In a [previous post](/vmware-home-lab-on-intel-nuc-9), I described some of the steps I took to stand up a homelab including vRealize Automation (vRA) on an Intel NUC 9. One of my initial goals for that lab was to use it for developing and testing a way for vRA to leverage [phpIPAM](https://phpipam.net/) for static IP assignments. The homelab worked brilliantly for that purpose, and those extra internal networks were a big help when it came to testing. I was able to deploy and configure a new VM to host the phpIPAM instance, install the [VMware vRealize Third-Party IPAM SDK](https://code.vmware.com/web/sdk/1.1.0/vmware-vrealize-automation-third-party-ipam-sdk) on my [Chromebook's Linux environment](/setting-up-linux-on-a-new-lenovo-chromebook-duet-bonus-arm64-complications), develop and build the integration component, import it to my vRA environment, and verify that deployments got addressed accordingly.
The resulting integration is available on Github [here](https://github.com/jbowdre/phpIPAM-for-vRA8). This was actually the second integration I'd worked on, having fumbled my way through a [Solarwinds integration](https://github.com/jbowdre/SWIPAMforvRA8) earlier last year. [VMware's documentation](https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/8.3/Using-and-Managing-Cloud-Assembly/GUID-4A5A481C-FC45-47FB-A120-56B73EB28F01.html) on how to build these things is pretty good, but I struggled to find practical information on how a novice like me could actually go about developing the integration. So maybe these notes will be helpful to anyone seeking to write an integration for a different third-party IP Address Management solution.
If you'd just like to import a working phpIPAM integration into your environment without learning how the sausage is made, you can grab my latest compiled package [here](https://github.com/jbowdre/phpIPAM-for-vRA8/releases/latest). You'll probably still want to look through Steps 0-2 to make sure your IPAM instance is set up similarly to mine.
### Step 0: phpIPAM installation and base configuration
Before even worrying about the SDK, I needed to [get a phpIPAM instance ready](https://phpipam.net/documents/installation/). I started with a small (1vCPU/1GB RAM/16GB HDD) VM attached to my "Home" network (`192.168.1.0/24`). I installed Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS, and then used [this guide](https://computingforgeeks.com/install-and-configure-phpipam-on-ubuntu-debian-linux/) to install phpIPAM.
Once phpIPAM was running and accessible via the web interface, I then used `openssl` to generate a self-signed certificate to be used for the SSL API connection:
After restarting apache, I verified that hitting `http://ipam.lab.bowdre.net` redirected me to `https://ipam.lab.bowdre.net`, and that the connection was secured with the shiny new certificate.
Remember how I've got a "Home" network as well as [several internal networks](/vmware-home-lab-on-intel-nuc-9/#networking) which only exist inside the lab environment? I dropped the phpIPAM instance on the Home network to make it easy to connect to, but it doesn't know how to talk to the internal networks where vRA will actually be deploying the VMs. So I added a static route to let it know that traffic to `172.16.0.0/16` would have to go through the Vyos router at `192.168.1.100`.
I then ran `sudo netplan apply` so the change would take immediate effect and confirmed the route was working by pinging the vCenter's interface on the `172.16.10.0/24` network:
64 bytes from 172.16.10.12: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.282 ms
64 bytes from 172.16.10.12: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.256 ms
64 bytes from 172.16.10.12: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.241 ms
^C
--- 172.16.10.12 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2043ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.241/0.259/0.282/0.016 ms
```
Now would also be a good time to go ahead and enable cron jobs so that phpIPAM will automatically scan its defined subnets for changes in IP availability and device status. phpIPAM includes a pair of scripts in `INSTALL_DIR/functions/scripts/`: one for discovering new hosts, and the other for checking the status of previously discovered hosts. So I ran `sudo crontab -e` to edit root's crontab and pasted in these two lines to call both scripts every 15 minutes:
Okay, let's now move on to the phpIPAM web-based UI to continue the setup. After logging in at `https://ipam.lab.bowdre.net/`, I clicked on the red **Administration** menu at the right side and selected **phpIPAM Settings**. Under the **Site Settings** section, I enabled the *Prettify links* option, and under the **Feature Settings** section I toggled on the *API* component. I then hit *Save* at the bottom of the page to apply the changes.
Next, I went to the **Users** item on the left-hand menu to create a new user account which will be used by vRA. I named it `vra`, set a password for the account, and made it a member of the `Operators` group, but didn't grant any special module access.
The last step in configuring API access is to create an API key. This is done by clicking the **API** item on that left side menu and then selecting *Create API key*. I gave it the app ID `vra`, granted Read/Write permissions, and set the *App Security* option to "SSL with User token".
Once we get things going, our API calls will authenticate with the username and password to get a token and bind that to the app ID.
### Step 2: Configuring phpIPAM subnets
Our fancy new IPAM solution is ready to go - except for the whole bit about managing IPs. We need to tell it about the network segments we'd like it to manage. phpIPAM uses "Sections" to group subnets together, so we start by creating a new Section at **Administration > IP related management > Sections**. I named my new section `Lab`, and pretty much left all the default options. Be sure that the `Operators` group has read/write access to this section and the subnets we're going to create inside it!
We should also go ahead and create a Nameserver set so that phpIPAM will be able to tell its clients (vRA) what server(s) to use for DNS. Do this at **Administration > IP related management > Nameservers**. I created a new entry called `Lab` and pointed it at my internal DNS server, `192.168.1.5`.
Okay, we're finally ready to start entering our subnets at **Administration > IP related management > Subnets**. For each one, I entered the Subnet in CIDR format, gave it a useful description, and associated it with my `Lab` section. I expanded the *VLAN* dropdown and used the *Add new VLAN* option to enter the corresponding VLAN information, and also selected the Nameserver I had just created.
I also enabled the options ~~*Mark as pool*~~, *Check hosts status*, *Discover new hosts*, and *Resolve DNS names*.
Since releasing this integration, I've learned that phpIPAM intends for the `isPool` field to identify networks where the entire range (including the subnet and broadcast addresses) are available for assignment. As a result, I no longer recommend using that field. Instead, consider [creating a custom field](https://github.com/jbowdre/phpIPAM-for-vRA8/blob/main/docs/custom_field.md) for tagging networks for vRA availability.
The scan only found a single host, `172.16.20.1`, which is the subnet's gateway address hosted by the Vyos router. I used the pencil icon to edit the IP and mark it as the gateway:
phpIPAM now knows the network address, mask, gateway, VLAN, and DNS configuration for this subnet - all things that will be useful for clients seeking an address. I then repeated these steps for the remaining subnets.
Now for the *real* fun!
### Step 3: Testing the API
Before moving on to developing the integration, it would be good to first get a little bit familiar with the phpIPAM API - and, in the process, validate that everything is set up correctly. First I read through the [API documentation](https://phpipam.net/api/api_documentation/) and some [example API calls](https://phpipam.net/news/api_example_curl/) to get a feel for it. I then started by firing up a `python3` interpreter and defining a few variables as well as importing the `requests` module for interacting with the REST API:
```python
>>> username = 'vra'
>>> password = 'passw0rd'
>>> hostname = 'ipam.lab.bowdre.net'
>>> apiAppId = 'vra'
>>> uri = f'https://{hostname}/api/{apiAppId}/'
>>> auth = (username, password)
>>> import requests
```
Based on reading the API docs, I'll need to use the username and password for initial authentication which will provide me with a token to use for subsequent calls. So I'll construct the URI used for auth, submit a `POST` to authenticate, verify that the authentication was successful (`status_code == 200`), and take a look at the response to confirm that I got a token. (For testing, I'm calling `requests` with `verify=False`; we'll be able to use certificate verification when these calls are made from vRA.)
Now that I know how to talk to phpIPAM via its RESP API, it's time to figure out how to get vRA to speak that language.
### Step 4: Getting started with the vRA Third-Party IPAM SDK
I downloaded the SDK from [here](https://code.vmware.com/web/sdk/1.1.0/vmware-vrealize-automation-third-party-ipam-sdk). It's got a pretty good [README](https://github.com/jbowdre/phpIPAM-for-vRA8/blob/main/README_VMware.md) which describes the requirements (Java 8+, Maven 3, Python3, Docker, internet access) as well as how to build the package. I also consulted [this white paper](https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/8.2/ipam_integration_contract_reqs.pdf) which describes the inputs provided by vRA and the outputs expected from the IPAM integration.
The README tells you to extract the .zip and make a simple modification to the `pom.xml` file to "brand" the integration:
You can then kick off the build with `mvn package -PcollectDependencies -Duser.id=${UID}`, which will (eventually) spit out `./target/phpIPAM.zip`. You can then [import the package to vRA](https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/8.3/Using-and-Managing-Cloud-Assembly/GUID-410899CA-1B02-4507-96AD-DFE622D2DD47.html) and test it against the `httpbin.org` hostname to validate that the build process works correctly.
You'll notice that the form includes fields for Username, Password, and Hostname; we'll also need to specify the API app ID. This can be done by editing `./src/main/resources/endpoint-schema.json`. I added an `apiAppId` field:
Check out the [source on GitHub](https://github.com/jbowdre/phpIPAM-for-vRA8/blob/main/src/main/resources/endpoint-schema.json) to see how I adjusted the schema to support custom field input.
{{% /notice %}}
We've now got the framework in place so let's move on to the first operation we'll need to write. Each operation has its own subfolder under `./src/main/python/`, and each contains (among other things) a `requirements.txt` file which will tell Maven what modules need to be imported and a `source.py` file which is where the magic happens.
### Step 5: 'Validate Endpoint' action
We already basically wrote this earlier with the manual tests against the phpIPAM API. This operation basically just needs to receive the endpoint details and credentials from vRA, test the connection against the API, and let vRA know whether or not it was able to authenticate successfully. So let's open `./src/main/python/validate_endpoint/source.py` and get to work.
It's always a good idea to start by reviewing the example payload section so that we'll know what data we have to work with:
As before, we'll construct the "base" URI by inserting the `hostname` and `apiAppId`, and we'll combine the `username` and `password` into our `auth` variable:
I realized that I'd be needing to do the same authentication steps for each one of these operations, so I created a new `auth_session()` function to do the heavy lifting. Other operations will also need to return the authorization token but for this run we really just need to know whether the authentication was successful, which we can do by checking `req.status_code`.
After completing each operation, run `mvn package -PcollectDependencies -Duser.id=${UID}` to build again, and then import the package to vRA again. This time, you'll see the new "API App ID" field on the form:
Confirm that everything worked correctly by hopping over to the **Extensibility** tab, selecting **Action Runs** on the left, and changing the **User Runs** filter to say *Integration Runs*.
Select the newest `phpIPAM_ValidateEndpoint` action and make sure it has a happy green *Completed* status. You can also review the Inputs to make sure they look like what you expected:
And we can see that the Outputs reflect our successful result:
```json
{
"message": "Validated successfully",
"statusCode": "200"
}
```
That's one operation in the bank!
### Step 6: 'Get IP Ranges' action
So vRA can authenticate against phpIPAM; next, let's actually query to get a list of available IP ranges. This happens in `./src/main/python/get_ip_ranges/source.py`. We'll start by pulling over our `auth_session()` function and flesh it out a bit more to return the authorization token:
I decided to add the extra `filter_by=isPool&filter_value=1` argument to the query so that it will only return subnets marked as a pool in phpIPAM. This way I can use phpIPAM for monitoring address usage on a much larger set of subnets while only presenting a handful of those to vRA.
Now is a good time to consult [that white paper](https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-services/1.0/ipam_integration_contract_reqs.pdf) to confirm what fields I'll need to return to vRA. That lets me know that I'll need to return `ipRanges` which is a list of `IpRange` objects. `IpRange` requires `id`, `name`, `startIPAddress`, `endIPAddress`, `ipVersion`, and `subnetPrefixLength` properties. It can also accept `description`, `gatewayAddress`, and `dnsServerAddresses` properties, among others. Some of these properties are returned directly by the phpIPAM API, but others will need to be computed on the fly.
Working with IP addresses in Python can be greatly simplified by use of the `ipaddress` module, so I added an `import ipaddress` statement near the top of the file. I also added it to `requirements.txt` to make sure it gets picked up by the Maven build. I can then use that to figure out the IP version as well as computing reasonable start and end IP addresses:
I'd like to try to get the DNS servers from phpIPAM if they're defined, but I also don't want the whole thing to puke if a subnet doesn't have that defined. phpIPAM returns the DNS servers as a semicolon-delineated string; I need them to look like a Python list:
The full code can be found [here](https://github.com/jbowdre/phpIPAM-for-vRA8/blob/main/src/main/python/get_ip_ranges/source.py). You may notice that I removed all the bits which were in the VMware-provided skeleton about paginating the results. I honestly wasn't entirely sure how to implement that, and I also figured that since I'm already limiting the results by the `is_pool` filter I shouldn't have a problem with the IPAM server returning an overwhelming number of IP ranges. That could be an area for future improvement though.
In any case, it's time to once again use `mvn package -PcollectDependencies -Duser.id=${UID}` to fire off the build, and then import `phpIPAM.zip` into vRA.
vRA runs the `phpIPAM_GetIPRanges` action about every ten minutes so keep checking back on the **Extensibility > Action Runs** view until it shows up. You can then select the action and review the Log to see which IP ranges got picked up:
You can then follow [these instructions](https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/8.3/Using-and-Managing-Cloud-Assembly/GUID-410899CA-1B02-4507-96AD-DFE622D2DD47.html) to associate the external IP ranges with networks available for vRA deployments.
Next, we need to figure out how to allocate an IP.
### Step 7: 'Allocate IP' action
I think we've got a rhythm going now. So we'll dive in to `./src/main/python/allocate_ip/source.py`, create our `auth_session()` function, and add our variables to the `do_allocate_ip()` function. I also created a new `bundle` object to hold the `uri`, `token`, and `cert` items so that I don't have to keep typing those over and over and over.
logging.error(f"Failed to allocate from range {range_id}: {str(e)}")
logging.error("No more ranges. Raising last error")
raise last_error
```
The heavy lifting is actually handled in `allocate_in_range()`. Right now, my implementation only supports doing a single allocation so I added an escape in case someone asks to do something crazy like allocate *2* IPs. I then set up my variables:
That timestamp will be handy when reviewing the reservations from the phpIPAM side of things. Be sure to add an appropriate `import datetime` statement at the top of this file, and include `datetime` in `requirements.txt`.
So now we'll construct the URI and post the allocation request to phpIPAM. We tell it which `range_id` to use and it will return the first available IP.
Per the white paper, we'll need to return `ipAllocationId`, `ipAddresses`, `ipRangeId`, and `ipVersion` to vRA in an `AllocationResult`. Once again, I'll leverage the `ipaddress` module for figuring the version (and, once again, I'll add it as an import and to the `requirements.txt` file).
The full `allocate_ip` code is [here](https://github.com/jbowdre/phpIPAM-for-vRA8/blob/main/src/main/python/allocate_ip/source.py). Once more, run `mvn package -PcollectDependencies -Duser.id=${UID}` and import the new `phpIPAM.zip` package into vRA. You can then open a Cloud Assembly Cloud Template associated with one of the specified networks and hit the "Test" button to see if it works. You should see a new `phpIPAM_AllocateIP` action run appear on the **Extensibility > Action runs** tab. Check the Log for something like this:
[2021-02-22 01:31:41,773] [INFO] - Allocating from range 12
[2021-02-22 01:31:41,790] [INFO] - Successfully reserved ['172.16.40.2'] for BOW-VLTST-XXX41.
```
You can also check for a reserved address in phpIPAM:
Almost done!
### Step 8: 'Deallocate IP' action
The last step is to remove the IP allocation when a vRA deployment gets destroyed. It starts just like the `allocate_ip` action with our `auth_session()` function and variable initialization:
You can review the full code [here](https://github.com/jbowdre/phpIPAM-for-vRA8/blob/main/src/main/python/deallocate_ip/source.py). Build the package with Maven, import to vRA, and run another test deployment. The `phpIPAM_DeallocateIP` action should complete successfully. Something like this will be in the log:
That's it! You can now use phpIPAM for assigning IP addresses to VMs deployed from vRealize Automation 8.x. VMware provides a few additional operations that could be added to this integration in the future (like updating existing records or allocating entire ranges rather than individual IPs) but what I've written so far satisfies the basic requirements, and it works well for my needs.
And maybe, *just maybe*, the steps I went through developing this integration might help with integrating another IPAM solution.
