
        "disk_queue_length_threshold": 15,
        "disk_read_latency_threshold": 10,
        "disk_write_latency_threshold": 15,
        "include_session_count": true,
        "memory_threshold": 10
    },
    "name": "demo_farm",
    "server_error_threshold": 0,
    "session_settings": {
        "disconnected_session_timeout_minutes": 5,
        "disconnected_session_timeout_policy": "NEVER",
        "empty_session_timeout_minutes": 5,
        "empty_session_timeout_policy": "AFTER",
        "logoff_after_timeout": false,
        "pre_launch_session_timeout_minutes": 10,
        "pre_launch_session_timeout_policy": "AFTER"
    },
    "type": "AUTOMATED",
    "use_custom_script_for_load_balancing": false
}

As said I send a dictionary to the method so let’s import data into a dict called data and I will print it to screen. The dictionary needs to follow this specific order of lines so that’s why a json is very useful to start with.

with open('/mnt/d/homelab/farm.json') as f:
    data = json.load(f)

As you can see in both the json and the output there’s a lot of things we can change and some things that we need to change lik id’s for all the components like vCenter, base vm, base snapshot and more. First I need the access_group_id this can be retreived using the get_local_access_groups method. For all of these I will also set the variable in the dictionary that we need.

local_access_group = next(item for item in (config.get_local_access_groups()) if item["name"] == "Root")
data["access_group_id"] = local_access_group["id"]

Than it’s time for the Instant Clone Admin id

ic_domain_account = next(item for item in (config.get_ic_domain_accounts()) if item["username"] == "administrator")
data["automated_farm_settings"]["customization_settings"]["instant_clone_domain_account_id"] = ic_domain_account["id"]

For the basevm and snapshot id’s I used the same method but a bit differently as I had already used this method in another script

vcenters = monitor.virtual_centers()
vcid = vcenters[0]["id"]
dcs = external.get_datacenters(vcenter_id=vcid)
dcid = dcs[0]["id"]

base_vms = external.get_base_vms(vcenter_id=vcid,datacenter_id=dcid,filter_incompatible_vms=True)

base_vm = next(item for item in base_vms if item["name"] == "srv2019-p1-2020-10-13-08-44")
basevmid=base_vm["id"]

base_snapshots = external.get_base_snapshots(vcenter_id=vcid, base_vm_id=base_vm["id"])

base_snapshot = next(item for item in base_snapshots if item["name"] == "Created by Packer")

snapid=base_snapshot["id"]
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["base_snapshot_id"] = snapid
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["parent_vm_id"] = basevmid

Host or cluster id

host_or_clusters = external.get_hosts_or_clusters(vcenter_id=vcid, datacenter_id=dcid)
for i in host_or_clusters:
    if (i["details"]["name"]) == "Cluster_Pod1":
        host_or_cluster = i
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["host_or_cluster_id"] = host_or_cluster["id"]

Resource Pool

resource_pools = external.get_resource_pools(vcenter_id=vcid, host_or_cluster_id=host_or_cluster["id"])
for i in resource_pools:
    # print(i)
    if (i["type"] == "CLUSTER"):
        resource_pool = i
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["resource_pool_id"] = resource_pool["id"]

VM folder again is a bit different as I have to get the id from one of the children objects

vm_folders = external.get_vm_folders(vcenter_id=vcid, datacenter_id=dcid)
for i in vm_folders:
    children=(i["children"])
    for ii in children:
        # print(ii["name"])
        if (ii["name"]) == "Pod1":
            vm_folder = i
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["vm_folder_id"] = vm_folder["id"]

Datacenter and vcenter id’s I already had to grab for the base vm and base snapshot so I can just add them

data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["datacenter_id"] = dcid
data["automated_farm_settings"]["vcenter_id"] = vcid

Datastores is a bit more funky as there can be multiple so I needed to create a list first and than populate that based on the name of the datastores I have.

datastore_list = []
datastores = external.get_datastores(vcenter_id=vcid, host_or_cluster_id=host_or_cluster["id"])
for i in datastores:
    # print(i)
    if (i["name"] == "VDI-500") or i["name"] == "VDI-200":
        ds = {}
        ds["datastore_id"] = i["id"]
        datastore_list.append(ds)
data["automated_farm_settings"]["storage_settings"]["datastores"] = datastore_list

For my final script I put them in a bit different order and I decided to change a whole lot more options but if you have your json perfected this shouldn’t always be required. Also take note that for true/false in the json that I use the True/False from python.

import requests, getpass, urllib, json

import vmware_horizon

requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings()
url = input("URL\n")

username = input("Username\n")

domain = input("Domain\n")

pw = getpass.getpass()

hvconnectionobj = vmware_horizon.Connection(username = username,domain = domain,password = pw,url = url)
hvconnectionobj.hv_connect()
print("connected")

monitor = obj=vmware_horizon.Monitor(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)
external=vmware_horizon.External(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)
inventory=vmware_horizon.Inventory(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)
config=vmware_horizon.Config(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)

with open('/mnt/d/homelab/farm.json') as f:
    data = json.load(f)

vcenters = monitor.virtual_centers()
vcid = vcenters[0]["id"]
dcs = external.get_datacenters(vcenter_id=vcid)
dcid = dcs[0]["id"]

base_vms = external.get_base_vms(vcenter_id=vcid,datacenter_id=dcid,filter_incompatible_vms=True)

base_vm = next(item for item in base_vms if item["name"] == "srv2019-p1-2020-10-13-08-44")
basevmid=base_vm["id"]

base_snapshots = external.get_base_snapshots(vcenter_id=vcid, base_vm_id=base_vm["id"])

base_snapshot = next(item for item in base_snapshots if item["name"] == "Created by Packer")

snapid=base_snapshot["id"]

host_or_clusters = external.get_hosts_or_clusters(vcenter_id=vcid, datacenter_id=dcid)
for i in host_or_clusters:
    if (i["details"]["name"]) == "Cluster_Pod1":
        host_or_cluster = i

resource_pools = external.get_resource_pools(vcenter_id=vcid, host_or_cluster_id=host_or_cluster["id"])
for i in resource_pools:
    # print(i)
    if (i["type"] == "CLUSTER"):
        resource_pool = i

vm_folders = external.get_vm_folders(vcenter_id=vcid, datacenter_id=dcid)
for i in vm_folders:
    children=(i["children"])
    for ii in children:
        # print(ii["name"])
        if (ii["name"]) == "Pod1":
            vm_folder = i

datastore_list = []
datastores = external.get_datastores(vcenter_id=vcid, host_or_cluster_id=host_or_cluster["id"])
for i in datastores:
    # print(i)
    if (i["name"] == "VDI-500") or i["name"] == "VDI-200":
        ds = {}
        ds["datastore_id"] = i["id"]
        datastore_list.append(ds)

local_access_group = next(item for item in (config.get_local_access_groups()) if item["name"] == "Root")
ic_domain_account = next(item for item in (config.get_ic_domain_accounts()) if item["username"] == "administrator")

data["access_group_id"] = local_access_group["id"]
data["automated_farm_settings"]["customization_settings"]["ad_container_rdn"] = "OU=Pod1,OU=RDS,OU=VMware,OU=EUC"
data["automated_farm_settings"]["customization_settings"]["reuse_pre_existing_accounts"] = True
data["automated_farm_settings"]["customization_settings"]["instant_clone_domain_account_id"] = ic_domain_account["id"]
data["automated_farm_settings"]["enable_provisioning"] = False
data["automated_farm_settings"]["max_sessions"] = 50
data["automated_farm_settings"]["min_ready_vms"] = 3
data["automated_farm_settings"]["pattern_naming_settings"]["max_number_of_rds_servers"] = 4
data["automated_farm_settings"]["pattern_naming_settings"]["naming_pattern"] = "farmdemo-{n:fixed=3}"
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["base_snapshot_id"] = snapid
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["parent_vm_id"] = basevmid
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["host_or_cluster_id"] = host_or_cluster["id"]
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["resource_pool_id"] = resource_pool["id"]
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["vm_folder_id"] = vm_folder["id"]
data["automated_farm_settings"]["provisioning_settings"]["datacenter_id"] = dcid
data["automated_farm_settings"]["stop_provisioning_on_error"] = True
data["automated_farm_settings"]["storage_settings"]["datastores"] = datastore_list
data["automated_farm_settings"]["transparent_page_sharing_scope"] = "GLOBAL"
data["automated_farm_settings"]["vcenter_id"] = vcid
data["description"] = "Python_demo_farm"
data["display_name"] = "Python_demo_farm"
data["display_protocol_settings"]["allow_users_to_choose_protocol"] = True
data["display_protocol_settings"]["default_display_protocol"] = "BLAST"
data["display_protocol_settings"]["session_collaboration_enabled"] = True
data["enabled"] = False
data["load_balancer_settings"]["cpu_threshold"] = 12
data["load_balancer_settings"]["disk_queue_length_threshold"] = 16
data["load_balancer_settings"]["disk_read_latency_threshold"] = 12
data["load_balancer_settings"]["disk_write_latency_threshold"] = 16
data["load_balancer_settings"]["include_session_count"] = True
data["load_balancer_settings"]["memory_threshold"] = 12
data["name"] = "Python_demo_farm"
data["session_settings"]["disconnected_session_timeout_minutes"] = 5
data["session_settings"]["disconnected_session_timeout_policy"] = "NEVER"
data["session_settings"]["empty_session_timeout_minutes"] = 6
data["session_settings"]["empty_session_timeout_policy"] = "AFTER"
data["session_settings"]["logoff_after_timeout"] = False
data["session_settings"]["pre_launch_session_timeout_minutes"] = 12
data["session_settings"]["pre_launch_session_timeout_policy"] = "AFTER"
data["type"] = "AUTOMATED"

inventory.new_farm(farm_data=data)

end=hvconnectionobj.hv_disconnect()
print(end)

How does this look? Actually you don’t see a lot happening but the farm will have been created

As always the script can be found on my github in the examples folder together with the json file.

With this I am closing my 100DaysOfCode challenge but I pledge to keep maintaining the python module and I will extend it when new REST api calls arrive for VMware Horizon.

Pushing a new image using the VMware Horizon Python Module

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One of the REST api calls that where added for Horizon 8 2012 was the ability to push images to Desktop Pools (sadly not for farms yet). This week I added that functionality to the VMware Horizon Python Module. Looking at the swagger UI these are the needed arguments:

So the source can be either the streams from Horizon Cloud or a regular vm/snapshot combo. For the time you will need to use some moment in epoch. The optional items for adding the virtual tpm, stop on error I have set the default for what they are listed. As logoff policy I have chosen to set a default in WAIT_FOR_LOGOFF.

For this blog posts I have to go with the vm/snapshot combo as I don’t have streams setup at the moment. First I need to connect:

import requests, getpass, urllib, json, operator, numpy, time
import vmware_horizon


requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings()
url="https://pod2cbr1.loft.lab"
username = input("Username\n")
domain = input("Domain\n")
pw = getpass.getpass()

hvconnectionobj = vmware_horizon.Connection(username = username,domain = domain,password = pw,url = url)
hvconnectionobj.hv_connect()
print("connected")

Than I open the ports for the classes I will be using

monitor = obj=vmware_horizon.Monitor(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)
external=vmware_horizon.External(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)
inventory=vmware_horizon.Inventory(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)

Now let’s look at what the desktop_pool_push_image method needs

First I will grab the correct desktop pool, I will use Pod02-Pool02 this time. There are several ways to get the correct pool but I have chosen to use this one.

desktop_pools=inventory.get_desktop_pools()
desktop_pool = next(item for item in desktop_pools if item["name"] == "Pod02-Pool02")
poolid=desktop_pool["id"]

To get the VM and Snapshots I first need to get the vCenter and datacenter id’s

vcenters = monitor.virtual_centers()
vcid = vcenters[0]["id"]
dcs = external.get_datacenters(vcenter_id=vcid)
dcid = dcs[0]["id"]

I created a new golden image last Friday and it has this name: W10-L-2021-03-19-17-27 so I need to get the compatible base vm’s and get the id for this one

base_vms = external.get_base_vms(vcenter_id=vcid,datacenter_id=dcid,filter_incompatible_vms=True)
base_vm = next(item for item in base_vms if item["name"] == "W10-L-2021-03-19-17-27")
basevmid=base_vm["id"]

I had Packer create a snapshot and I can get that in a similar way

base_snapshots = external.get_base_snapshots(vcenter_id=vcid, base_vm_id=base_vm["id"])
base_snapshot = next(item for item in base_snapshots if item["name"] == "Created by Packer")
snapid=base_snapshot["id"]

I get the current time in epoch using the time module (google is your best friend to define a moment in the future in epoch)

current_time = time.time()

For this example I add all the arguments but if you don’t change fromt he defaults that’s not needed

inventory.desktop_pool_push_image(desktop_pool_id=poolid,parent_vm_id=basevmid,snapshot_id=snapid, start_time=current_time, add_virtual_tpm=False, stop_on_first_error=False, logoff_policy="FORCE_LOGOFF")

And closing the connection

end=hvconnectionobj.hv_disconnect()
print(end)

and when I now look at my desktop pool it’s pushing the new image

I have created a new folder on Github for examples and the script to deploy new images is the first example. I did move a couple of the names to variables so make ie better usable. You can find it here. Or see the code below this.

import requests, getpass, urllib, time
import vmware_horizon

requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings()

url                     = "https://pod2cbr1.loft.lab"
desktop_pool_name       = "Pod02-Pool01"
base_vm_name            = "W10-L-2021-03-19-17-27"
snapshot_name           = "Snap_2"

username = input("Username\n")
domain = input("Domain\n")
pw = getpass.getpass()

hvconnectionobj = vmware_horizon.Connection(username = username,domain = domain,password = pw,url = url)
hvconnectionobj.hv_connect()
print("connected")
monitor = obj=vmware_horizon.Monitor(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)
external=vmware_horizon.External(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)
inventory=vmware_horizon.Inventory(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)

desktop_pools=inventory.get_desktop_pools()
desktop_pool = next(item for item in desktop_pools if item["name"] == desktop_pool_name)
poolid=desktop_pool["id"]

vcenters = monitor.virtual_centers()
vcid = vcenters[0]["id"]
dcs = external.get_datacenters(vcenter_id=vcid)
dcid = dcs[0]["id"]

base_vms = external.get_base_vms(vcenter_id=vcid,datacenter_id=dcid,filter_incompatible_vms=True)
base_vm = next(item for item in base_vms if item["name"] == base_vm_name)
basevmid=base_vm["id"]

base_snapshots = external.get_base_snapshots(vcenter_id=vcid, base_vm_id=base_vm["id"])
base_snapshot = next(item for item in base_snapshots if item["name"] == snapshot_name)
snapid=base_snapshot["id"]

current_time = time.time()
inventory.desktop_pool_push_image(desktop_pool_id=poolid,parent_vm_id=basevmid,snapshot_id=snapid, start_time=current_time)

end=hvconnectionobj.hv_disconnect()
print(end)

 

 

Quickly grabbing all available REST api url’s for your Horizon version

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One of the challenges with the Horizon REST API’s is that they are not feature complete yet and if you ain’t on the latest version you need to scroll trough the api explorer or Swagger UI to find if the URL you need is available. I have created a short script for both python and powershell that will show all the available urls.

If you’ve taken a good look at the Swagger page you’ll see there’s a link to the api docs almost at the top

If you open this you get something that looks like a json but it’s not readable (yet!)

Let’s grab the url’s with powershell first

$data = Invoke-WebRequest https://pod2cbr1.loft.lab/rest/v1/api-docs?group=Default
$json = $data |ConvertFrom-Json
$json.paths

this will give you all the available url’s from the docs and the methods they support

Now if you want to drill down deeper you can do a select -expandproperty on the url’s and with a get-member you get the available calls

$json.paths | select -expandproperty "/inventory/v1/rds-servers/{id}" | Get-Member

and with another select -expandproperty you see all the details

$json.paths | select -expandproperty "/inventory/v1/rds-servers/{id}" | select -ExpandProperty get

With Python you can start with something similar

import json,requests,urllib 
requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings() 
response = requests.get("https://pod2cbr1.loft.lab/rest/v1/api-docs?group=Default" , verify=False) 
data = response.json() 
for i in data["paths"]: 
    print(i)

but this will just give the url’s

To be able to drill down I decided to bring the url, method and the description into a list and print that if needed. This example is just with the method and url but you can add the description as well. The list is to make it easier to filter on.

import json,requests,urllib
requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings()
response = requests.get("https://pod2cbr1.loft.lab/rest/v1/api-docs?group=Default" , verify=False)

data = response.json()

list=[]
paths=data["paths"]

for i in paths:
    for method in paths[i]:
        obj = {}
        obj["method"] = method
        obj["url"] = i
        obj["description"] = paths[i][method]
        list.append(obj)

for i in list:
    print(i["method"], i["url"])

Filtering/Searching and pagination with the Python module for VMware Horizon

  By , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday I added the first method to the VMware Horizon Python module that makes use of filtering while the day before that I added pagination. VMware{Code} has a document describing available options for both but let me give some explanation.

Pagination

Pagination is where you perform a query but only get an x amount of objects returned by default. The rest of the objects are available on the next page or pages. This is exactly what I ran into with the vmware.hv.helper Powershell module a long time ago. With the REST api’s this is rather easy to add since if there are more pages/objects left the headers will contain a key named HAS_MORE_RECORDS. For all the methods that I add where pagination is supported you don’t need to handle this though as I have added it to the method itself. What I did add was the option the change the maximum page size. I default to 100 and the maximum is 1000, if you supply an interrupt higher than 1000 this will be corrected to 1000.

Filtering

Filtering needs some more work from the user of the module to be able to use it.

What options are there for filtering?

For the type we have: And, Or and Not

For the filters themselves there are: Equals, NotEquals, Contains, StartsWith and Between.

The formula is you pick one from the first row and combine that with one or more from the second row.

To apply these the document describes the base schema like this:

{
    “type”: ”And”,
    “filter”: <filter object>
}

and a filter object looks like this:

{
    "type":"Equals",
    "name":"domain",
    "value":"ad-example0"
}

or this for a range:

{
    "type":"Between",
    "name":"assignedUsers",
    "fromValue":"10",
    "toValue":"20"
}

Combining both into a single object looks like this:

{
    "type":"Not",
    "filter": {
        "type":"Equals",
        "name":"domain",
        "value":"ad-example0"
    }
}

This all looks like a dictionary with a nested dictionary when translating it to Python but when you have multiple filters it suddenly looks like this:

{
    "type":"And",
  "filters": [
        {
            "type":"Equals", 
            "name":"domain",
            "value":"ad-example0"
        },
        {
            "type":"StartsWith", 
            "name":"name",
            "value":"test"
        }
    ]
}

otherwise know as a dictionary with a list of dictionaries in it and since the latter also works with a single dict inside the list I have taken that route. The document also describes encoding and minifying the code to it works for a REST api call but I have done all of that for you so no need to worry about it, just build the dictionary and you are good!

Now let’s actually perform a search

First I create my base object with the type AND and a list for the filters key

filter_dict = {}
filter_dict["type"] = "And"
filter_dict["filters"] = []

Next I create the filters object where the type is contains and I filter on the field name with the value LP-00

filter1={}
filter1["type"] = "Contains"
filter1["name"] = "name"
filter1["value"] = "LP-00"

And now I add the filters1 object to the filter_dict filters list

filter["filters"].append(filter1)

and I get the machines with a pagesize of 1 to show the pagination (the pool with these machines only has 2 😉 )

machines = obj.get_machines(maxpagesize=1, filter = filter_dict)

And this would be the entire python script

import requests, getpass, urllib, json
import vmware_horizon

requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings()

url="https://loftcbr01.loft.lab"
username = "m_wouter"
domain = "loft.lab"
pw = getpass.getpass()

hvconnectionobj = vmware_horizon.Connection(username = username,domain = domain,password = pw,url = url)
hvconnectionobj.hv_connect()

obj = vmware_horizon.Inventory(url=hvconnectionobj.url, access_token=hvconnectionobj.access_token)

filter_dict = {}
filter_dict["type"] = "And"
filter_dict["filters"] = []
filter1={}
filter1["type"] = "Contains"
filter1["name"] = "name"
filter1["value"] = "LP-00"

filter["filters"].append(filter1)

machines = obj.get_machines(maxpagesize=1, filter = filter_dict)

for i in machines:
    print(i["name"])

hvconnectionobj.hv_disconnect()

And it shows this in python:

[HorizonAPI] Getting started with the Horizon REST api

  By ,

Until now all of my blogging about the Horizon api’s was about consuming the SOAP api using PowerCLI. Since a couple of releases Horizon also has a REST api and since 7.12 we are also able to change some settings using that. So now it’s time for me to dive into the Horizon REST api’s. I will consume them using Powershell since I am the most comfortable using that but you can use whatever method you prefer..

The REST api is just like the soap api documented at the VMware{CODE} api explorer.

First of all we need to create an accesstoken, we can do this by using some code that I simply stole from Andrew Morgan because why would I re-invent the wheel? From his git repository I grabbed three basic functions: get-HRHeader, Open-HRConnection and close-hrconnection. there’s also a refresh-hrconnection but I won’t need that for now.

function Get-HRHeader(){
    param($accessToken)
    return @{
        'Authorization' = 'Bearer ' + $($accessToken.access_token)
        'Content-Type' = "application/json"
    }
}

function Open-HRConnection(){
    param(
        [string] $username,
        [string] $password,
        [string] $domain,
        [string] $url
    )

    $Credentials = New-Object psobject -Property @{
        username = $username
        password = $password
        domain = $domain
    }

    return invoke-restmethod -Method Post -uri "$url/rest/login" -ContentType "application/json" -Body ($Credentials | ConvertTo-Json)
}

function Close-HRConnection(){
    param(
        $accessToken,
        $url
    )
    return Invoke-RestMethod -Method post -uri "$url/rest/logout" -ContentType "application/json" -Body ($accessToken | ConvertTo-Json)
}
$accessToken = Open-HRConnection -username $username -password $password -domain $Domain -url $url

But we can’t do anything with only these functions, somehow we also need to supply username and password

$url = read-host -prompt "Connection server url"
$username = read-host -prompt "Username"
$password = read-host -prompt "Password" -AsSecureString
$Domain = read-host -Prompt "Domain"

$BSTR = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($password)
$UnsecurePassword = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($BSTR)

(I am grabbing it from the command line here but when I run the scripts I have my creds hardcoded to make my life for the duration of this blog post a bit easier)

Next up is actually getting some data. The first thing that I wil do is show the connection servers. This can be done with the following API call. The part after -uri “$url/rest/ is what you can find int he api explorer. The method is the method also shown in the api explorer.

Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -uri "$url/rest/monitor/connection-servers" -ContentType "application/json" -Headers (Get-HRHeader -accessToken $accessToken)

and the result:

Since one of the few things that you can already change using the rest api’s are the general settings I will take those as the next example

Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -uri "$url/rest/config/v1/settings" -ContentType "application/json" -Headers (Get-HRHeader -accessToken $accessToken)

This works but I can’t say that it’s really usable. Now this is not the first time I do something with REST api’s (haven’t done it a lot though to be honest) so I know this can easily be converted to json to make it visible. What I will do is that I put it in a variable first.

$settings=Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -uri "$url/rest/config/v1/settings" -ContentType "application/json" -Headers (Get-HRHeader -accessToken $accessToken)
$settings | ConvertTo-Json

Now this DOES look usable! Let’s take a look what is under general_settings

$settings.general_settings

Let’s say I want to change the forced logoff message

$settings.general_settings.forced_logoff_message="Get lost, the Bastard Operator From Hell is here."

Now my variable has the change but I need to send this to the server. This can be done using a put method and the settings variable has to be added as json. The second line is to pull the new settings from my connection server showing it directly in a json format.

 

Invoke-RestMethod -Method Put -uri "$url/rest/config/v1/settings" -ContentType "application/json" -Headers (Get-HRHeader -accessToken $accessToken) -body ($settings | ConvertTo-Json)
Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -uri "$url/rest/config/v1/settings" -ContentType "application/json" -Headers (Get-HRHeader -accessToken $accessToken) | ConvertTo-Json

and in the admin interface:

That’s it for my 1ste blog post about the horizon REST api’s hopefully it’s useful! Below is an example of the script that I used.

$url = read-host -prompt "Connection server url" 
$username = read-host -prompt "Username" 
$password = read-host -prompt "Password" -AsSecureString 
$Domain = read-host -Prompt "Domain" 

#$BSTR = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($password) 
#$UnsecurePassword = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($BSTR)

function Get-HRHeader(){
    param($accessToken)
    return @{
        'Authorization' = 'Bearer ' + $($accessToken.access_token)
        'Content-Type' = "application/json"
    }
}
function Open-HRConnection(){
    param(
        [string] $username,
        [string] $password,
        [string] $domain,
        [string] $url
    )

    $Credentials = New-Object psobject -Property @{
        username = $username
        password = $password
        domain = $domain
    }

    return invoke-restmethod -Method Post -uri "$url/rest/login" -ContentType "application/json" -Body ($Credentials | ConvertTo-Json)
}

function Close-HRConnection(){
    param(
        $accessToken,
        $url
    )
    return Invoke-RestMethod -Method post -uri "$url/rest/logout" -ContentType "application/json" -Body ($accessToken | ConvertTo-Json)
}

$accessToken = Open-HRConnection -username $username -password $password -domain $Domain -url $url

Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -uri "$url/rest/monitor/connection-servers" -ContentType "application/json" -Headers (Get-HRHeader -accessToken $accessToken)