The VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) in-product API Explorer is something that I use on a regular basis, especially for executing a quick tasks without needing to write a single line of code or for documentation purposes to understand the required parameter to a specific API. Today, the VMC API Explorer includes both the VMC Service and Cloud Services Platform API, but one key API that has been missing is the inclusion of the NSX-T Policy API.

With the release of VMC 1.7 which just came out a few days ago, customers will now be able to also access the NSX-T Policy API directly from within the VMC API Explorer! In addition to adding to the VMC API Explorer, the NSX team has also enhanced their Swagger JSON and documentation to provide a better developer experience when working with NSX-T in VMC.

NSX-T Policy API Explorer

The new NSX-T Policy API Explorer is only available for SDDCs running 1.7, which can be newly created SDDC or an SDDC that has been upgraded to 1.7. In addition, since there still SDDC running NSX-V, to view the new API Explorer, you will need to select an NSX-T 1.7 SDDC and then two new NSX-T API references will be available: NSX VMC Policy API and NSX VMC AWS Integrations API

The first reference is for the core NSX-T Policy API and second is for operations related to AWS and the VPC such as managing Public IP Address allocations, these APIs are provided as part of this underlay API endpoint. One really cool thing about the NSX-T Policy API Explorer is that it is only showing you APIs that you have permission to as there are many other NSX-T APIs that are either not applicable or not available due to customers level of access.

NSX-T Policy API Documentation

As mentioned earlier, the NSX team has also revamped the NSX-T Policy API documentation for VMC. Previously, customers had to refer to the on-premises release of NSX-T Manager API documentation on code.vmware.com which included a large number of APIs that were either not applicable or not available due to the lack of permissions within VMC. The NSX-T Policy API documentation now only reflects APIs that can be accessed by customers and are applicable to VMC, which makes searching much easier.

NSX-T Policy API Samples

Lastly, the NSX team have also created a number of samples for NSX-T Policy API for VMC using Python, which you can find in this Github repo here. For those that prefer PowerCLI or being able to see the direct NSX-T Policy REST API calls, be sure to also check out my NSX-T Policy PowerShell Community Module for VMC.

As customers get more familiar with VMC and NSX-T, Automating the SDDC and specifically the network and security configuration is the next logical step to ensure that they have a consistent and reliable way of deploying configurations. With these new tools at your disposal, we hope consuming the NSX-T Policy API will much easier and if you have any feedback, be sure to leave a comment and I will be sure to make sure the respective VMC Product Managers are aware.