Http And Https Support With The Ace - Cisco ACE-4710-K9 Administration Manual

Chapter 9 Configuring the XML Interface
XML Overview
R E V I E W D R A F T - C I S C O C O N F I D E N T I A L

HTTP and HTTPS Support with the ACE

The ACE and an NMS can easily send and receive an XML document containing
configuration commands or output results by using standard Internet protocols,
such as HTTP or secure HTTP (HTTPS), as the transfer protocol. HTTPS uses
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to provide encrypted communication between the
management client and the ACE.
The administrator of the system designates a website as the entry point to the API,
and all requests and queries are made through those URLs. This website also
provides the DTDs that define the XML for requests, queries, and responses.
The XML input is submitted through the data portion of an HTTP POST request.
A field named "xml" contains the XML string that defines the request or query.
The response to this HTTP POST represents a pure XML response with either a
success or failure indicator for a request or the response to a query.
When you use XML to transfer configuration data and results, the NMS connects
to the ACE and sends a new configuration in an XML document to the ACE over
HTTP or HTTPS. The ACE then applies the new configuration.
The following example shows the HTTP conversation between the client and the
server, as related to the XML implementation on the ACE:
******** Client **************
POST /bin/xml_agent HTTP/1.1
Authorization: Basic VTpQ
Content-Length: 95
xml_cmd=<request_xml>
<interface type="vlan" number="80">
<access-group access-type="input" name="acl1"/>
<ip_address address="60.0.0.145" netmask="255.255.255.0"/>
<shutdown sense="no"/>
</interface>
<show_running-config/>
</request_xml>
******** Server **************
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Length: 21
<response_xml>
<config_command>
<command>
interface vlan 80
ip address 60.0.0.145 255.255.255.0
access-group input acl1
no shutdown
Cisco 4700 Series Application Control Engine Appliance Administration Guide
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OL-11157-01