Create Events with PowerShell and JSON API for Clearer Error Display – Zenoss

Applies To

Zenoss 5.x

Summary

Creating events using PowerShell and the JSON API results in events that are easier to read, parse and understand. This KB provides an example of how to perform this task.

Background

Events that are generated in response to errors can be difficult to read or identify as errors.

The following example shows a non-JSON API FAIL POST error. Notice that this error doesn't look like an error because it shows no standard red text powershell text. This error was generated because the headers were created with a bad password:

PS C:\Users\fgreene> Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -Uri "https://zenoss5.v5.fg.loc/zport/dmd/evconsole_router" -Headers
&headers -Method Post -Body $JSON -ContentType "application/json"


StatusCode        : 200
StatusDescription : OK
Content           : <html>
                        <head>
                            <script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new
                    Date());</script><link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/zport/dmd/favicon.ico"/>
                            ...
RawContent        : HTTP/1.1 200 OK
                    Vary: Accept-Encoding
                    X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
                    X-Page-Speed: 1.11.33.4-0
                    X-Xss-Protection: 1; mode=block
                    Transfer-Encoding: chunked
                    Cache-Control: max-age=0, no-cache
                    Content...
Forms             :
Headers           : {[Vary, Accept-Encoding], [X-Frame-Options, SAMEORIGIN], [X-Page-Speed, 1.11.33.4-0],
                    [X-Xss-Protection, 1; mode=block]...}
Images            : {}
InputFields       : {@{outerHTML=<input type="hidden" name="came_from"
                    value="https://zenoss5.v5.fg.loc/zport/dmd/evconsole_router"/>; tagName=INPUT; type=hidden;
                    name=came_from; value=https://zenoss5.v5.fg.loc/zport/dmd/evconsole_router}, @{outerHTML=<input
                    type="hidden" name="submitted" value="true"/>; tagName=INPUT; type=hidden; name=submitted;
                    value=true}, @{outerHTML=<input id="fragment" type="hidden" name="fragment" value=""/>;
                    tagName=INPUT; id=fragment; type=hidden; name=fragment; value=}, @{outerHTML=<input id="username"
                    type="text" name="__ac_name" class="inputbox" style="top:160px"/>; tagName=INPUT; id=username;
                    type=text; name=__ac_name; class=inputbox; style=top:160px}...}
Links             : {}
ParsedHtml        :
RawContentLength  : 6766

Procedure

Perform the following to create a JSON API event:

Build headers for authorization:

$user = "admin"
$pass = "Zenoss!2"
$pair = "${user}:${pass}"

$bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes($pair)
$base64 = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String($bytes)

$basicAuthValue = "Basic $base64"

$headers = @{ Authorization = $basicAuthValue }

Create the JSON format (nested JSON in PowerShell):

$hash = @([Ordered]@{ action = "EventsRouter";

            method = "add_event"
            data = @(
                [Ordered]@{
                    summary = "hulloPS"
                    device = "test-rhel6.zenoss.loc"
                    component = "drive1"
                    severity = "Critical"
                    evclasskey = ""
                    evclass = "/App"
                }
            )
        type = "rpc"
        tid = 1
        }
    )

$JSON = $hash | convertto-json -Depth 2

Test the output:

PS C:\Users\zuser> $JSON

Example output looks simpler, like JSON:

{
    "action":  "EventsRouter",
    "method":  "add_event",
    "data":  [
                 {
                     "summary":  "hulloPS",
                     "device":  "test-rhel6.zenoss.loc",
                     "component":  "drive1",
                     "severity":  "Critical",
                     "evclasskey":  "",
                     "evclass":  "/App"
                 }
             ],
    "type":  "rpc",
    "tid":  1
}
PS C:\Users\zuser>

Ignore SSL certificates until the correct certificates are in place:

[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::ServerCertificateValidationCallback = {$true}

Post the code:

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -Uri "https://zenoss5.v5.fg.loc/zport/dmd/evconsole_router" -Headers $headers -Method Post -Body $JSON -ContentType "application/json"

After successfully posting the code, the error displays are shorter and easier to read:

PS C:\Users\zuser> Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -Uri "https://zenoss5.v5.fg.loc/zport/dmd/evconsole_router" -Hea
ders $headers -Method Post -Body $JSON -ContentType "application/json"


StatusCode        : 200
StatusDescription : OK
Content           : {"uuid": "bb324921-cb7c-471f-82ac-e6da7c5fb5c7", "action": "EventsRouter", "result": {"msg":
                    "Created event", "success": true}, "tid": 1, "type": "rpc", "method": "add_event"}
RawContent        : HTTP/1.1 200 OK
                    Vary: Accept-Encoding
                    X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
                    X-Xss-Protection: 1; mode=block
                    Content-Length: 175
                    Content-Type: application/json
                    Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2017 02:23:51 GMT
                    Server: ...
Forms             :
Headers           : {[Vary, Accept-Encoding], [X-Frame-Options, SAMEORIGIN], [X-Xss-Protection, 1; mode=block],
                    [Content-Length, 175]...}
Images            : {}
InputFields       : {}
Links             : {}
ParsedHtml        :
RawContentLength  : 175

Applies To

Summary

Background

Procedure

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