Roadmap for adding a move to group API

Dear Belz

This specific API feature is currently not in development.

About the inconsistent multiedit feature, please contact [email protected] and include screenshots.

We are five years on and this function still doesn't appear to have been implemented in the API. That's a problem for me. I took a look at the regular Web GUI and it seems like an API call could be done using a form POST.

The URL is:

/moveobjectnow.htm

The form fields are:

id searchtext (can be blank) targetid

where the targetid is the parent group the object is to be moved to.

I guess I am going to have to write a supplementary API module that leverages these non REST URLs to get certain things done. I have thousands of Access Points to manage. Sometimes the access points go offline for months and then get powered back on. I want to be able to move a device into a special "Morgue" group if it disappears but then be able to restore it with its past history if it should suddenly reappear months later. I need group movement for this to work using programs.

Dear GwigstaNummerEin,

it is correct that the Rest API covers only some features. Other operations require a complex HTTP POST, which is not documented. You can use either browser developer tools, or Wireshark, to read the POST when doing it manuall, and the reproduce it. You can also check the Webserver Access log (default path "C:\ProgramData\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\Logs\webserver") of PRTG to read the requests.

An alternative is the Powershell implementation of an abstract layer by lordmilko. It is available here.

This is some python code that outlines how to make this work.

The module is called using code like this:

from prtg.prtgweb import prtgWeb
parmsDict = {
                    "host":         "prtgaero01.palmbeach.k12.fl.us",
                    "user":         "***",
                    "port":         "443",
                    "pwd":          "***",
                    "certfile":        "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt"
}
prtgWebObj = prtgWeb(parmsDict)
# Now test the device move function
deviceId = input('Enter the index for the access point to be moved:')
parentId = input('Enter the index for the group to which the AP is to be moved:')
result = prtgWebObj.moveDevice(deviceId,parentId)

The actual module code is as follows:

'''
Created on Sep 26, 2019

@author: ed
'''

import re
from lxml import html
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import mechanicalsoup

_USERNAME = '*******'
_PASSWORD = '*******'
_CERTFILE = "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt"

class prtgWeb:
    '''
    classdocs
    '''


    def __init__(self, paramDict={}):
        '''
        Constructor
        '''
        self.host = ""
        self.port = ""
        self.user = ""
        self.pwd = ""
        self.certfile = ""
        
        # Make sure that the dictionary keys exist
        if 'host' in paramDict:
            self.host = paramDict['host']
        else:
            self.host = 'prtg.palmbeach.k12.fl.us'

        if 'port' in paramDict:
            self.port = paramDict['port']
        else:
            self.port = '443'
        
        if 'user' in paramDict:
            self.user = paramDict['user']
        else:
            self.user = _USERNAME
        
        if 'password' in paramDict:
            self.pwd = paramDict['password']
        else:
            self.pwd = _PASSWORD

        if 'certfile' in paramDict:
            self.certfile = paramDict['certfile']
        else:
            self.certfile = _CERTFILE
                                      
        self.baseUrl = "https://%s:%s" % ( self.host, self.port )
        loginUrl = "%s/index.htm" % (self.baseUrl)
                
        self.br = mechanicalsoup.StatefulBrowser(soup_config={'features': 'lxml'})    
        sign_in = self.br.open(loginUrl,verify = self.certfile)
        self.br.select_form()
        self.br["username"] = self.user
        self.br["password"] = self.pwd
        # Mechanical Soup drops the html directly into a soup object
        response = self.br.submit_selected()
        # Check the page's <title>
        soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text,'lxml')
        if not soup.title.get_text()[0:7] == "Welcome":
            raise ValueError
        
    def  moveDevice(self,deviceId,parentId):
        browser = self.br
        postParams = { 'id': deviceId, 'searchtext': '', 'targetid': parentId }
        moveUrl = "%s/%s" % (self.baseUrl,"moveobjectnow.htm")
        response = browser.post( url = moveUrl, data = postParams )
        if response.soup.get_text() == 'ok':
            return True
        else:
            return False