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Aruba Central Next Gen

Consume Aruba Central Next Gen API

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Overview

This node interacts with the Aruba Central Next Gen API to retrieve monitoring data related to gateways, specifically focusing on trends of dropped packets in gateway tunnels. It is useful for network administrators who want to monitor the health and performance of their gateway tunnels over time, helping identify packet loss issues that could affect network reliability.

A practical example use case is fetching the trend of dropped packets for a specific tunnel on a gateway device within a defined time range (or defaulting to the last 3 hours). This helps in proactive troubleshooting and capacity planning by analyzing packet drop patterns.

Properties

Name Meaning
Debug Mode Enable detailed debug logs for troubleshooting purposes.
Domain Selects the API domain to interact with: either "Monitoring" (for device/client/site monitoring) or "Configuration" (for device/group/profile configuration). For this operation, "Monitoring" is used.
Serial Number The unique serial number of the gateway device to query.
Tunnel Name The name of the tunnel on the gateway for which to retrieve dropped packets trend data.
Time Range Optional start and end timestamps (ISO 8601 format) defining the period for data retrieval. Defaults to the last 3 hours if not specified.

Output

The node outputs JSON data representing the trend of dropped packets for the specified gateway tunnel over the requested time range. The structure typically includes timestamped entries showing counts or rates of dropped packets, enabling visualization or further analysis.

If binary data were involved (not indicated here), it would represent raw data such as logs or reports, but this node focuses on JSON metric data.

Dependencies

  • Requires an active connection to Aruba Central Next Gen API.
  • Needs an API authentication token configured via n8n credentials (an OAuth2 API key credential).
  • Network access to Aruba Central endpoints must be available from the n8n environment.

Troubleshooting

  • Common Issues:

    • Invalid or missing serial number or tunnel name will cause the API call to fail.
    • Incorrect time range formats may lead to errors or empty results.
    • Network connectivity issues or expired API tokens can prevent successful data retrieval.
  • Error Messages:

    • Errors during execution are caught and logged with descriptive messages.
    • Typical error message: "Unknown error in node execution" indicates unexpected failures; enabling Debug Mode can provide more detailed logs.
    • Authentication errors suggest checking API credentials and permissions.
  • Resolutions:

    • Verify all required input properties are correctly set.
    • Ensure API credentials are valid and have necessary scopes.
    • Use Debug Mode to get detailed logs for diagnosing issues.

Links and References

  • Aruba Central Next Gen API Documentation (official site)
  • n8n Documentation on creating custom nodes and using credentials
  • General best practices for monitoring network devices and interpreting packet loss metrics

Discussion