Requirements for launching reports and jobs from third-party applications
This topic describes the report and job URLs and various parameters in the URLs that you can use to run reports and jobs from third-party applications.
Understanding the general URL rules
The format of each URL must be as follows:
https://<bna-server>:<bna-port>/bca-networks/externalurl/external.do?target=<tagert option>&<additional options>
Use the following general rules for constructing URLs to launch TrueSight Network Automation reports and jobs.
- A target (for example, target=discSummaryReport) must be present in every URL. See About target options for a listing of valid targets. Use the following example URL to access the Device Inventory report:
https://<bna-server>:<bna-port>/bca-networks/externalurl/external.do?target=deviceInventoryReport&selectedFields=iosEntities&spanType=device&spanName=${name} - No spaces are permitted in the URL. If a space is required, use the plus sign (+) character to indicate a space.
- URL parameters must be separated by an ampersand (&) character.
Once you enter a URL, you are directed to the authentication page. Log on as described on Accessing-the-interface. If a parameter value contains any of the following characters, you are redirected to the Dashboard (if you are logged in) or to the authentication page (if not logged in), not to the actual job or report. Therefore, avoid these characters in parameter values.
- hash (#)
- percent (%)
- and (&)
- plus (+)
About URL target options
The following table lists the supported target options for URLs used to access report and jobs data.
About time period type parameters
Some URLs (for example, Change Summary report) support the timePeriodType and timePeriod parameters.
The timePeriodType and timePeriod parameters are specified in the following file:
BCAN_HOME/public/bmc/bca-networks/xml/TimePeriodTypeMap.xml
timePeriodType parameters
timePeriod parameters
timePeriod parameter | Description |
|---|---|
MM | Month |
DD | Date |
YY | Two-digit year |
HH | Hour in a 24-hour format |
MM | Minutes |
SS | Seconds |
Specifying a time period before or after a specified date
When specifying timePeriodType=after or timePeriodType=before, use this format anywhere you specify the date or edit configuration files manually:
Date is formatted as follows, regardless of local settings:
MM/DD/YY HH:MM:SS
MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM
MM/DD/YYYY
YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS
YYYYMMDDTHHMM
Dates in the URLs must be correctly encoded (for example, a blank space is %20, and a + symbol is %2b).
Examples for timePeriodType=after:
Examples for timePeriodType=before:
Specifying a range of dates
When specifying timePeriodType=range, specify timePeriod as follows:
timePeriod=Date;Date
timePeriod=Date+Offset
timePeriod=Date-Offset
timePeriod=Date@Offset
Date is formatted as follows:
MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS
MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM
MM/DD/YYYY
YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS
YYYYMMDDTHHMM
Dates in the URLs must be correctly encoded (for example, a blank space is %20, and a + symbol is %2b).
Offset is formatted as:
Examples for timePeriodType=range: