According to IDC, we are in the “Golden age of APIs”
You might be new to NetApp® ONTAP® automation, or you could be an existing ONTAP automation user who uses the NetApp Manageability SDK via NMSDK or PSTK. This blog series aims to help new and existing users with basic technical tips and tricks to understand ONTAP REST API automation. It also offers information about the transition for existing ONTAP automation users to ONTAP REST.
This first blog post in the series discusses the basics of ONTAP REST APIs automation. The journey of ONTAP REST APIs started in ONTAP 9.6. An ONTAP cluster that is 9.6 or later can use ONTAP REST API endpoints to manage ONTAP clusters for operations such as provisioning, data protection, monitoring, and upgrading at cluster scope. According to Richardson’s Maturity Model (levels 0-3), ONTAP REST APIs are ranked at the highest maturity level (level 3) providing high-Industry standard API endpoints for end users. The ONTAP REST APIs are free, and they do not require licensing. Users don’t require an external management server to host ONTAP REST APIs; they can be launched directly from https://<<input-your-cluster-mgmt-IP>>/docs/api .
For online ONTAP REST API references, go to https://library.netapp.com/ecmdocs/ECMLP2876964/html/index.html
These API endpoints can be used in any programming languages like Python, PowerShell, or Go, that understands REST APIs to manage ONTAP. The below figure show how ONTAP REST APIs endpoints looks in online docs as a reference,
In the next blog, we will look on important features and how to get started with ONTAP REST APIs automation in your environment.
