1 00:00:01,001 --> 00:00:03,003 - [Instructor] We now want to take a look at APIs 2 00:00:03,003 --> 00:00:06,007 in both Cisco DNA Center and vManage. 3 00:00:06,007 --> 00:00:10,004 An API, or an Application Programming Interface, 4 00:00:10,004 --> 00:00:12,007 is a building block that allows applications 5 00:00:12,007 --> 00:00:14,005 to communicate with one another. 6 00:00:14,005 --> 00:00:17,005 APIs in their most basic sense are simply building blocks 7 00:00:17,005 --> 00:00:21,006 of code or software that were created to save time 8 00:00:21,006 --> 00:00:22,008 for developers. 9 00:00:22,008 --> 00:00:25,006 Rather than starting from scratch trying to write code 10 00:00:25,006 --> 00:00:27,008 that will allow two applications to speak 11 00:00:27,008 --> 00:00:30,007 with one another, this allows developers to use 12 00:00:30,007 --> 00:00:33,005 pre-built APIs for this piece. 13 00:00:33,005 --> 00:00:36,008 This saves lots of development time and resources 14 00:00:36,008 --> 00:00:39,005 as opposed to having the need to specifically code 15 00:00:39,005 --> 00:00:42,007 for the communication between the applications. 16 00:00:42,007 --> 00:00:45,006 First let's take a look at Cisco DNA Center. 17 00:00:45,006 --> 00:00:48,009 As we've already determined, DNA Center is the central piece 18 00:00:48,009 --> 00:00:53,003 for Cisco's intent based network automation architecture. 19 00:00:53,003 --> 00:00:55,005 Intent APIs are referred are referred to 20 00:00:55,005 --> 00:00:58,001 as Northbound interfaces. 21 00:00:58,001 --> 00:01:00,004 These are REST APIs. 22 00:01:00,004 --> 00:01:04,002 REST standing for Representational State Transfer. 23 00:01:04,002 --> 00:01:07,000 This is very common in web services and it uses 24 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,004 HTTP requests for data transfer, 25 00:01:10,004 --> 00:01:15,002 namely the GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE requests. 26 00:01:15,002 --> 00:01:17,005 These are used to simplify workflow creation in 27 00:01:17,005 --> 00:01:21,002 DNA Center so that we can easily automate multiple 28 00:01:21,002 --> 00:01:22,006 network actions. 29 00:01:22,006 --> 00:01:25,007 Think of the work it takes to configure a new SSID 30 00:01:25,007 --> 00:01:28,001 on your wireless LAN manually. 31 00:01:28,001 --> 00:01:30,002 You have to assign interface addresses, 32 00:01:30,002 --> 00:01:33,000 SSID settings, security parameters, 33 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,008 VLAN assignment and more. 34 00:01:34,008 --> 00:01:38,009 Intent APIs allow us to do that very very simply 35 00:01:38,009 --> 00:01:40,007 through a graphical interface. 36 00:01:40,007 --> 00:01:44,007 And to perform that on multiple devices at the same time. 37 00:01:44,007 --> 00:01:47,006 When we're logged into the DNA Center dashboard, 38 00:01:47,006 --> 00:01:51,004 a few common areas where we put intent APIs to use 39 00:01:51,004 --> 00:01:55,000 include creating and managing our sites, 40 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,001 retrieving health information about our topology, 41 00:01:58,001 --> 00:02:01,004 managing our devices and users, device onboarding 42 00:02:01,004 --> 00:02:05,006 and provisioning, path trace commands, policy creation, 43 00:02:05,006 --> 00:02:07,002 and much much more. 44 00:02:07,002 --> 00:02:11,007 In short intent APIs are used to enforce the configurations 45 00:02:11,007 --> 00:02:15,007 and settings that we choose in DNA Center. 46 00:02:15,007 --> 00:02:20,008 We also have integration APIs or Westbound interfaces. 47 00:02:20,008 --> 00:02:23,006 These are used to integrate Cisco DNA Center 48 00:02:23,006 --> 00:02:25,003 with other platforms, 49 00:02:25,003 --> 00:02:30,001 specifically third party IT service management solutions. 50 00:02:30,001 --> 00:02:33,001 For example, let's say you have a trouble ticketing system 51 00:02:33,001 --> 00:02:36,003 in place where employees can submit requests for 52 00:02:36,003 --> 00:02:39,007 assistance and support or they can report issues. 53 00:02:39,007 --> 00:02:43,003 Integration APIs allow DNA Center to interact 54 00:02:43,003 --> 00:02:47,005 and exchange information with these external IT systems, 55 00:02:47,005 --> 00:02:50,002 such as in-house ticketing software. 56 00:02:50,002 --> 00:02:53,003 And that's so that network data, events, 57 00:02:53,003 --> 00:02:56,003 and notifications can be pushed from DNA Center 58 00:02:56,003 --> 00:02:58,003 into this system. 59 00:02:58,003 --> 00:03:00,004 That means that you have the capability of allowing 60 00:03:00,004 --> 00:03:03,008 DNA Center to create tickets on its own. 61 00:03:03,008 --> 00:03:06,000 We've already looked at DNA Center's ability to 62 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,007 detect problems early through machine learning 63 00:03:08,007 --> 00:03:12,006 and so if DNA Center detects a device with a security 64 00:03:12,006 --> 00:03:16,007 issue or a problem with its built-in assurance tools 65 00:03:16,007 --> 00:03:20,003 through the integration APIs it has the ability 66 00:03:20,003 --> 00:03:23,002 to automatically generate tickets 67 00:03:23,002 --> 00:03:24,008 with suggested remediation. 68 00:03:24,008 --> 00:03:27,007 So the information here can flow in both directions 69 00:03:27,007 --> 00:03:30,000 between these systems. 70 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,007 We also have multivendor support or Southbound interfaces. 71 00:03:34,007 --> 00:03:37,003 This is accomplished through the Cisco DNA Center 72 00:03:37,003 --> 00:03:42,005 multivendor SDK, the Software Development Kit. 73 00:03:42,005 --> 00:03:45,004 An API can be thought of as a much more simple piece 74 00:03:45,004 --> 00:03:47,008 of software than an SDK 75 00:03:47,008 --> 00:03:49,008 without all of the debugging support 76 00:03:49,008 --> 00:03:52,008 and other features that are found within SDKs. 77 00:03:52,008 --> 00:03:56,006 So an SDK can include multiple APIs. 78 00:03:56,006 --> 00:04:00,009 Cisco's DNA Center multivendor SDK allows users 79 00:04:00,009 --> 00:04:06,001 to manage non-Cisco devices directly from DNA Center. 80 00:04:06,001 --> 00:04:08,004 At the time of this recording, this includes 81 00:04:08,004 --> 00:04:11,008 seeing basic device details, and interface status 82 00:04:11,008 --> 00:04:15,008 and using common communication protocols with that device, 83 00:04:15,008 --> 00:04:20,003 such as SNMP, TELNET, SSH and others. 84 00:04:20,003 --> 00:04:23,004 This is an ongoing development area for Cisco 85 00:04:23,004 --> 00:04:26,000 and I'm certain that as new versions of DNA Center 86 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,000 are released this functionality will just continue 87 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:30,001 to improve. 88 00:04:30,001 --> 00:04:33,006 And finally we have events and notifications, 89 00:04:33,006 --> 00:04:35,008 the Eastbound interfaces. 90 00:04:35,008 --> 00:04:38,005 These interfaces allow for external systems 91 00:04:38,005 --> 00:04:41,008 to take action against a device when an event 92 00:04:41,008 --> 00:04:45,003 or notification is triggered by DNA Center. 93 00:04:45,003 --> 00:04:47,007 For example, maybe there's a device in the network 94 00:04:47,007 --> 00:04:50,004 that is not running up to date software patches 95 00:04:50,004 --> 00:04:53,007 and DNA Center sends out a notification about that. 96 00:04:53,007 --> 00:04:56,003 A custom application in the network could use 97 00:04:56,003 --> 00:05:00,000 this notification to execute a software upgrade 98 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,005 in order to bring the device back into compliance. 99 00:05:03,005 --> 00:05:05,006 vManage APIs are numerous and they're grouped 100 00:05:05,006 --> 00:05:10,005 into seven main categories called Resource Collections. 101 00:05:10,005 --> 00:05:14,003 We have administrative APIs, for managing users 102 00:05:14,003 --> 00:05:17,003 and groups, and also used for managing the local 103 00:05:17,003 --> 00:05:19,008 vManage server itself. 104 00:05:19,008 --> 00:05:23,006 Certificate Management APIs, of course used for key 105 00:05:23,006 --> 00:05:27,003 and certificate management; Configuration APIs 106 00:05:27,003 --> 00:05:30,006 for creating and editing device configurations; 107 00:05:30,006 --> 00:05:34,003 Device Inventory APIs, used to collect metrics 108 00:05:34,003 --> 00:05:38,003 about devices that are under the control of vManage; 109 00:05:38,003 --> 00:05:42,000 Monitoring APIs used for viewing device statistics 110 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,004 and status, by the way this is static monitoring data 111 00:05:45,004 --> 00:05:47,009 that's only updated every 10 minutes, 112 00:05:47,009 --> 00:05:51,003 but thankfully we have Real-time Monitoring APIs 113 00:05:51,003 --> 00:05:54,001 for seeing up to date traffic and device information 114 00:05:54,001 --> 00:05:56,004 that's gathered by the second. 115 00:05:56,004 --> 00:05:59,001 And we have Troubleshooting APIs, 116 00:05:59,001 --> 00:06:02,007 tools for remediating issues found within the network. 117 00:06:02,007 --> 00:06:04,009 To see a complete list of these APIs 118 00:06:04,009 --> 00:06:08,008 you can check out the Cisco SD WAN documentation 119 00:06:08,008 --> 00:06:11,006 where there is a very thorough command reference 120 00:06:11,006 --> 00:06:13,008 for vManage APIs. 121 00:06:13,008 --> 00:06:17,001 So that's a look at APIs in both Cisco DNA Center 122 00:06:17,001 --> 00:06:18,008 and Cisco vManage.