Cloud Managed Networks

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  • 1.  We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage

    Posted 23 days ago

    Hi HPE

    We really need a Natural language LLM GPT or similar available to customers that is specifically trained in Aruba Central (CNX) practises and especially REST API usage/setups. So we can ask simple questions on how to.... and specific questions on details.

    The documentation for Central is massively faulty/outdated/not current and searching it has little or no examples at all but simple click guides on the most basic parts. So the adoption of New central is way too big a hurdle because knowledge is VERY HARD to come by, and you are in deep trouble if you are not a REST API/Postman veteran who knows how all that works and the data is structured.
    There are still way to many things that are not available the CNX UI, so it's har to make a full migration unless you have to do a lot of stuff in REST API because of missing UI settings. 

    Fx. I have to setup both switch job schedules and mirror sessions among other things, but not being an REST API native, is a VERY big hurdle to pass as there is no thorough examples of sitting it up and how to specifically format the queries.



  • 2.  RE: We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage

    Posted 23 days ago

    Fair point on the docs, but part of the ask already exists. New Central ships HPE Networking Copilot. It takes natural language questions, searches the documentation and turns plain English into AOS-CX CLI. It's gated by license tier and user role, so it may not show up on every account: https://arubanetworking.hpe.com/techdocs/hpe-central/content/operations/hpe-networking-copilot.html

    For the REST side, the closest thing to worked examples is the VSG chapter Central Configuration via API. It points to the Developer Hub's Postman collections, which have ready-made requests for common tasks, plus the PyCentral SDK and the central-python-workflows repo: https://arubanetworking.hpe.com/techdocs/VSG/docs/002-central/central-020-configuration-api/



    ------------------------------
    Dustin Burns
    @Worldcom Exchange, Inc.
    www.wei.com

    - - -
    The comments I post here are my own, and not my employers
    If my post was useful accept solution and/or give kudos
    Personal Blog: www.networkfieldnotes.com
    - - -
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage

    Posted 23 days ago
    Edited by TM-cf9237 23 days ago

    Well, yes, but like you said: Licensing stops the use of Copilot for all my customers, and I have yet to have any really useful answer from it when it gets technical. So not exactly what I was looking for.

    I know the postman collection, and while I can find things in there, actually using it is neigh impossible unless you have a lot of REST API experience and can guess how the data should be formatted unless it's a simple feature on/off setting. Fx. how do I format the JSONs needed to enable port mirroring or job schedules? How do I make ACLs with wildcards and so on?

     We need examples, and we need an LLM to ask for guidance.


    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage

    Posted 23 days ago

    Job schedules are the easier one, because the Central object is the switch CLI written as JSON. network-config/v1alpha1/job-scheduler holds a schedule with a job array. Each job has an entry list of sequence-number, cli-command and cli-delay, and the schedule takes a trigger-type (TRIGGER_AT, TRIGGER_ON or TRIGGER_EVERY) plus frequency, start date and count. Look at the port toggle example in the AOS-CX Job Scheduler guide: each numbered CLI line there becomes one entry: https://arubanetworking.hpe.com/techdocs/AOS-CX/10.13/HTML/job_scheduler/Content/Chp_JobSched/work-w-job-sched.htm

    Once you've got one object in Central, GET it on the same path with detailed=false and use that as your template. Change the values and POST it back.

    Mirroring is harder. The only mirror object I can find in the config reference is mirror-endpoint, which is the receiving end of a remote mirror tunnel, not the session. Are you mirroring to a local port or to a remote analyser?



    ------------------------------
    Dustin Burns
    @Worldcom Exchange, Inc.
    www.wei.com

    - - -
    The comments I post here are my own, and not my employers
    If my post was useful accept solution and/or give kudos
    Personal Blog: www.networkfieldnotes.com
    - - -
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage

    Posted 23 days ago

    Yes, I doing mirroring of af few ports for analysis in one place and a few VLANs for mirroring in another.


    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage

    Posted 23 days ago

    you can reach out to your local HPE networking SE and they can enable a eval adv subscriotin to enable copilot for you.

    also there are a few community based MCP servers projects.

    check the following repo

    https://github.com/nowireless4u/hpe-networking-mcp

    and also this one 
    https://mcp.arubademo.online/

     



    ------------------------------
    If my post was useful accept solution and/or give kudos.
    Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of HPE or Aruba.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage
    Best Answer

    Posted 22 days ago

    Thank you all for answering. Nice that there is some forum assistance to be had. I'll try and see what I can get working by trial & error. I unfortunately have very little REST API experience, so without examples its really a steep hill to climb.


    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage

    Posted 22 days ago

    ok then try this one as you don't need to build it, all you have to do is provide your API credentials, also there is a user guide at the bottom of it 
    https://mcp.arubademo.online/



    ------------------------------
    If my post was useful accept solution and/or give kudos.
    Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of HPE or Aruba.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: We need an LLM trained on best practices CNX and REST API usage

    Posted 22 days ago

    Just keep in mind that CNX is not fully 100% finished. Orchestration and topology still have not been moved and they are fixing workflows. If there are missing components you need, I would advise to sync up with your local SE's to ensure its on the roadmap with PLM. I still have not seen some changes I have been told will be fixed a while back. 

    As to API's. I would error on the side of caution. API's will not necessarily check the data as you would in the CLI or WEB. There is the ability to insert values that may not be supported or you may overwrite configs. I have helped out some other dev's get started. Unfortunately its to much to write back and forth on the forum.  you can also reach out to the dev community as I believe there is also a python sdk (pycentral) that can be checked out. CNX is also a bit different as you need to understand the LOCAL or GLOBAL configs and hierarchy. 

    I would reach out to local SE to find the proper community to get some assistance with this. 




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